R
{{Short description|18th letter of the Latin alphabet}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}{{For2|the programming language|R (programming language)|other uses}}
{{Technical reasons|R#J|the film|R and J{{!}}R and J}}{{Infobox grapheme
|name = R
|letter = R r
|script=Latin script
|type=Alphabet
|typedesc=ic
|language=Latin language
|phonemes={{ubl|{{hlist|{{IPA blink|r}}|{{IPA blink|ɾ}}|{{IPA blink|ɹ}}|{{IPA blink|ɻ}}|{{IPA blink|ɺ}}|{{IPA blink|ʀ}}|{{IPA blink|ʁ}}|{{IPA blink|ɽ}}}}|(table)|(English variations)|{{IPAc-en|ɑr}}}}
|unicode=U+0052, U+0072
|alphanumber=18
|number=
|fam1=
|fam2=Image:Proto-semiticR-01.svg
|fam3=Image:phoenician res.svg
|fam4=Ρ ρ
|fam5=𐌓 File:Greek Rho 06.svg
|fam6=File:Greek Rho 01.svg
|fam7=File:Greek Rho 03.svg
|fam8= File:Greek Rho 03.svg File:Half r.svg
|usageperiod= {{circa}} 50 CE to present
|children={{hlist|℟|{{not a typo|℞}}|®|Ɍ|ᚱ|𐍂|Ꭱ}}
|sisters= {{hlist|Р|ר|ر|ܪ|ࠓ|𐎗|𐡓|ረ|Ռ|ռ|Ր|ր|ર|र}}
|equivalents=
|direction=Left-to-right
|image=File:Latin_letter_R.svg
|imageclass=skin-invert-image
}}
{{Latin letter info|r}}
R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ar (pronounced {{IPAc-en|'|ɑr|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-R.wav}}), plural ars."R", Oxford English Dictionary 2nd edition (1989); "ar", op. cit
The letter {{angbr|r}} is the eighth most common letter in English and the fourth-most common consonant, after {{angbr|t}}, {{angbr|n}}, and {{angbr|s}}.{{cite web|url=https://pi.math.cornell.edu/~mec/2003-2004/cryptography/subs/frequencies.html|title=Frequency Table|website=Math.cornell.edu|access-date=7 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171102005534/https://math.cornell.edu/~mec/2003-2004/cryptography/subs/frequencies.html|archive-date=2 November 2017}}
Name
The name of the letter in Latin was {{lang|la|er}} ({{IPA|/ɛr/}}), following the pattern of other letters representing continuants, such as {{angbr|F}}, {{angbr|L}}, {{angbr|M}}, {{angbr|N}}, and {{angbr|S}}. This name is preserved in French and many other languages. In Middle English, the name of the letter changed from {{IPA|/ɛr/}} to {{IPA|/ar/}}, following a pattern exhibited in many other words such as farm (compare French {{lang|fr|ferme}}) and star (compare German {{lang|de|Stern}}).
In Hiberno-English, the letter is called {{IPA|/ɒr/|}} or {{IPA|/ɔːr/|}}, somewhat similar to oar, ore, orr.{{cite web|url=http://digilib.k.utb.cz/bitstream/handle/10563/9938/kr%C3%B6merov%C3%A1_2009_bp.pdf?sequence=1|title=Analysis of selected contemporary Irish dialects|website=Digilib.k.utb.cz|access-date=7 November 2017|archive-date=15 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915204156/http://digilib.k.utb.cz/bitstream/handle/10563/9938/kr%C3%B6merov%C3%A1_2009_bp.pdf?sequence=1|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/this-happened-to-me/losing-my-voice-ef97a0c5e977|title=Losing My Voice - This Happened to Me|first=Steve|last=Hogarty|date=November 11, 2013|website=Medium|access-date=July 15, 2019|archive-date=July 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715114609/https://medium.com/this-happened-to-me/losing-my-voice-ef97a0c5e977|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news|url=https://irishwithian.wordpress.com/2018/12/19/mind-your-ps-and-qs-ore-youll-get-into-trouble/|title=Mind your 'P's and 'Q's – ore you'll get into trouble!|newspaper=Irish with Ian |date=December 19, 2018|access-date=July 15, 2019|archive-date=July 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715114607/https://irishwithian.wordpress.com/2018/12/19/mind-your-ps-and-qs-ore-youll-get-into-trouble/|url-status=live}}
{{anchor|Dog's letter}}
The letter R is sometimes referred to as the {{lang|la|littera canīna}} 'canine letter', often rendered in English as the dog's letter. This Latin term referred to the Latin {{angbr|R}} that was trilled to sound like a growling dog, a spoken style referred to as {{lang|la|vōx canīna}} 'dog voice' (e.g. in Spanish {{lang|es|perro}} 'dog').{{cite web |url=https://wordsmith.org/words/dogs_letter.html |title=A Word A Day: Dog's letter |website=Wordsmith.org |access-date=2012-01-17 |archive-date=2012-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314054240/http://www.wordsmith.org/words/dogs_letter.html |url-status=live }}
In Romeo and Juliet, such a reference is made by Juliet's nurse in Act 2, scene 4, when she calls the letter R "the dog's name". The reference is also found in Ben Jonson's English Grammar.{{cite book
| last = Shakespeare
| first = William
|author2=Horace Howard Furness |author3=Frederick Williams
| title = Romeo and Juliet
| publisher = Lippincott
| year = 1913
| page = [https://archive.org/details/romeoandjuliet02furngoog/page/n218 189]
| isbn = 9780140620931
| url = https://archive.org/details/romeoandjuliet02furngoog
}}
History
=Antiquity=
File:Prognatus.png (280 BC) reveals the full development of the Latin {{angbr|R}} by that time; the letter {{angbr|P}} at the same time still retains its archaic shape distinguishing it from Greek or Old Italic rho.]]
