P, or p, is the sixteenth 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 pee (pronounced /ˈpiː/ ), plural pees.
| P | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| P p | |||
 | |||
| Usage | |||
| Writing system | Latin script | ||
| Type | Alphabetic and logographic | ||
| Language of origin | Latin language | ||
| Sound values | [p] [pʰ] [(p)f] [pʼ] [b] /piː/ | ||
| In Unicode | U+0050, U+0070 | ||
| Alphabetical position | 16 | ||
| History | |||
| Development |
| ||
| Time period | ~−700 to present | ||
| Descendants | • Ᵽ • ₱ • ℘ • ⅌ • ℗ • ♇ • ꟼ • ¶ | ||
| Sisters | Π π Ⲡ П ף פ פּ ف ܦ ࠐ 𐎔 በ ጰ ፐ Պ պ प 𐍀 པ | ||
| Other | |||
| Associated graphs | p(x), ph | ||
| Writing direction | Left-to-right | ||
| This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |||
History
The Semitic Pê (mouth), as well as the Greek Π or π (Pi), and the Etruscan and Latin letters that developed from the former alphabet all symbolized /p/, a voiceless bilabial plosive.
| Egyptian | Proto-Sinaitic | Proto-Canaanite pʿit | Phoenician Pe | Western Greek Pi | Etruscan P | Latin P | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|  |  |  |  |  |  |
Use in writing systems
| Orthography | Phonemes |
|---|---|
| Standard Chinese (Pinyin) | /pʰ/ |
| English | /p/, silent |
| French | /p/, silent |
| German | /p/ |
| Portuguese | /p/ |
| Spanish | /p/ |
| Turkish | /p/ |
English
In English orthography, ⟨p⟩ represents the sound /p/.
A common digraph in English is ⟨ph⟩, which represents the sound /f/, and can be used to transliterate ⟨φ⟩ phi in loanwords from Greek. In German, the digraph ⟨pf⟩ is common, representing a labial affricate /pf/.
Most English words beginning with ⟨p⟩ are of foreign origin, primarily French, Latin and Greek; these languages preserve the Proto-Indo-European initial *p. Native English cognates of such words often start with ⟨f⟩, since English is a Germanic language and thus has undergone Grimm's law; a native English word with an initial /p/ would reflect Proto-Indo-European initial *b, which is so rare that its existence as a phoneme is disputed. However, native English words with non-initial ⟨p⟩ are quite common; such words can come from either Kluge's law or the consonant cluster /sp/ (PIE: *p has been preserved after s).
P is the eighth least frequently used letter in the English language.
Other languages
In most European languages, ⟨p⟩ represents the sound /p/.
Other systems
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, ⟨p⟩ is used to represent the voiceless bilabial plosive.
Other uses
- A bold italic letter p is used in musical notation as a dynamic indicator for "quiet". It stands for the Italian word piano.
Related characters
Ancestors, descendants and siblings
The Latin letter P represents the same sound as the Greek letter Pi, but it looks like the Greek letter Rho.
- 𐤐 : Semitic letter Pe, from which the following symbols originally derive:
- Π π : Greek letter Pi
- 𐌐 : Old Italic and Old Latin P, which derives from Greek Pi, and is the ancestor of modern Latin P. The Roman P had this form (𐌐) on coins and inscriptions until the reign of Claudius, c. 50 AD.
- 𐍀 : Gothic letter pertra/pairþa, which derives from Greek Pi
- П п : Cyrillic letter Pe, which derives from Greek Pi
- Ⲡ ⲡ : Coptic letter Pi
- Պ պ: Armenian letter Pe
- Π π : Greek letter Pi
- P with diacritics: Ṕ ṕ Ṗ ṗ Ᵽ ᵽ Ƥ ƥ ᵱᶈ
- Turned P
- Uralic Phonetic Alphabet-specific symbols related to P:
- U+1D18 ᴘ LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL P
- U+1D3E ᴾ MODIFIER LETTER CAPITAL P
- U+1D56 ᵖ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL P
- p : Subscript small p was used in the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet prior to its formal standardization in 1902
Derived ligatures, abbreviations, signs and symbols
- ₱ : Philippine peso sign
- 𝒫, 𝓅 : script letter P (uppercase and lowercase, respectively), used in mathematics. (In other contexts, a script typeface (or computer font) should be used.)
