R

18th letter of the English alphabet, corresponding to the Semitic resh and Greek rho (Ρ, ρ). A liquid, pronounced with the tip of the tongue on the palate, it is sometimes trilled by vibration of the tongue, especially in Scotland. In most US accents and many regional British accents, r is pronounced /r/; in other accents and in received pronunciation, no /r/ is pronounced where the following sound is a consonant, as in ‘farm’ and ‘court’, or when the r is in final position, as in ‘car’.

It was the 17th letter in the Greek and Roman alphabets, and the twentieth in the North Semitic. In Greek the symbol became rho, from which the Latin and English letter is derived. The sound in these ancient languages was a voiced alveolar roll. In modern European languages r exhibits considerable variation both between and within languages.

r

The supertonic note, pronounced ‘Ray’, in any key in tonic sol-fa notation, the system of musical notation without staves and notes and based on the old syllabic system of Do (Ut), Re, Mi, and so on