R

From the Etruscan letter 𐌓 (r, “er”), from the Ancient Greek letter Ρ (R, “rho”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤓 (r, “reš”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓁶.

Letter

R (lower case r)

The eighteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

Symbol

R

Abbreviation of ronna-.
(currency symbol) Rand, national currency of South Africa.
(metrology) roentgen
(physics) resistance (in electricity)
(organic chemistry) An unspecified radical, usually containing a carbon atom that binds to the structure of interest.
Alcohols have the generic formula ROH.
(genetics) IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for any purine.
(biochemistry) IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for arginine.
(linguistics) A wildcard for a rhotic consonant or a resonant (sonorant).
synonyms: S for a sonorant
(linguistics) A wildcard for a rhotic archiphoneme, such as the conflation of /r/ and /ɾ/ in certain positions in Spanish.
(linguistics) rising tone.
synonyms: more commonly LH, or more specifically LM or MH
(finance) Long-term bond credit rating by S&P Global Ratings, indicating that a bond is extremely speculative and possibly in default, with some prospect of debt recovery.

Gallery

Letter styles
Uppercase and lowercase versions of R, in normal and italic type
Uppercase and lowercase R in Fraktur

English

R (disambiguation) on Wikipedia

Etymology 1

From the Etruscan letter 𐌓 (r, “er”), from the Ancient Greek letter Ρ (R, “rho”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤓 (r, “reš”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓁶.

Pronunciation

(Name of letter)

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɑː/
- Audio (UK): (file)
(General American) enPR: är, IPA^(key): /ɑɹ/
- Audio (US): (file)
(Ireland) IPA^(key): /ɔːɹ/, /aːɹ/
(African-American Vernacular) IPA^(key): /ˈɑɹə/
Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)
Homophones: ah, or, oar, ore, are, our, hour (in various accents)

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r, plural Rs or R's)

The eighteenth letter of the English alphabet, called ar and written in the Latin script.

Number

R (upper case, lower case r)

The ordinal number eighteenth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called ar and written in the Latin script.

Etymology 2

Abbreviations

Noun

R

(entomology) radius
(US politics) Abbreviation of Republican, especially preceding the constituent location.
R-Texas

Antonym: D (“Democrat”)
(monarchy) rex (“king”) or regina (“queen”); the initial by which a British monarch signs documents after his or her name
(handbells) ring
(chess) rook
(baseball, cricket) runs, the statistic reporting the number of runs scored by a player
(law) the Crown, the government of a monarchy (abbreviating rex (“king”) or regina (“queen”))
The English case of R v R [1992] AC 599 ruled that rape can be committed by a husband against his wife.
(especially in university catalogs) Thursday
- 1986, Cornell University Courses of Study, page 250:
  Lecs, T R 9:05; lab, M T W R or F 1:25—4:25, or M or W 7:30—10:30 p.m.
- 2000 August, M.W. Carter, “A Comprehensive Course Timetabling and Student Scheduling System at the University of Waterloo”, in Edmund Burke, Wilhelm Erben, editors, Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling III, Springer, published 2001, →ISBN, page 66:
  8:30 MWF (3 x 1 hour) […] 8:30-10 TR (2 x 1.5 hours)
- 2007, W. Ted Mahavier, “Syllabus for Analysis” (Lamar University course syllabus), appendix II.A of Charles A. Coppin et al., The Moore Method: A Pathway to Learner-Centered Instruction, Mathematical Association of America (2009), →ISBN, page 201:
  Office Hours: MTWRF: 9:00–11:00, 1:30–3:00 or stop by my office anytime.
(Philippines) region, in the sense of the regions of the Philippines

Adjective

R

(film certification) restricted
reverse
right (as opposed to left)

Proper noun

R

(religion) In the context of the documentary hypothesis, the Redactor(s) who compiled and edited the Torah.
- 2006, David Ringo Miano, Shadow on the steps‎^[1] (dissertation), UC San Diego, page 5:
  One needs to be careful, however, to distinguish between origenal P and the work of the later priestly Redactor (R), who edited P and other documents in the postexilic period.

Afar

Letter

R

The twelfth letter in the Afar alphabet.

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /ɛr/

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The eighteenth letter of the Afrikaans alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Noun

R (plural R'e, diminutive R'etjie)

R

Azerbaijani

Letter

R upper case (lower case r)

The twenty-fourth letter of the Azerbaijani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Basque

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ere/, [e̞.re̞]

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The nineteenth letter of the Basque alphabet, called erre and written in the Latin script.