The letter {{angbr|R}} is believed to derive ultimately from an image of a head, used in Semitic alphabets for the sound {{IPA|/r/}} because the word for 'head' was rêš or similar in most Semitic languages. The word became the name of the letter, as an example of acrophony.
It developed into Greek {{angbr|Ρ}} {{lang|grc|ῥῶ}} ({{transliteration|grc|rhô}}) and Latin {{angbr|R}}. The descending diagonal stroke develops as a graphic variant in some Western Greek alphabets (writing rho as File:Greek Rho 03.svg), but it was not adopted in most Old Italic alphabets; most Old Italic alphabets show variants of their rho between a {{angbr|P}} and a {{angbr|D}} shape, but without the Western Greek descending stroke.
Indeed, the oldest known forms of the Latin alphabet itself of the 7th to 6th centuries BC, in the Duenos and the Forum inscription, still write {{angbr|r}} using the {{angbr|P}} shape of the letter.
The Lapis Satricanus inscription shows the form of the Latin alphabet around 500 BC. Here, the rounded, closing Π shape of the {{angbr|p}} and the {{angbr|Ρ}} shape of the {{angbr|r}} have become difficult to distinguish.
The descending stroke of the Latin letter {{angbr|R}} has fully developed by the 3rd century BC, as seen in the Tomb of the Scipios sarcophagus inscriptions of that era. From {{circa|50 AD}}, the letter {{angbr|P}} would be written with its loop fully closed, assuming the shape formerly taken by {{angbr|R}}.
=Cursive=
File:Caslon-specimen-1763-double-pica-black.jpg
File:Luca Pacioli, De divina proportione, Letter R.jpg, in De divina proportione (1509)]]
The minuscule form {{angbr|r}} developed through several variations on the capital form.
Along with Latin minuscule writing in general, it developed ultimately from Roman cursive via the uncial script of Late Antiquity into the Carolingian minuscule of the 9th century.
In handwriting, it was common not to close the bottom of the loop but continue into the leg, saving an extra pen stroke. The loop-leg stroke shortened into the simple arc used in the Carolingian minuscule and until today.
A calligraphic minuscule {{angbr|r}}, known as r rotunda {{angbr|ꝛ}}, was used in the sequence {{angbr|or}}, bending the shape of the {{angbr|r}} to accommodate the bulge of the {{angbr|o}} as in {{angbr|oꝛ}}, as opposed to {{angbr|or}}. Later, the same variant was also used where {{angbr|r}} followed other lower case letters with a rounded loop towards the right, such as with {{angbr|b}}, {{angbr|h}}, {{angbr|p}}, as well as to write the geminate {{angbr|rr}} as {{angbr|ꝛꝛ}}. Use of r rotunda was mostly tied to blackletter typefaces, and the glyph fell out of use along with blackletter fonts in English language contexts mostly by the 18th century.
Insular script used a minuscule which retained two downward strokes, but which did not close the loop, known as the Insular r {{angbr|ꞃ}}; this variant survives in the Gaelic type popular in Ireland until the mid-20th century, but has become largely limited to a decorative function.
