J (letter)

J, j is a letter of the Latin alphabet. It is the tenth letter of most variants, being placed after I and before K, as is the case for instance in the English alphabet. Its English name is pronounced [ˈdʒeɪ], like that of the bird jay.

Use in English

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z
Use in English
Alphabetical word list
Retroalphabetical list
Common misspellings

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j combines the two sounds d (as in dóg) and zh (as in Brézhnev or like z in ázure or s in pléasure). Many languages, including French, German, Portuguese and Arabic, do not have this sound. (Russian and Spanish have only the unvoiced version of it, t + sh, which is spelt ch in both English and Spanish, whence mácho.)

j is common initially (the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English spellings): jét, jázz, jíg, jést, jêep, jólly, Jûlia, jàr, jám, Jásper, Jóhn, Jêsus, Jeŵish, Jím, Jâmes, Jíll, Jáckson, Jéffrey (= Géoffrey) and after a prefix: disjŏinted, disjúnctive, injúnction, unjúst, injústice, outjúmp. Foreign learners, for example francophones under the influence of their own language, often mispronounce j as zh: its normal sound is dzh.

j is rarely found alone, between two vowels, inside a word: cajôle, ajàr, rejéct. The normal spelling for the j sound here is g or dg: pígeon, dúdgeon. So júdge is pronounced *júj.

j renders the d in ad- redundant: adjûdicate, ádjunct, ádjective, adjöurn, adjúst.

j is only used finally in words from Hindi: Ràj, Ámritràj. The normal spelling for the j sound finally is (d)ge: bádge, grúdge, plédge, dódge, gâuge, câge, pâge, wâge, sìêge, wâge, sâge, gàrbage, lúggage.

And g occurs more often than j before front vowels: Géoffrey, Gíllian (cf. Jíll), gîant, gigántic, Gërmany, géneral, George, géntle, and is much more common inside words: âgent, págeant, pígeon, rêgion.

Majŏrca is pronounced *Məyŏrcə.

j does not begin consonant clusters, and the only jj is in hàjj (which may also be spelt hádj).

Scientific uses

• j: square root of minus one in engineering notation