- ℘ Weierstrass p
- ℗ : sound recording copyright symbol
- ♇ : Pluto symbol
- ꟼ : Reversed P was used in ancient Roman texts to stand for puella (girl)
- Ꝑ ꝑ, Ꝓ ꝓ, Ꝕ, ꝕ : Various forms of P were used for medieval scribal abbreviations
Other representations
Computing
| Preview | P | p | Ｐ | ｐ | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P | LATIN SMALL LETTER P | FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P | FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER P | ||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 80 | U+0050 | 112 | U+0070 | 65328 | U+FF30 | 65360 | U+FF50 |
| UTF-8 | 80 | 50 | 112 | 70 | 239 188 176 | EF BC B0 | 239 189 144 | EF BD 90 |
| Numeric character reference | P | P | p | p | Ｐ | Ｐ | ｐ | ｐ |
| EBCDIC family | 215 | D7 | 151 | 97 | ||||
| ASCII | 80 | 50 | 112 | 70 | ||||
- Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.
Other
| NATO phonetic | Morse code |
| Papa |
 |
|  |  |  |
| Signal flag | Flag semaphore | American manual alphabet (ASL fingerspelling) | British manual alphabet (BSL fingerspelling) | Unified English Braille |
See also
- Mind your Ps and Qs
- Pence or "penny", the English slang for which is p (e.g. "20p" = 20 pence)
References
- "P", Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989); Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (1993); "pee," op. cit.
- Randel, Don Michael (2003). The Harvard Dictionary of Music (4th ed.). Cambridge, MA, US: Harvard University Press Reference Library.
- "Piano". Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
- Constable, Peter (2003-09-30). "L2/03-174R2: Proposal to Encode Phonetic Symbols with Middle Tilde in the UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-10-11. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
- Constable, Peter (2004-04-19). "L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-10-11. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
- Everson, Michael; et al. (2002-03-20). "L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-02-19. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
- Ruppel, Klaas; Aalto, Tero; Everson, Michael (2009-01-27). "L2/09-028: Proposal to encode additional characters for the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-10-11. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
- Perry, David J. (2006-08-01). "L2/06-269: Proposal to Add Additional Ancient Roman Characters to UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-06-14. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
- Everson, Michael; Baker, Peter; Emiliano, António; Grammel, Florian; Haugen, Odd Einar; Luft, Diana; Pedro, Susana; Schumacher, Gerd; Stötzner, Andreas (2006-01-30). "L2/06-027: Proposal to add Medievalist characters to the UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-09-19. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
External links
Media related to P at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition of P at Wiktionary
The dictionary definition of p at Wiktionary
For technical reasons P redirects here For the keyboard symbol see List of emoticons P or p is the sixteenth 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 pee pronounced ˈ p iː plural pees PP pUsageWriting systemLatin scriptTypeAlphabetic and logographicLanguage of originLatin languageSound values p pʰ p f pʼ b p iː In UnicodeU 0050 U 0070Alphabetical position16HistoryDevelopment𐌐P pTime period 700 to presentDescendants Ᵽ ꟼ SistersP p Ⲡ P ף פ פ ف ܦ ࠐ 𐎔 በ ጰ ፐ Պ պ प 𐍀 པOtherAssociated graphsp x phWriting directionLeft to rightThis article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet IPA For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA For the distinction between and see IPA Brackets and transcription delimiters HistoryThe Semitic Pe mouth as well as the Greek P or p Pi and the Etruscan and Latin letters that developed from the former alphabet all symbolized p a voiceless bilabial plosive Egyptian Proto Sinaitic Proto Canaanite pʿit Phoenician Pe Western Greek Pi Etruscan P Latin PUse in writing systemsPronunciation of p by language Orthography PhonemesStandard Chinese Pinyin pʰ English p silentFrench p silentGerman p Portuguese p Spanish p Turkish p Late Renaissance or early Baroque design of a P from 1627English In English orthography p represents the sound p A common digraph in English is ph which represents the sound f and can be used to transliterate f phi in loanwords from Greek In German the digraph pf is common representing a labial affricate pf Most English words beginning with p are of foreign origin primarily French Latin and Greek these languages preserve the Proto Indo European initial p Native English cognates of such words often start with f since English is a Germanic language and