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R, the eighteenth letter of the English alphabet, is a vocal consonant. It is sometimes called a semivowel, and a liquid. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 178, 179, and 250-254. "R is the dog's letter and hurreth in the sound." B. Jonson.

with which it is expressed; to peruse; as, to read a discourse; to read the letters of an alphabet; to read figures; to read the notes of music, or to read music; to read a book. Redeth [read ye] the great poet of Itaille. Chaucer. Well could he rede a lesson or a story. Chaucer.

y of the Romanic tongues. Romanic spelling, spelling by means of the letters of the Roman alphabet, as in English; -- contrasted with phonetic spelling.

ounds, proposed by Mr. Sweet; -- so called because it is based on the common Roman-letter alphabet. It is like the palæotype of Mr. Ellis in the general plan, but simpler.

the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet, is a consonanat, and is often called a sibilant, in allusion to its hissing sound. It has two principal sounds; one a more hissing, as in sack, this; the other a vocal hissing (the same as that of z), as in is, wise. Besides these it sometimes has the sounds of sh and zh,…

first attention to phrases and sentences and later analyzing these into their verbal and alphabetic components; -- contrasted with alphabet and word methods.

ntaining the Greek version of the ordinance, has recently been discovered. I. Taylor (The Alphabet).

The expressing of the sounds of a language by syllables, rather than by an alphabet or by signs for words. I. Taylor (The Alphabet).

The art or practice of rapid writing; shorthand writing; stenography. I. Taylor (The Alphabet).

A letter of the Greek alphabet corresponding to th in English; -- sometimes called the unlucky letter, from being used by the judges on their ballots in passing condemnation on a prisoner, it being the first letter of the Greek qa`natos, death. Theta function (Math.), one of a group of functions used in developing the…

To express or represent in the characters of another alphabet; as, to transliterate Sanskrit words by means of English letters. A. J. Ellis.

ansliterating, or of expressing words of a language by means of the characters of another alphabet.

Employing two hangs; as, the two-hand alphabet. See Dactylology.

U, the twenty-first letter of the English alphabet, is a cursive form of the letter V, with which it was formerly used interchangeably, both letters being then used both as vowels and consonants. U and V are now, however, differentiated, U being used only as a vowel or semivowel, and V only as a consonant. The true pri…

The 20th letter (U, u) of the Greek alphabet, a vowel having originally the sound of oo as in room, becoming before the 4th century b. c. that French u or Ger. ü. Its equivalent in English is u or y.

V, the twenty-second letter of the English alphabet, is a vocal consonant. V and U are only varieties of the same character, U being the cursive form, while V is better adapted for engraving, as in stone. The two letters were formerly used indiscriminately, and till a comparatively recent date words containing them wer…

orthern coast Mindanao; also, their language. The Visayans possessed a native culture and alphabet.

A list or collection of words arranged in alphabetical order and explained; a dictionary or lexicon, either of a whole language, a single work or author, a branch of science, or the like; a word-book.

W, the twenty-third letter of the English alphabet, is usually a consonant, but sometimes it is a vowel, forming the second element of certain diphthongs, as in few, how. It takes its written form and its name from the repetition of a V, this being the original form of the Roman capital letter which we call U. Etymolog…

hich words are first taken as single ideograms and later analyzed into their phonetic and alphabetic elements; -- contrasted with the alphabet and sentence methods.