The sixteenth letter of the English alphabet, called pee and written in the Latin script. Throughout its known history it has represented the unvoiced labial stop. It corresponds to the Semitic pe, perhaps deriving from an earlier sign for “mouth.” The Greeks renamed this form pi (Π). The Semitic Pê (mouth), as well as the Greek Π or π (Pi), and the Etruscan and Latin letters that developed from the former alphabet all symbolized /p/, a voiceless bilabial plosive. These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘p.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. A common digraph in English is ⟨ph⟩, which represents the sound /f/, and can be used to transliterate ⟨φ⟩ phi in loanwords from Greek.

1. The English initial p is slightly aspirated—that is, it is accompanied by a slight puff of breath—in contrast to the unaspirated p of French, for example.
2. A common digraph in English is ⟨ph⟩, which represents the sound /f/, and can be used to transliterate ⟨φ⟩ phi in loanwords from Greek.
3. It corresponds to the Semitic pe, perhaps deriving from an earlier sign for “mouth.” The Greeks renamed this form pi (Π).
4. The Umbrian alphabet had a two-stroke form that recalled the ancient Semitic, and Faliscan had a rounded form that resembled a modern P flipped right-to-left.
5. The ordinal number sixteenth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called pee and written in the Latin script.

English

In German, the digraph ⟨pf⟩ is common, representing a labial affricate /pf/.

Examples of p in a Sentence

The minuscule letter resembles the majuscule, the chief difference being that the loop is brought down to the level of the line of writing and the vertical stroke is extended below the line. The English initial p is slightly aspirated—that is, it is accompanied by a slight puff of breath—in contrast to the unaspirated p of French, for example. Initial p is silent in the combinations ps and pt in such Greek-derived words as psychology and pterodactyl. A rounded form occurred in the early Greek inscriptions from the island of Thera.

P Sentence Examples

The standard rounded form in the Latin alphabet was evidently borrowed from the Etruscan, but the colonial Latin alphabet of the 3rd century bce also shows an angular form resembling the Chalcidic. The Umbrian alphabet had a two-stroke form that recalled the ancient Semitic, and Faliscan had a rounded form that resembled a modern P flipped right-to-left. Oscan lengthened the second small vertical stroke found in the Umbrian form, and the result was similar to the Greek Π. The ordinal number sixteenth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called pee and written in the Latin script.