R (letter)

R is the 17th letter of the English alphabet. Its name is pronounced ar (with that r silent in British English before a consonant or final: ah).

Use in English

r is rather weak in most varieties of English. (Compare the trilled r’s of Spanish and Italian or the guttural r’s of French and German, and the two r sounds of Portuguese: it resembles single, medial and final Portuguese r, never double or initial guttural.)

It is pronounced in the front of the mouth (but not so far as Japanese r: the tongue doesn’t go quite so near the teeth): réd, rêal, rîce, wrîte read = rîght, correct, side, rún, árrow, írritate, érror, cárry, bárrier, wróng, rāther (the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English phonemes).

But it is silent in BrE, before another consonant, although significantly affecting the pronunciation of the preceding vowel (this is sometimes rather confusingly called ‘post-vocalic’ r: pre-consonantal would be more exact): hàrd, vërse, fïrm, wörd, bŏrn, bürn, heàrt, hëard, cürl, nŏrth, wörk, bïrd, përson, làrge, wård, and in îron metal, which in BrE = îon electron.

It can occur before any consonant, although it is rare before j: përjury, màrjoram, Màrjorie.

As in AmE áfterwards, r before consonants is not silent in General American, Scottish, Irish and many other varieties of English, where, in every example given above, the r is distinctly heard.

r is very often doubled in the middle of words, especially after á, é and ú and before ôw and y, giving the short sound of the preceding vowel: árrow, márrow, búrrow, fúrrow, Térry, Dérry, cúrry, sórry, mérry, márry, hárry, húrry. And also in bárrack, bárrier, cárrot, érror, térror, jàrring, bàrring, hárrier, férret. Sometimes it doubles after other sounds: für + -y = fürry, and wòrry (AmE wörry, effect of w on o). And of course before -ed and -ing added to words ending in r: stàrring, bàrred (cf. bŏred, from bŏre, which ends in e). But not always: véry, árid, and never after the sound ã: fãiry, vãry.

rh from initial Greek r, occurs at the beginning of some words; the h is redundant: Rhôdes, rhodedéndron, rhôdium, rhêsus, rhétoric, rhetórical, rhýthm, rhŷme, rhûbarb, rhápsody, rhêa (a as schwa: *rìə) rheûmatism, rheumátic, and beware of diarrhoêa.

wr, too, is, pronounced r; it too tends to appear at the beginning of words, some very common: wrîte read (= rîght correct, side) wróng, wrétch poor (= rétch vomit) wrítten, wréck, wrŷ, awrŷ. Rêad and wrîte; rîght and wróng: both r- followed by wr-.

rw is rare and accidental: fŏrwards, òtherwise, āfterwards.

Initial re- is pronounced ré when part of a long-established word: réverie, recolléct récognise (and in réctify, where ré isn’t actually a prefix) or like an unstressed rí- : recür, revërse, rehëarse, regâle, relŷ, recêive, recoil.

But re-, when less ‘connected’ to the rest of the word, can be stressed equally with the other tonic syllable, as rê-, in verbs: rêcáp, rêdesîgn, rêdo, rêwrîte, rêplây, and receives sole stress in shorter nouns: rêplay, rêtail, and equal stress in longer nouns: rêpercússion, rêdevélopment.

Effect on preceding vowels

r before a consonant is not pronounced separately in BrE, nor usually in Australasian or Welsh English, but it is audible in most American, Scottish and Irish pronunciations. It has, as we have briefly seen, an important effect on preceding vowels:

àr as in bàr, stàr, stàrt, làrva, càr, margarìne (màrj-) stàrve, Càrl, màrk, vãry, stãre look (= stãir step) cãring, nefãrious, wãres goods, phãraoh (-rô), Clãra and similarly in: ãerial, Ãyrshire, BrE mãyor

ãr, ãir as in cãring, bãre naked = béãr animal, stãir step = stãre look wãry, ãir, fãiry

ër as in për, përson, dërvish, nërvous, fërn, bërth ship (= bïrth born), vërve, përson, prefër - but most often unstressed as in bútter

êar as in êar hêar nêar bêard dêar loved, expensive

less often, ëar as in ëarth hëard lëarn pëarl

êer as in vêer dêer animal (sêer is two syllables: *sê-er)

êir as in wêir water = Wêir person (= wê’re we are) wêird

eùr as in eùro Eùrope áneurism neùral (all yù-)

ìêr as in cavalìêr chandelìêr fìêrce pìêr pìêrce = Pìêrce (= Pêarce persons)

ïr as in bïrd gïrl stïr flïrt

ŏar as in ŏar bŏard rŏar sŏar fly (= sŏre hurt)

ŏr as in ŏr bŏre doŏr nŏrmal bŏrn

ür as in blür fürniture bürn spürn türn

ûr as in pûre pûrest fûry jûry rûral dûring

ÿr as in mÿrrh mÿrtle

but with a completely different effect after w: wårm, wårning, wårble; ẁarrant, Ẁarwick (= ó, as in ẁas, ẁant)

ear: 1. usually = êer: clêar, hêar, wêary, êar, fêar, dêar

2.= ër: hëard, ëarly, dëarth, ëarth

3.= àr: heàrt, heàrth

êer = êar (1): stêer, dêer, quêer, bêer, shêer absolute (= shêar shears)

ïr = ër: gïrl, bïrth, stïr, fïr, dïrt, flïrt

ŏr: ŏr, fŏrt, tŏrch, mŏrning, wŏrn - but, after w, usually ö: wörth, wörd, wörm, wörk, wörse (but not in wòrry)

ür = ïr = ër: bürn, distürb, hürt, spürn, pürse or as in: pûre, allûre, jûry, AmE sûre or BrE: sůre, assůrance; in BrE, assůre sounds just like ashŏre.

But unstressed at the end of a word, r, sounded in AmE, silent in BrE, can be preceded by any vowel, and this vowel mostly, apart from in monosyllables, has the schwa sound: dóctor, véctor, fürther, bürsar, Qátar, lêmur, fêmur. Exceptions to schwa: quâsàr, púlsàr.

See also

• Spelling pronunciation
• Alphabet
• Writing system
• Orthography
• Written language
• Writing