J
pronunciation
How to pronounce J in British English:
UK [dʒeɪ]
How to pronounce J in American English:
US
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- Noun:
- a unit of electrical energy equal to the work done when a current of one ampere passes through a resistance of one ohm for one second
- the 10th letter of the Roman alphabet
Word Origin
- J
- the letter is a late modification of Roman -i-, originally a scribal creation in continental Medieval Latin to distinguish small -i- in cursive writing from the strokes of other letters, especially in the final positions of words. But in English, -y- was used for this, and -j- was introduced into English c. 1600-1640 to take up the consonantal sound that had evolved from -i- since Late Latin times. This usage first was attested in Spanish, where it was in place before 1600. English dictionaries continued to lump together words beginning in -i- and -j- until 19c., and -j- formerly was skipped when letters were used to express serial order. Used in modern writing to represent Latin -i- before -a-, -e-, -o-, -u- in the same syllable, which in Latin was sounded as the consonant in Modern English you, yam, etc., but the custom is controversial among Latinists: The character J, j, which represents the letter sound in some school-books, is an invention of the seventeenth century, and is not found in MSS., nor in the best texts of the Latin authors. [Lewis] In words from Hebrew, -j- represents yodh, which was equivalent to English consonantal y (as in hallelujah) but in many names it later was conformed in sound to the -j- of Latin or French (Jesus).
Example
- 1. Zheng more recently was found at j crew .
- 2. The j was added later .
- 3. You can findfly fishing by j r hartley on amazon .
- 4. You call their army staff to visit kashmir . Who are they to come to j and k ?
- 5. Less common letters , like j and k , were moved off that row .