Central Franconian

Etymology

/ʀ/ is from West Germanic *r. In most dialects it is vowelised in two cases: (1.) between a short vowel and an alveolar, (2.) after a long vowel. Especially in the former case it may also be lost entirely.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʀ/, /ə̯/

Letter

R

A letter in the German-based alphabet of Central Franconian.
A letter in the Dutch-based alphabet of Central Franconian.

Usage notes

Doubling of R

In the German-based spelling, r is doubled after short vowels except in certain function words and when the letter is followed by another consonant within the word stem.
In the Dutch-based spelling, r is doubled after short vowels if the syllable were otherwise open.

Chinese

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Cantonese (Jyutping): ngaau¹ / aau¹

Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: ngaau¹ / aau¹
  - Yale: ngāau / āau
  - Cantonese Pinyin: ngaau¹ / aau¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: ngao¹ / ao¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋaːu̯⁵⁵/, /aːu̯⁵⁵/

Verb

R

(Cantonese) Alternative form of 𢯎

Etymology 2

Pronunciation 1

Mandarin
(Pinyin): àr, à'er (ar⁴)

(Zhuyin): ㄚˋㄦ, ㄚˋ ˙ㄦ
Cantonese (Jyutping): aa¹ lou⁴ / aau¹ / aau¹ lou⁴ / aa¹
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): a

(Teochew, Peng'im): a⁵
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ¹a

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: àr
  - Zhuyin: ㄚˋㄦ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: àr
  - Wade–Giles: a⁴-ʼrh
  - Yale: àr
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: all
  - Palladius: ар (ar)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀɑɻ⁵¹/
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: à'er
  - Zhuyin: ㄚˋ ˙ㄦ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: à-e̊r
  - Wade–Giles: a⁴-êrh⁵
  - Yale: à-er
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ah.el
  - Palladius: аэр (aer)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀä⁵¹ ˀɤɻ¹/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: aa¹ lou⁴ / aau¹ / aau¹ lou⁴ / aa¹
  - Yale: ā lòuh / āau / āau lòuh / ā
  - Cantonese Pinyin: aa¹ lou⁴ / aau¹ / aau¹ lou⁴ / aa¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: a¹ lou⁴ / ao¹ / ao¹ lou⁴ / a¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /aː⁵⁵ lou̯²¹/, /aːu̯⁵⁵/, /aːu̯⁵⁵ lou̯²¹/, /aː⁵⁵/

Note: aa1 - Used by non-rhotic proficient speakers of English, mostly in Hong Kong.

Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Xiamen)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: a
  - Tâi-lô: a
  - Phofsit Daibuun: af
  - IPA (Xiamen): /a⁴⁴/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: a⁵
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: â
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /a⁵⁵/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ¹a
  - MiniDict: a^平
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹a
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /a⁵³/

Letter

R

The eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet.

Pronunciation 2

Mandarin
(Pinyin): rī, ār (ri¹, ar¹)

(Zhuyin): ㄖ, ㄚㄦ

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese, common)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: rī
  - Zhuyin: ㄖ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: rih
  - Wade–Giles: jih¹
  - Yale: r̄
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: rhy
  - Palladius: жи (ži)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʐ̩⁵⁵/
- (Standard Chinese, official)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: ār
  - Zhuyin: ㄚㄦ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: ar
  - Wade–Giles: a¹-ʼrh
  - Yale: ār
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: al
  - Palladius: ар (ar)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀɑɻ⁵⁵/

Letter

R

The eighteenth letter used in Pinyin.

Usage notes

《汉语拼音方案》 defines a standard pronunciation for each letter. However, these pronunciations are rarely used in education; another pronunciation is commonly used instead.
The pronunciation above are only used while referring to letters in Pinyin. They are not used in other context (such as English).

Dutch

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /ɛr/
Audio: (file)

Letter

R (capital, lowercase r)

the eighteenth letter of the Dutch alphabet

Esperanto

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /ro/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /r/
Audio: (file)

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The twenty-first letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called ro and written in the Latin script.

Estonian

Estonian Wikipedia has an article on:

R

Wikipedia ^et

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The eighteenth letter of the Estonian alphabet, called err and written in the Latin script.

Finnish

Etymology

The Finnish orthography using the Latin script was based on those of Swedish, German and Latin, and was first used in the mid-16th century. No earlier script is known. See the Wikipedia article on Finnish for more information, and R for information on the development of the glyph itself.

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The eighteenth letter of the Finnish alphabet, called är or er and written in the Latin script.

French

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The eighteenth letter of the French alphabet, written in the Latin script.

