resh

The twentieth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others). It is homologous with Greek rho and Latin r.

Noun

  1. The twentieth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others). It is homologous with Greek rho and Latin r.

Origin

From Proto-Semitic *raʾš- (“head”). Doublet of ras (“Ethiopian king”) and ras (“headland”), and related to reis.

Forms

reshes reh reysh reish

Derived

resh cicada