thus has undergone Grimm s law a native English word with an initial p would reflect Proto Indo European initial b which is so rare that its existence as a phoneme is disputed However native English words with non initial p are quite common such words can come from either Kluge s law or the consonant cluster sp PIE p has been preserved after s P is the eighth least frequently used letter in the English language Other languages In most European languages p represents the sound p Other systems In the International Phonetic Alphabet p is used to represent the voiceless bilabial plosive Other usesA bold italic letter p is used in musical notation as a dynamic indicator for quiet It stands for the Italian word piano Related charactersAncestors descendants and siblings The Latin letter P represents the same sound as the Greek letter Pi but it looks like the Greek letter Rho 𐤐 Semitic letter Pe from which the following symbols originally derive P p Greek letter Pi 𐌐 Old Italic and Old Latin P which derives from Greek Pi and is the ancestor of modern Latin P The Roman P had this form 𐌐 on coins and inscriptions until the reign of Claudius c 50 AD 𐍀 Gothic letter pertra pairtha which derives from Greek Pi P p Cyrillic letter Pe which derives from Greek Pi Ⲡ ⲡ Coptic letter Pi Պ պ Armenian letter Pe P with diacritics Ṕ ṕ Ṗ ṗ Ᵽ ᵽ Ƥ ƥ ᵱᶈ Turned P Uralic Phonetic Alphabet specific symbols related to P U 1D18 ᴘ LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL P U 1D3E ᴾ MODIFIER LETTER CAPITAL P U 1D56 ᵖ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL P p Subscript small p was used in the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet prior to its formal standardization in 1902Derived ligatures abbreviations signs and symbols Philippine peso sign 𝒫 𝓅 script letter P uppercase and lowercase respectively used in mathematics In other contexts a script typeface or computer font should be used Weierstrass p sound recording copyright symbol Pluto symbol ꟼ Reversed P was used in ancient Roman texts to stand for puella girl Ꝑ ꝑ Ꝓ ꝓ Ꝕ ꝕ Various forms of P were used for medieval scribal abbreviationsOther representationsComputing Character information Preview P p Ｐ ｐUnicode name LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P LATIN SMALL LETTER P FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER PEncodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hexUnicode 80 U 0050 112 U 0070 65328 U FF30 65360 U FF50UTF 8 80 50 112 70 239 188 176 EF BC B0 239 189 144 EF BD 90Numeric character reference amp 80 wbr amp x50 wbr amp 112 wbr amp x70 wbr amp 65328 wbr amp xFF30 wbr amp 65360 wbr amp xFF50 wbr EBCDIC family 215 D7 151 97ASCII 80 50 112 70Also for encodings based on ASCII including the DOS Windows ISO 8859 and Macintosh families of encodings Other NATO phonetic Morse codePapaSignal flag Flag semaphore American manual alphabet ASL fingerspelling British manual alphabet BSL fingerspelling Unified English BrailleSee alsoMind your Ps and Qs Pence or penny the English slang for which is p e g 20p 20 pence References P Oxford English Dictionary 2nd edition 1989 Merriam Webster s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged 1993 pee op cit Randel Don Michael 2003 The Harvard Dictionary of Music 4th ed Cambridge MA US Harvard University Press Reference Library Piano Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary Archived from the original on 22 October 2014 Retrieved 19 March 2012 Constable Peter 2003 09 30 L2 03 174R2 Proposal to Encode Phonetic Symbols with Middle Tilde in the UCS PDF Archived PDF from the original on 2017 10 11 Retrieved 2018 03 24 Constable Peter 2004 04 19 L2 04 132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS PDF Archived PDF from the original on 2017 10 11 Retrieved 2018 03 24 Everson Michael et al 2002 03 20 L2 02 141 Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS PDF Archived PDF from the original on 2018 02 19 Retrieved 2018 03 24 Ruppel Klaas Aalto Tero Everson Michael 2009 01 27 L2 09 028 Proposal to encode additional characters for the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet PDF Archived PDF from the original on 2017 10 11 Retrieved 2018 03 24 Perry David J 2006 08 01 L2 06 269 Proposal to Add Additional Ancient Roman Characters to UCS PDF Archived PDF from the original on 2019 06 14 Retrieved 2018 03 24 Everson Michael Baker Peter Emiliano Antonio Grammel Florian Haugen Odd Einar Luft Diana Pedro Susana Schumacher Gerd Stotzner Andreas 2006 01 30 L2 06 027 Proposal to add Medievalist characters to the UCS PDF Archived PDF from the original on 2018 09 19 Retrieved 2018 03 24 External linksMedia related to P at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of P at Wiktionary The dictionary definition of p at Wiktionary