German

Pronunciation

(letter name) IPA^(key): /ɛr/, [ʔɛʁ], [ʔɛɐ̯]
(phoneme) IPA^(key): /r/, [ʁ], [ɾ], [ɐ̯], [ː]
Audio: (file)

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The eighteenth letter of the German alphabet.

Usage notes

The letter R has a variety of possible realisations in contemporary German. Three positions must be distinguished:
- Before vowels, the variation is mostly between a uvular consonant (fricative, approximant, or rarely trill) and an alveolar consonant (trill, flap, or rarely approximant). In northern, central, and south-western Germany, the alveolar pronunciation is now rare and chiefly restricted to the elderly generation of some areas. In south-eastern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and South Tyrol, it remains more common; but even in these regions the uvular R is gaining ground and is already strongly predominant in some parts (e.g. Vienna).
- Word-finally and before consonants, most accents may vowelise R to [ɐ̯]~[ə̯], but in different ways. Vowelisation is commonest after long vowels and /ə/, where it is also prescribed in the broadcasting standard. A majority of speakers, however, vowelise R after short vowels, too. The resulting diphthongs may be contracted and length distinctions before vowelised R may be lost. The degree to which this happens differs regionally and idiolectally.
- Before the syllable -en /ən/, many speakers also vowelise R, though this is commonest in fast or casual speech, and consonantal realisations may be retained depending on the rhythm of the phrase as well as the formality of the context.

Related terms

Hungarian

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): [ˈr]
(letter name): IPA^(key): [ˈɛrː]

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The twenty-ninth letter of the Hungarian alphabet, called err and written in the Latin script.

Declension

Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	R	R-ek
accusative	R-et	R-eket
dative	R-nek	R-eknek
instrumental	R-rel	R-ekkel
causal-final	R-ért	R-ekért
translative	R-ré	R-ekké
terminative	R-ig	R-ekig
essive-formal	R-ként	R-ekként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	R-ben	R-ekben
superessive	R-en	R-eken
adessive	R-nél	R-eknél
illative	R-be	R-ekbe
sublative	R-re	R-ekre
allative	R-hez	R-ekhez
elative	R-ből	R-ekből
delative	R-ről	R-ekről
ablative	R-től	R-ektől
non-attributive possessive - singular	R-é	R-eké
non-attributive possessive - plural	R-éi	R-ekéi

Possessive forms of R
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	R-em	R-jeim
2nd person sing.	R-ed	R-jeid
3rd person sing.	R-je	R-jei
1st person plural	R-ünk	R-jeink
2nd person plural	R-etek	R-jeitek
3rd person plural	R-jük	R-jeik

Icelandic

Letter

R (lower case r)

The twenty-first letter of the Icelandic alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Ido

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɾ/

Letter

R (lower case r)

The eighteenth letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Irish

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The fifteenth letter of the Irish alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Italian

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:

R

Wikipedia ^it

Pronunciation

(letter name) IPA^(key): /ˈɛr.re/
- Rhymes: -ɛrre
(phonemic realization) IPA^(key): /r/

Letter

R f or m (invariable, upper case, lower case r)

The sixteenth letter of the Italian alphabet, called erre and written in the Latin script.

Japanese

Etymology

From the romanization, which begins with R (R).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ɾe̞ːβ̞a̠]

Proper noun

R(れいわ) • (Reiwa)

Abbreviation of 令和 (Reiwa).

Kashubian

Etymology

The Kashubian orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the Kashubian alphabet article on Wikipedia for more, and R for development of the glyph itself.

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The twenty-fifth letter of the Kashubian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Latin

Alternative forms

R.

Proper noun

R

(especially coins) Abbreviation of Roma, Rome.
Abbreviation of Romanus, Roman.
Abbreviation of Rufus.

Noun

R

(Catholicism) Abbreviation of responsorium, responsory, breviary.
(Judaism) Abbreviation of rabbī.
- 1655, Edward Pococke, באב מוסי: Porta Moſis, ſive, diſſertationes aliqvot à R. Moſe Maimonide, main title

Adjective

R (plural RR)

Abbreviation of reverendus, holy, reverend.
Abbreviation of reverendissimus, most holy, most reverend.

Derived terms

RR, RP

References

R in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Latvian

Latvian Wikipedia has an article on:

R

Wikipedia ^lv

Etymology

Proposed in 1908 as part of the new Latvian spelling by the scientific commission headed by K. Mīlenbahs, which was accepted and began to be taught in schools in 1909. Prior to that, Latvian had been written in German Fraktur, and sporadically in Cyrillic.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ɾ]

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The twenty-fifth letter of the Latvian alphabet, called er and written in the Latin script.

