The IJ (pronounced ; sometimes shown on old maps as Y or Ye) is a body of water, formerly a bay, in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is known for being Amsterdam's waterfront. It is considered a river by Rijkswaterstaat (a branch of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment), though some contest this qualification, calling the IJ a lake. Its name is an obsolete Dutch word meaning "water", derived from the West Frisian word ie "stream, small river" (from Germanic *ahwo "water") and is cognate with Dutch Aa/Ee names for bodies of water. The name consists of the digraph ij, which behaves like a single letter. Therefore, both letters are capitalized; cf. IJmuiden.