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Rho (letter)


Rho (/ˈr/; uppercase Ρ, lowercase ρ or ϱ; Greek: ῥῶ) is the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 100. It is derived from Phoenician letter res Phoenician res.svg. Its uppercase form is not to be confused with the Latin letter P, although both types use the same glyph: P.

Rho is classed as a liquid consonant (together with lambda and sometimes the nasals mu and nu), which has important implications for morphology. In both Ancient and Modern Greek, it represents a trilled or tapped r.

In polytonic orthography a rho at the beginning of a word is written with a rough breathing (equivalent to h) — rh — and a double rho within a word is written with a smooth breathing over the first rho and a rough breathing over the second — ῤῥ rrh — apparently reflecting an aspirated or voiceless pronunciation in Ancient Greek, hence the various Greek-derived English words that start with rh or contain rrh.


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