View source for P

{{Short description|Sixteenth letter of the Latin alphabet}}
{{About|the letter of the Latin alphabet}}
{{Technical reasons|:P|the keyboard symbol|List of emoticons}}
{{pp-semi|small=yes}}
{{pp-move|small=yes}}
{{Infobox grapheme
|name = P
|letter=P p
|script=[[Latin script]]
|type=[[Alphabet]]
|typedesc=ic and [[logographic]]
|language=[[Latin ]]language
|phonemes=[{{IPAlink|p}}]<br>[{{IPAlink|pʰ}}]<br>[({{IPAlink|pf|p}}){{IPAlink|f}}]<br>[{{IPAlink|pʼ}}]<br>[{{IPAlink|b}}]
|unicode=U+0050, U+0070
|alphanumber=16
|number=
|fam1=<hiero>D21</hiero>
|fam2=[[File:Proto-semiticP-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Proto-sinaitic P'it]]
|fam3=[[File:Protope.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px]]
|fam4=[[File:Phoenician pe.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Phoenician Pe]]
|fam5=[[File:Early Aramaic character - pey.png|class=skin-invert-image|20px]]
|fam6=[[File:GreekP-02.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Ancient Greek Pi]]
|fam7=[[File:Greek Pi archaic.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Early Greek Pi]]
|fam8=[[File:EtruscanP-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px]]
|fam9=[[𐌐]]
|usageperiod= {{circa}} 700 BCE to present
|children={{bull}}[[Ᵽ]]<br>{{bull}}[[₱]]<br>{{bull}}[[℘]]<br>{{bull}}[[⅌]]<br>{{bull}}[[℗]]<br>{{bull}}[[♇]]<br>{{bull}}[[ꟼ]]<br>{{bull}}[[¶]]
|sisters=[[Pi (letter)|Π π]]<br>[[Ⲡ]]<br>[[П]]<br>[[Pe (Semitic letter)|ף פ פּ<br>ف<br>ܦ]]<br>[[ࠐ]]<br>[[𐎔]]<br>[[በ]]<br>[[ጰ]]<br>[[ፐ]]<br>[[wikt:Պ|Պ]] [[wikt:պ|պ]]<br>[[Pa_(Indic)#Devanagari_Pa|प]]<br>[[𐍀]]<br>[[wikt:པ|པ]]
|equivalents=
|associates=[[List of Latin-script digraphs#P|p(x)]], [[PH (disambiguation)|ph]]
|direction=Left-to-right
|image=File:Latin_letter_P.svg
|imageclass=skin-invert-image
}}
{{Latin letter info|p}}

'''P''' ([[Letter case|minuscule]]: '''p''') is the sixteenth [[letter (alphabet)|letter]] of the [[Latin alphabet]], used in the [[English alphabet|modern English alphabet]], the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is [[English alphabet#Letter names|''pee'']] (pronounced {{IPAc-en|'|p|iː|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-P.wav}}), plural ''pees''.<ref>"P", ''Oxford English Dictionary,'' 2nd edition (1989); ''Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1993); "pee," op. cit.</ref>

==History==
The [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] Pê (mouth), as well as the [[Greek language|Greek]] Π or π ([[Pi (letter)|Pi]]), and the [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] and [[Latin]] letters that developed from the former alphabet all symbolized {{IPA|/p/}}, a [[voiceless bilabial plosive]].
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:#eee;"9997145563
![[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian]]
![[Proto-Sinaitic script|Proto-Sinaitic]]
![[Proto-Canaanite alphabet|Proto-Canaanite]]<br>pʿit
! [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] <br />[[Pe (Semitic letter)|Pe]]
! [[Western Greek alphabet|Western Greek]]<br />[[Pi (letter)|Pi]]
! [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] <br /> P
! [[Latin]]<br />P
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{align|center|<hiero>D21</hiero>}}
| [[File:Proto-semiticP-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|25px]]
| [[File:Protope.svg|class=skin-invert-image|25px]]
| [[File:PhoenicianP-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|25px]]
| [[File:Greek Pi archaic.svg|class=skin-invert-image|25px]]
| [[File:EtruscanP-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|25px]]
| [[File:Capitalis monumentalis P.SVG|class=skin-invert-image|x30px|Latin P]]
|}
[[File:Newes ABC Buchlein MET DP855604.jpg|thumb|180px|center|Late [[Renaissance]] or early [[Baroque]] design of a P, from 1627]]

