J, j
- the tenth letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.
- any spoken sound represented by the letter J or j, as in just, major, or rajah.
- something having the shape of a J.
- a written or printed representation of the letter J or j.
- a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter J or j.
j
- Mathematics. a unit vector on the y-axis of a coordinate system.
- Engineering. the imaginary number
.
J
- Jewish.
- Physics. joule; joules.Also j
J
- the tenth in order or in a series, or, when I is omitted, the ninth.
- (sometimes lowercase) the medieval Roman numeral for 1.
J.
Examples from the Web for j
Contemporary Examples
J Crew did not give back the money it incidentally made off of Mrs. Obama.
She said Wright, whom the girl refers to as the shorthand “J,” also sensed that the heat was on.
For a few hours every day she would read big books at the library, watch reruns of the show, and dig through questions in the J!
The J in its name actually stands for Jian—annihilate, eliminate.
Rudy was not offered parenting classes or help moving to an apartment where J could join him.
Historical Examples
A heavy flywheel, J, is now fitted to the inside end of the crankshaft.
Boys' Book of Model BoatsRaymond Francis Yates
There are twenty-four j's in it, and seventeen g's, so you may imagine that it is difficult.
Five Mice in a Mouse-trapLaura E. Richards
(j) When battery is more than a year old and action is not satisfactory.
The Automobile Storage BatteryO. A. Witte
The head (J) of a screw projects from the base at its rear end.
Electricity for BoysJ. S. Zerbe
Below were some indefinite initials, a J, and an N, and a T.
Madge Morton's SecretAmy D. V. Chalmers
j
- maths the unit vector along the y -axis
- Also called: i obsolete the imaginary number √–1
j
J
- the tenth letter and seventh consonant of the modern English alphabet
- a speech sound represented by this letter, in English usually a voiced palato-alveolar affricate, as in jam
J
- cards jack
- joule(s)
- current density
- Japan (international car registration)
Word Origin and History for j
J
the letter is a late modification of Roman -i-, originally a scribal creation in continental Medieval Latin to distinguish small -i- in cursive writing from the strokes of other letters, especially in the final positions of words. But in English, -y- was used for this, and -j- was introduced c.1600-1640 to take up the consonantal sound that had evolved from -i- since Late Latin times. This usage first was attested in Spanish, where it was in place before 1600. English dictionaries continued to lump together words beginning in -i- and -j- until 19c., and -j- formerly was skipped when letters were used to express serial order.
Used in modern writing to represent Latin -i- before a, e, o, u in the same syllable, which in Latin was sounded as the consonant in Modern English you, yam, etc., but the custom is controversial among Latinists:
The character J, j, which represents the letter sound in some school-books, is an invention of the seventeenth century, and is not found in MSS., nor in the best texts of the Latin authors. [Lewis]
J
- joule
J
- Abbreviation of joule