Use in writing systems
{{See also|Rhotic consonant|R-colored vowel|Guttural R}}
| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
|+ Pronunciation of {{angbr|r}} by language ! Orthography ! Phonemes |
| Albanian
| {{IPAslink|ɾ}} |
|---|
| Arabic romanization
| {{IPAslink|r}} or {{IPAslink|ʀ}} or {{IPAslink|ɾ}} |
| Aragonese
| {{IPAslink|ɾ}}, {{IPAslink|r}} |
| Asturian
| {{IPAslink|ɾ}}, {{IPAslink|r}} |
| Basque
| {{IPAslink|ɾ}}, {{IPAslink|r}} |
| Catalan
| {{IPAslink|ɾ}}, {{IPAslink|r}} |
| {{nwr|Standard Chinese}} (Pinyin)
| {{IPAslink|ɻ}} |
| Danish
| {{IPAslink|ʁ}}, silent |
| Dutch
| {{IPAslink|r}} |
| English
| {{IPAslink|ɹ}} |
| Esperanto
| {{IPAslink|ɾ}} |
| Faroese
| {{IPAslink|ɹ}} |
| French
| {{IPAslink|ʁ}}, {{IPAslink|ʀ}} |
| Galician
| {{IPAslink|ɾ}} |
| German
| {{IPAslink|ʀ}}, {{IPAslink|ɐ̯}}, {{IPAslink|r}} |
| Gutnish
| {{IPAslink|ɻ}} |
| Haitian
| {{IPAslink|ɣ}} |
| Hebrew romanization
| {{IPAslink|ʁ}} |
| Hopi
| {{IPAslink|ʐ}} |
| Indonesian
| {{IPAslink|r}} |
| Irish
| {{IPAslink|ɾ}}, {{IPAslink|ɻʲ}}{{cn|date=March 2024}} |
| Italian
| {{IPAslink|r}} |
| Japanese (Hepburn)
| {{IPAslink|ɾ}} |
| Leonese
| {{IPAslink|ɾ}} |
| Malay
| {{IPAslink|r}} |
| Manx
| {{IPAslink|r}} |
| Māori
| {{IPAslink|ɾ}} |
| Norwegian
| {{IPAslink|r}} or {{IPAslink|ʁ}} or {{IPAslink|ʐ}} |
| Portuguese
| {{IPAslink|ʁ}}, {{IPAslink|ɾ}} |
| Scottish Gaelic
| {{IPAslink|ɾ}}, {{IPAslink|ɾʲ}} |
| Sicilian
| {{IPAslink|ɹ}} |
| Spanish
| {{IPAslink|ɾ}}, {{IPAslink|r}} |
| Swedish
| {{IPAslink|r}} or {{IPAslink|ɾ}} or {{IPAslink|ɹ}} or {{IPAslink|ʐ}} or {{IPAslink|ʁ}} or {{IPAslink|ʀ}} |
| Turkish
| {{IPAslink|ɾ}} |
| Venetian
| {{IPAslink|r}} |
| Vietnamese
| {{IPAslink|z}} or {{IPAslink|r}} |
=English=
{{See also|Rhoticity in English}}
{{angbr|R}} represents a rhotic consonant in English, such as the alveolar approximant (most varieties), alveolar trill (some British varieties), or the retroflex approximant (some varieties in the United States, South West England and Dublin).
In non-rhotic accents, it is not pronounced in certain positions, but can affect the pronunciation of the vowel that precedes it.
=Other languages=
{{angbr|R}} represents a rhotic consonant in many languages, as shown in the table below.