==Use in writing systems==
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
|+ Pronunciation of {{angbr|p}} by language
! [[Orthography]]
! [[Phoneme|Phonemes]]
|-
! [[Catalan orthography|Catalan]]
| {{IPAslink|p}}
|-
! {{nwr|[[Standard Chinese]] ([[Pinyin]])}}
|{{IPAslink|pʰ}}
|-
! [[English orthography|English]]
| {{IPAslink|p}}, silent
|-
! [[French orthography|French]]
| {{IPAslink|p}}, silent
|-
! [[German orthography|German]]
| {{IPAslink|p}}
|-
! [[Portuguese orthography|Portuguese]]
| {{IPAslink|p}}
|-
! [[Spanish orthography|Spanish]]
| {{IPAslink|p}}
|-
! [[Turkish alphabet|Turkish]]
| {{IPAslink|p}}
|}

===English===
In [[English orthography]], {{angbr|p}} represents the sound {{IPAslink|p}}.

A common [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]] in English is {{angbr|ph}}, which represents the sound {{IPAc-en|f}}, and can be used to transliterate {{angbr|φ}} ''[[phi]]'' in loanwords from [[Greek language|Greek]]. In German, the digraph {{angbr|pf}} is common, representing a labial [[affricate]] {{IPA|/pf/}}.

Most English words beginning with {{angbr|p}} are of foreign origin, primarily French, Latin and Greek; these languages preserve the [[Proto-Indo-European phonology#Consonants|Proto-Indo-European]] initial *p.    Native English cognates of such words often start with {{angbr|f}}, since English is a [[Germanic language]] and thus has undergone [[Grimm's law]]; a native English word with an initial {{IPA|/p/}} would reflect Proto-Indo-European initial *b, which is so [[Proto-Indo-European phonology#Labials|rare]] that its existence as a [[phoneme]] is disputed. However, native English words with non-initial {{angbr|p}} are quite common; such words can come from either [[Kluge's law]] or the consonant cluster {{IPA|/sp/}} (PIE: *p has been preserved after s).

P is the [[Letter frequency|eighth least frequently used letter]] in the English language.

===Other languages===
In most European languages, {{angbr|p}} represents the sound {{IPAslink|p}}.

===Other systems===
In the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]], {{angbr|p}} is used to represent the [[voiceless bilabial plosive]].

== Other uses ==
{{main article|P (disambiguation)}}
* A bold italic letter {{serif|'''''p'''''}} is used in [[musical notation]] as a [[Dynamics (music)|dynamic indicator]] for "quiet". It stands for the [[Italian language|Italian]] word ''piano''.<ref name="harvard">{{cite book |first=Don Michael |last=Randel |author-link=Don Michael Randel |publisher=Harvard University Press Reference Library |location=Cambridge, MA, US |year=2003 |title=The Harvard Dictionary of Music |edition=4th}}</ref><ref name="vtp">{{cite web | title=Piano | work=Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary | url=http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/textp/Piano.html | access-date=19 March 2012 | archive-date=22 October 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022131734/http://www.music.vt.edu/MUSICDICTIONARY/textp/Piano.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Related characters==
<!-- Please only list characters (symbols in a writing system, but not just convenience code points in Unicode) that are actually related in terms of origin to the letter that is the topic of this article. Characters that merely look subjectively similar need not apply. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources before adding more. -->

