People are only just finding out there used to be 27 letters in the alphabet

There was a time when the alphabet had 27 letters and some people have been left stunned after only just finding out.

Prepare to start singing the alphabet frantically in your head and counting on your fingers as if you're back in pre-school, trying to work out if you've missed out a letter or where another could possibly have been located.

As it turns out, there used to be an additional letter in the alphabet on top of the 26 we've all had drilled into us from a young age.

The English alphabet hasn't always looked like this. (Getty Stock Image)

A Reddit user took to thead r/GameTheorists to discuss their playing of point-and-click survival horror game Five Nights at Freddy's and specifically how to solve the 'tally mark code'.

The user explained: "In that video, matpat mentions that there are only 26 letters in the alphabet so the first attempt is busted. I'm here to tell you that there IS a 27th letter in the alphabet."

And while there isn't a 27th letter in the English alphabet anymore, there certainly used to be.

Prepare for a history lesson you never asked for and your head to feel like alphabet soup. (Getty Stock Image)

The English alphabet used to consist of not just 26 letters but 27, with an additional letter found after 'Z' from the year 1835, Britannica reports.

The letter was what we now know as the 'and' symbol - '&' - and was known as the 'ampersand'.

Why? Well, according to Dictionary.com, students learning the alphabet would say 'X, Y, Z and per se and' - 'per se' meaning 'by itself' - so they were saying: "X,Y, Z and itself and."

If you say 'And per se and' quickly, it's not a massive surprise to see why the letter became known as 'ampersand' instead.

Alongside '&' being the 27th letter of the alphabet, the figure was also used to represent the word 'and' and also the Latin word 'et' replacing the letters in 'etc' as '&c'.

However, it dropped out of the alphabet by the late 19th century, but some people are only just realizing it was ever there in the first place, flocking to social media to share their thoughts.

One X user wrote: "The barback just looked me dead in my f**king eyeballs and asked 'has their always been 26 letters in the alphabet?' and before I could answer, the other bartender goes 'there’s 27.' What the f**k is going on HERE."

Another added: "How old were you when you found out that '&' was once the 27th letter of english alphabet?"

A third commented: "Whhhhaaaaaatttttttt."

And a Reddit user resolved: "You lost me at 'back in 1835'."

Others pointed out how it's not just '&' which used to feature in the alphabet either with the several other letters having made appearances over the years, meaning the alphabet has - on multiple occasions - been not just 26 letters or 27 letters but even several more.

Learn something new every day and all that, remember this for your next trivia night.