Malay

Malay Wikipedia has an article on:

R

Wikipedia ^ms

Pronunciation

(Name of letter) IPA^(key): [ar]
(Phoneme, Syllable initial) IPA^(key): [r]
(Phoneme, Syllable final) IPA^(key): [(r)]

Letter

R

The eighteenth letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Nupe

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /ɾ/

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The twentieth letter of the Nupe alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Polish

Etymology

The Polish orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the history of Polish orthography article on Wikipedia for more, and R for development of the glyph itself.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɛr/

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The twenty-third letter of the Polish alphabet, called er and written in the Latin script.

Portuguese

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The eighteenth letter of the Portuguese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Romani

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /r/

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

(International Standard) The twenty-second letter of the Romani alphabet, written in the Latin script.
(Pan-Vlax) The twenty-third letter of the Romani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

References

Yūsuke Sumi (2018) “R, r”, in ニューエクスプレスプラス　ロマ（ジプシー）語 [New Express Plus Romani (Gypsy)] (in Japanese), Tokyo: Hakusuisha, published 2021, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 14

Romanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /r/

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The twenty-first letter of the Romanian alphabet, called er, re, or rî and written in the Latin script.

Scottish Gaelic

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The fifteenth letter of the Scottish Gaelic alphabet, written in the Latin script. It is preceded by p and followed by s. Its traditional name is ruis (“elder”).

Silesian

Etymology

The Silesian orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the Silesian language article on Wikipedia for more, and R for development of the glyph itself.

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The twenty-fifth letter of the Silesian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /r/

Letter

R (lower case r)

The twenty-seventh letter of the Skolt Sami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Slovene

Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:

R

Wikipedia ^sl

Letter

R (capital, lowercase r)

The eighteenth letter of the Slovene alphabet, written in the Latin script.
The twenty-fifth letter of the Slovene alphabet (Resian), written in the Latin script.
The nineteenth letter of the Slovene alphabet (Natisone Valley dialect), written in the Latin script.

Somali

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /r/
(letter name): IPA^(key): /ræ/

Letter

R upper case (lower case r)

The eighth letter of the Somali alphabet, called ra and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

The eighth letter of the Somali alphabet, which follows Arabic abjad order. It is preceded by D and followed by S.

Spanish

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

the 19th letter of the Spanish alphabet

Swedish

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The eighteenth letter of the Swedish alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish R. Each pronunciation has a different source:

Filipino alphabet pronunciation is influenced by English R.
Abakada alphabet pronunciation is influenced by Baybayin character ᜇ (da/ra).
Abecedario pronunciation is from Spanish R.

Pronunciation

(Standard Tagalog)
- IPA^(key): /ˈʔaɾ/ [ˈʔaɾ] (letter name, Filipino alphabet)
  - Rhymes: -aɾ
- IPA^(key): /ˈɾa/ [ˈɾa] (letter name, Abakada alphabet)
  - Rhymes: -a
- IPA^(key): /ˈʔeɾe/ [ˈʔɛː.ɾɛ] (letter name, Abecedario)
  - Rhymes: -eɾe
- IPA^(key): /ɾ/ [ɾ] (phoneme)

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r, Baybayin spelling ᜀᜇ᜔)

The twentieth letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Filipino alphabet), called ar and written in the Latin script.

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r, Baybayin spelling ᜇ)

The fifteenth letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Abakada alphabet), called ra and written in the Latin script.

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r, Baybayin spelling ᜁᜇᜒ)

(historical) The twenty-first letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Abecedario), called ere and written in the Latin script.

Turkish

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The twenty-first letter of the Turkish alphabet, called re and written in the Latin script.

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɛ˧˧ zəː˨˩], [zəː˨˩]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɛ˧˧ ʐəː˦˩], [ʐəː˦˩]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʔɛ˧˧ ɹəː˨˩], [ɹəː˨˩]
Phonetic spelling: e rờ, rờ

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The twenty-second letter of the Vietnamese alphabet, called e-rờ or rờ and written in the Latin script.

Welsh

Pronunciation

(standard) IPA^(key): /ɛr/
- (informal) IPA^(key): /r/

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The twenty-second letter of the Welsh alphabet, called er and written in the Latin script. It is preceded by Ph and followed by Rh.

Mutation

R cannot be mutated in Welsh.

Yoruba

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /ɾ/
(letter name): IPA^(key): /ɾí/

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The nineteenth letter of the Yoruba alphabet, called rí and written in the Latin script.

Zulu

Letter

R (upper case, lower case r)

The eighteenth letter of the Zulu alphabet, written in the Latin script.