D Explained

D
Letter:	D d
Script:	Latin script
Type:	Alphabet
Typedesc:	ic
Language:	Latin language
Unicode:	U+0044, U+0064
Alphanumber:	4
Number:	4
Fam1:	K1K2O31
Fam5:	Δ δ
Usageperiod:	~−700 – present
Associates:	d(x)
Direction:	Left-to-right

D, or d, is the fourth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is dee (pronounced), plural dees.^[1]

History

The Semitic letter Dāleth may have developed from the logogram for a fish or a door.^[2] There are many different Egyptian hieroglyphs that might have inspired this. In Semitic, Ancient Greek^[3] and Latin,^[4] the letter represented pronounced as //d//; in the Etruscan alphabet^[5] the letter was archaic but still retained. The equivalent Greek letter is delta, Δ.

The minuscule (lower-case) form of 'd' consists of a lower-story left bowl and a stem ascender. It most likely developed by gradual variations on the majuscule (capital) form 'D', and is now composed as a stem with a full lobe to the right. In handwriting, it was common to start the arc to the left of the vertical stroke, resulting in a serif at the top of the arc. This serif was extended while the rest of the letter was reduced, resulting in an angled stroke and loop. The angled stroke slowly developed into a vertical stroke.^[6]

Use in writing systems

Pronunciation of (d) by language! Orthography! Phonemes

(Pinyin)	pronounced as /link/
English	pronounced as /link/
French	pronounced as /link/, silent
German	pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/
	pronounced as /link/
Spanish	pronounced as /link/
Turkish	pronounced as /link/

English

In English, (d) generally represents the voiced alveolar plosive pronounced as //d//.

D is the tenth most frequently used letter in the English language.

Other languages

In most languages that use the Latin alphabet, (d) generally represents the voiced alveolar or voiced dental plosive pronounced as //d//.

In the Vietnamese alphabet, it represents the sound pronounced as //z// in northern dialects or pronounced as //j// in southern dialects. In Fijian, it represents a prenasalized stop pronounced as //ⁿd//.^[7]

In some languages where voiceless unaspirated stops contrast with voiceless aspirated stops, (d) represents an unaspirated pronounced as //t//, while (t) represents an aspirated pronounced as //tʰ//. Examples of such languages include Icelandic, Scottish Gaelic, Navajo and the pinyin transliteration of Mandarin.

Other systems

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, (d) represents the voiced alveolar plosive pronounced as //d//.

Other uses

See main article: article and D (disambiguation).

• In the hexadecimal (base 16) numbering system, D is a number that corresponds to the number 13 in decimal (base 10) counting.^[8]
• The Roman numeral D represents the number 500.^[9]
• Unit prefix d, meaning one tenth.
• D is the grade below C but above E/F in the school grading system.
• D is the international vehicle registration code for Germany (also .de as its top-level domain).
• In Cantonese: Because the lack of Unicode CJK support in early computer systems, many Hong Kongers and Singaporeans used the capitalized D to represent 啲 .^[10]
• In the Gregory-Aland system for cataloging Biblical manuscripts, D can refer to documents in the Western text-type tradition, either Codex Bezae or Codex Claromontanus.
• d. is the standard abbreviation for the Penny (British pre-decimal coin) (from Latin: [[denarius]])

Related characters

Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet

• Ɖ ɖ : African D
• Ð ð : Latin letter Eth
• D with diacritics: Đ đ Ꟈ ꟈ^[11] Ɗ ɗ Ḋ ḋ Ḍ ḍ Ḑ ḑ Ḓ ḓ Ď ď Ḏ ḏ
• Phonetic symbols related to D:
  • Symbols related to D used in the IPA: pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
  • Symbols related to D used in the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet: ^[12]
  • Superscript IPA letters: ^[13]
  • Other phonetic symbols related to D: ȡ^[14] ᵭ^[15] ᶁ^[16] ᶑ^[16]
• Ƌ ƌ : D with topbar
• : D with mid-height left hook – Used by the British and Foreign Bible Society in the early 20th century for romanization of the Malayalam language.^[17]
• Ꝺ ꝺ : Insular D is used in various phonetic contexts^[18]

Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets

• : Semitic letter Dalet, from which the following symbols originally derive:
  • Δ δ : Greek letter Delta, from which the following symbols originally derive:
    • : Coptic letter Delta
    • Д д : Cyrillic letter De
    • : Old Italic D, the ancestor of modern Latin D
      • : Runic letter dagaz, which is possibly a descendant of Old Italic D
      • Runic letter thurisaz, another possible descendant of Old Italic D
    • : Gothic letter daaz, which derives from Greek Delta

Derived signs, symbols and abbreviations

• ₫ : Đồng sign
• ⅆ : Unicode symbol for d used as derivative symbol
• ∂ : the partial derivative symbol,

\partial

Other representations

Computing

The Latin letters (D) and (d) have Unicode encodings and . These are the same code points as those used in ASCII and ISO 8859. There are also precomposed character encodings for (D) and (d) with diacritics, for most of those listed above; the remainder are produced using combining diacritics.

Variant forms of the letter have unique code points for specialist use: the alphanumeric symbols set in mathematics and science, plosive sounds in linguistics and halfwidth and fullwidth forms for legacy CJK font compatibility.

Other

In British Sign Language (BSL), the letter 'd' is indicated by signing with the right hand held with the index and thumb extended and slightly curved, and the tip of the thumb and finger held against the extended index of the left hand.

Notes and References

1. "D" Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989); Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (1993); "dee", op. cit.
2. Web site: The letter D. 2021-07-06. issuu. 2021-08-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20210829194452/https://issuu.com/kenwilsonmax/docs/chicken__health_issue/s/25385. dead.
3. Web site: Definition of DELTA . 2022-05-03 . www.merriam-webster.com . en.
4. Web site: Latin Alphabet . https://web.archive.org/web/20101226155729/http://www.sfu.ca/~ramccall/AncientandmodernLatinalphabet.pdf . 2010-12-26 . live.
5. Rex Wallace (2008) Zikh Rasna: A Manual of the Etruscan Language and Inscriptions
6. Web site: Introduction to Old English . 2022-05-03 . The Linguistics Research Center.
7. Book: Lynch, John . Pacific languages: an introduction . 97 . 1998 . . 0-8248-1898-9 .
8. Web site: Hexadecimal Number System There are Many Ways to Write Numbers . 2022-05-20 . u.osu.edu.
9. Book: Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy . registration . roman numerals. . . 1983 . 3 October 2015 . Gordon, Arthur E. . 44. 9780520038981 .
10. Web site: March 23, 2011 . The Roman Alphabet in Cantonese . 13 September 2023 . University of Pennsylvania.
11. Web site: L2/19-179: Proposal for the addition of four Latin characters for Gaulish. https://web.archive.org/web/20190613190943/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2019/19179-n5044-tau-gallicum.pdf . 2019-06-13 . live. 2019-05-26. Michael. Everson. Chris. Lilley.
12. Web site: L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS. https://web.archive.org/web/20130819185337/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf . 2013-08-19 . live. 2002-03-20. Michael. Everson. Michael Everson. etal.
13. Web site: L2/20-252R: Unicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), pulmonic. https://web.archive.org/web/20210730010133/https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20252r-mod-ipa-a.pdf . 2021-07-30 . live. 2020-11-08. Kirk. Miller. Michael. Ashby.
14. Web site: L2/01-347: Proposal to add six phonetic characters to the UCS. https://web.archive.org/web/20130819124737/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2001/01347-n2366r.pdf . 2013-08-19 . live. 2001-09-20. Richard. Cook. Michael. Everson.
15. Web site: L2/03-174R2: Proposal to Encode Phonetic Symbols with Middle Tilde in the UCS. https://web.archive.org/web/20130819204725/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03174r2-mid-tilde.pdf . 2013-08-19 . live. 2003-09-30. Peter. Constable.
16. Web site: L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS. https://web.archive.org/web/20130819114855/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf . 2013-08-19 . live. 2004-04-19. Peter. Constable.
17. Web site: L2/21-156: Unicode request for legacy Malayalam. https://web.archive.org/web/20210907191404/https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21156-legacy-malayalam.pdf . 2021-09-07 . live. 2021-07-16. Kirk. Miller. Neil. Rees.
18. Web site: L2/06-266: Proposal to add Latin letters and a Greek symbol to the UCS. https://web.archive.org/web/20130819182322/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06266-n3122-insular.pdf . 2013-08-19 . live. 2006-08-06. Michael. Everson.