R 18th letter of the English alphabet and a letter employed in the alphabets of other w European languages, It is a consonant and is descended from the Semitic letter resh, a name meaning “head”. It passed almost unchanged into the Greek alphabet as rho (which resembled more the modern English p) and from there to the Roman alphabet. The Romans gave it its present form. Numerous different sorts of sound in the world's languages are transliterated by r. It may be articulated with the tongue against the alveolar ridge (upper tooth ridge) or with the uvula against the velum (soft palate) at the back of the mouth. The breath is made to pass over the tongue or uvula in such a way that the organ in question. held in a relaxed state, makes one or more taps against the adjacent part of the mouth. One such tap is known as a flap, a succession of taps is a trill. In British and American English, a common way of pronouncing r is simply to turn the tongue backwards against the alveolar ridge, producing a post alveola or retroflex r. In the most widely used forms of modern British English, an r is not pronounced at all after a vowel or between a vowel and a consonant. (for, card). It is only pronounced when immediately followed by a vowel, as in rug, free. In American English, a retroflex r is commonly pronounced in all word positions. A uvular r is not much used in any form of English, except in parts of rural of Northumberland, but is a common feature in languages such as French or German.