===Ancestors, descendants and siblings===
The Latin letter P represents the same sound as the Greek letter [[Pi (letter)|Pi]], but it looks like the Greek letter [[Rho (letter)|Rho]].
*𐤐 : [[Phoenician alphabet|Semitic]] letter [[Pe (Semitic letter)|Pe]], from which the following symbols originally derive:
**Π π : [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] letter [[Pi (letter)|Pi]]
***𐌐 : [[Old Italic script|Old Italic]] and [[Old Latin]] P, which derives from Greek Pi, and is the ancestor of modern Latin P. The Roman P had this form (𐌐) on coins and inscriptions until the reign of [[Claudius]], {{circa|50&nbsp;AD}}.
***{{Script|Goth|𐍀}} : [[Gothic alphabet|Gothic]] letter pertra/pairþa, which derives from Greek Pi
***П п : [[Cyrillic]] letter [[Pe (Cyrillic)|Pe]], which derives from Greek Pi
**{{Script|Copt|Ⲡ ⲡ}} : [[Coptic alphabet|Coptic]] letter Pi
**Պ պ: [[Armenian alphabet|Armenian letter]] [[Pe (Armenian)|Pe]]
*P with [[diacritic]]s: [[Acute accent|Ṕ ṕ]] [[Dot (diacritic)|Ṗ ṗ]] [[P with stroke|Ᵽ ᵽ]] [[Ƥ|Ƥ ƥ]] [[Tilde|ᵱ]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03174r2-mid-tilde.pdf|title=L2/03-174R2: Proposal to Encode Phonetic Symbols with Middle Tilde in the UCS|date=2003-09-30|first=Peter|last=Constable|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2017-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011013938/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03174r2-mid-tilde.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> [[ᶈ]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS|date=2004-04-19|first=Peter|last=Constable|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2017-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011014355/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[Turned P]]: <span style="transform: rotate(180deg); display: inline-block;">P</span> d, an additional letter of the [[Latin script]] not encoded in [[Unicode]]
*[[Uralic Phonetic Alphabet]]-specific symbols related to P:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS|date=2002-03-20|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|author-link1=Michael Everson|display-authors=etal|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2018-02-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219081033/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
**{{Unichar|1D18|LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL P}}
**{{Unichar|1D3E|MODIFIER LETTER CAPITAL P}}
**{{Unichar|1D56|MODIFIER LETTER SMALL P}}
*<sub>p</sub> : Subscript small p was used in the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet prior to its formal standardization in 1902<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2009/09028-n3571-upa-additions.pdf|title=L2/09-028: Proposal to encode additional characters for the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet|date=2009-01-27|first1=Klaas|last1=Ruppel|first2=Tero|last2=Aalto|first3=Michael|last3=Everson|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2017-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011014359/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2009/09028-n3571-upa-additions.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Derived ligatures, abbreviations, signs and symbols===
*₱ : [[Philippine peso sign]]
*𝒫, 𝓅 : [[Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols|script letter]] P (uppercase and lowercase, respectively), used in mathematics. (In other contexts, a [[script typeface]] (or [[computer font]]) should be used.)
*℘ [[Weierstrass p]]
*℗ : [[℗|sound recording copyright symbol]]
*[[Wikt:♇|♇]] : [[Pluto#Name and symbol|Pluto]] symbol, a [[monogram]] of the letters "PL", and also the initials of [[Percival Lowell]], heralding his [[Percival Lowell#Pluto|role in its discovery]]
*ꟼ : Reversed P was used in ancient Roman texts to stand for ''puella'' (girl)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06269-add-roman.pdf|title=L2/06-269: Proposal to Add Additional Ancient Roman Characters to UCS|date=2006-08-01|first=David J.|last=Perry|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2019-06-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190614231608/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06269-add-roman.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
*Ꝑ ꝑ, Ꝓ ꝓ, Ꝕ, ꝕ : Various forms of P were used for medieval [[scribal abbreviation]]s<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06027-n3027-medieval.pdf|title=L2/06-027: Proposal to add Medievalist characters to the UCS|date=2006-01-30|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|first2=Peter|last2=Baker|first3=António|last3=Emiliano|first4=Florian|last4=Grammel|first5=Odd Einar|last5=Haugen|first6=Diana|last6=Luft|first7=Susana|last7=Pedro|first8=Gerd|last8=Schumacher|first9=Andreas|last9=Stötzner|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2018-09-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919051622/https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06027-n3027-medieval.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Other representations==
{{anchor|Codes for computing}}
===Computing <span class="anchor" id="Computing codes"></span>===
* {{unichar| 0050}}

* {{unichar| 0070 }}
* {{unichar| FF30 |nlink=half-width and full-width forms}}
* {{unichar| FF50}}

===Other===
{{Letter other reps
|NATO=Papa
|Morse=·––·
|Character=P
|fingerspelling=P
}}
{{clear}}

==See also==
* [[Mind your Ps and Qs]]
* [[Pence]] or "penny", the English slang for which is ''p'' (e.g. "20p" = 20 pence)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons-inline}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline|P}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline|p}}

{{Latin alphabet|P|}}

[[Category:ISO basic Latin letters]]