| class="wikitable" style="width:85%;margin:auto" |
| style="width:35%" | Alveolar trill {{IPA|[r]}}
| style="text-align:center" | File:Alveolar trill.ogg | style="width:55%" | Standard Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Galician, German in some dialects, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Czech, Javanese, Lithuanian, Latvian, Latin, Norwegian mostly in the northwest, Polish, Portuguese (traditional form), Romanian, Russian, Scots, Slovak, Swedish more frequent in northern and western dialects, as well as in Finland Swedish; Sundanese, Ukrainian, Welsh; also Catalan, Spanish and Albanian {{angbr|rr}} |
| style="width:35%" | Alveolar approximant {{IPA|[ɹ]}}
| style="text-align:center" | File:Alveolar approximant.ogg | style="width:55%" | Dutch in some Netherlandic dialects (in specific positions of words), Faroese, Sicilian and Swedish, especially when in weakly articulated positions, such as word-final |
| style="width:35%" | Alveolar flap / Alveolar tap {{IPA|[ɾ]}}
| style="text-align:center" | File:Alveolar tap.ogg | style="width:55%" | Portuguese, Catalan, Spanish and Albanian {{angbr|r}}; Turkish, Dutch, Italian, Venetian, Galician, Leonese, Norwegian, Irish, Swedish and Māori |
| style="width:35%" | Voiced retroflex fricative {{IPA|[ʐ]}}
| style="text-align:center" | File:Voiced retroflex sibilant.ogg | style="width:55%" | Norwegian around Tromsø; Spanish used as an allophone of /r/ in some South American accents; Swedish especially in Central Swedish dialects, such as the dialect in/around Stockholm; Hopi used before vowels, as in raana, "toad", from Spanish rana |
| style="width:35%" | Retroflex approximant {{IPA|[ɻ]}}
| style="text-align:center" | File:Retroflex approximant.ogg | style="width:55%" | Gutnish; Hanyu Pinyin transliteration of Standard Chinese |
| style="width:35%" | Retroflex flap {{IPA|[ɽ]}}
| style="text-align:center" | File:Retroflex flap.ogg | style="width:55%" | Norwegian when followed by ⟨d⟩; Scottish English on occasion; Swedish when followed by ⟨d⟩ |
| style="width:35%" | Uvular trill {{IPA|[ʀ]}}
| style="text-align:center" | File:Uvular trill.ogg | style="width:55%" | German stage standard; some Dutch dialects (in Brabant and Limburg, and some city dialects in the Netherlands); Swedish in southern Sweden; Norwegian in western and southern parts; Venetian only in the Venice area. |
| style="width:35%" | Voiced uvular fricative {{IPA|[ʁ]}}
| style="text-align:center" | File:Voiced uvular fricative.ogg | style="width:55%" | North Mesopotamian Arabic, Judeo-Iraqi Arabic, German, Danish, French, standard European Portuguese {{angbr|rr}}, standard Brazilian Portuguese {{angbr|rr}}, Puerto Rican Spanish {{angbr|rr}} and 'r-' in western parts; Norwegian in western and southern parts; Swedish in southern dialects |
Other languages may use the letter {{angbr|r}} in their alphabets (or Latin transliteration schemes) to represent rhotic consonants different from the alveolar trill. In Haitian Creole, it represents a sound so weak that it is often written interchangeably with {{angbr|w}}, e.g. 'Kweyol' for 'Kreyol'.
The doubled {{angbr|rr}} represents a trilled {{IPA|/r/}} in Albanian, Aragonese, Asturian, Basque, Catalan and Spanish.
Brazilian Portuguese has a great number of allophones of {{IPAslink|ʁ}}, such as {{IPAblink|χ}}, {{IPAblink|h}}, {{IPAblink|ɦ}}, {{IPAblink|x}}, {{IPAblink|ɣ}}, {{IPAblink|ɹ}} and {{IPAblink|r}}. The latter three ones can be used only in certain contexts ({{IPAblink|ɣ}} and {{IPAblink|r}} as {{angbr|rr}}; {{IPAblink|ɹ}} in the syllable coda, as an allophone of {{IPAslink|ɾ}} according to the European Portuguese norm and {{IPAslink|ʁ}} according to the Brazilian Portuguese norm). Usually at least two of them are present in a single dialect, such as Rio de Janeiro's {{IPAblink|ʁ}}, {{IPAblink|χ}}, {{IPAblink|ɦ}} and, for a few speakers, {{IPAblink|ɣ}}.
=Other systems=
The International Phonetic Alphabet uses several variations of the letter to represent the different rhotic consonants; {{angbr IPA|r}} represents the alveolar trill.
Other uses
{{main article|R (disambiguation)}}
- An R rating of the Motion Picture Association film rating system denotes media, such as movies, that are intended for a restricted audience.
Related characters
=Calligraphic variants in the Latin alphabet=
- Ꝛ ꝛ – R rotunda
- Ꞃ ꞃ – Insular r (Gaelic type)
- ᫍ – Combining Insular r, as used in the Ormulum{{Cite web|title=L2/20-268: Revised proposal to add ten characters for Middle English to the UCS|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20268-n5145-ormulum.pdf|date=2020-10-05|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|first2=Andrew|last2=West}}
=Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets=
= Abbreviations, signs and symbols =
- ℟ – symbol for response in liturgy
- {{not a typo|℞}} – Medical prescription
- ® – Registered trademark symbol
- ₹ – Indian rupee sign
Other representations
=Computing <span class="anchor" id="Computing codes"></span>=
=Other=
{{Letter other reps
|NATO=Romeo
|Morse=·–·
|Character=R
|Braille=⠗
|fingerspelling=R
}}
{{clear}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Commons-inline|R}}
- {{Wiktionary-inline|R}}
- {{Wiktionary-inline|r}}
{{LetterR}}
{{Latin alphabet|R|}}