Why does ij sort as y in Dutch?

In traditional Dutch dictionaries the digraph ij is treated as a single letter equivalent to y, so words like ijs and Wijk sort near y rather than under i. This tool reproduces that ordering for word lists and indexes.

Does every Dutch list use the ij-as-y rule?

No. Modern computer sorting and many phone books treat ij as the two letters i and j, which places it under i. This tool lets you pick: traditional ij-as-y for dictionary-style order, or plain order where ij is just i then j.

How is ij distinguished from a real i followed by j?

The tool only collapses ij when the two letters appear together as the digraph. A genuine sequence such as bijou is still treated as i then j; you decide by how you spell the words, since true ij words are written as the digraph.

Is the sort case sensitive?

No. Comparison is done case-insensitively so Wijk and wijk sort to the same place, but the original capitalisation of each line is preserved in the output. Accented letters are folded to their base letter for ordering.

Is my list uploaded anywhere?

No. All sorting runs locally in your browser using a custom comparison function. Your word list never leaves your device, so confidential or internal lists are safe to sort here.

Dutch Alphabetical Sort

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The Dutch Alphabetical Sort orders a list of Dutch words the way a traditional Dutch dictionary does, where the digraph ij counts as a single letter equal to y. Standard computer sorting puts ijs near other words starting with i, but Dutch convention places it next to y. This tool reproduces that collation so indexes, glossaries, and name lists read correctly to Dutch eyes.

How it works

Normalise. Each word is lower-cased and accents are stripped (NFD plus combining-mark removal) so that café and cafe sort together and capitalisation does not affect order.
Map ij to y. When the traditional rule is on, every occurrence of the digraph ij in a word is replaced with y to build a sort key. Because y sorts after x and before z, words beginning with ij land in the y-region just as a Dutch dictionary expects.
Compare. The sort keys are compared character by character using their natural letter order. The original line text (with its real spelling and capitalisation) is what gets displayed, only the hidden key drives the order.

Tips and example

With the traditional rule on, a list of ijs, inkt, wijn, zee, xenon sorts to inkt, xenon, ijs, wijn, zee — note how ijs and wijn cluster with the y-sounds rather than under i.
Turn the rule off to get plain Unicode order, where ijs would sit right after other i words. Phone books and many software systems use this simpler scheme.
The tool only treats ij as one letter when it is genuinely the digraph in your spelling; it cannot guess intent, so spell true ij-words as the digraph and unrelated i+j sequences will sort normally.