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• p
  p

  abbreviation

  softly.
• P
  P

  noun

  the sixteenth letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.
• p-
  p-

  abbreviation

  para-.
• P-
  P-

  abbreviation

  (in designations of fighter aircraft) pursuit.
• p.
  p.

  abbreviation

  father.
• P.
  P.

  abbreviation

  father.

p

¹ American  

abbreviation

1. Music. softly.

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p ² American  

abbreviation

1. penny; pence.

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P ³ American  

[pee] / pi /

Or p

noun

• P's,
  plural
• Ps,
  plural
• p's,
  plural
• ps
  plural

1. the sixteenth letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.

2. any spoken sound represented by the letter P or p, as in pet, supper, top, etc.

3. something having the shape of a P .

4. a written or printed representation of the letter P or p.

5. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter P or p.

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P ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. Education. (as a rating of student performance) passing.

2. Chess. pawn.

3. Electronics. plate.

4. poor.

5. Grammar. predicate.

6. Protestant.

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P ⁵ American  

Symbol.

1. the 16th in order or in a series.

2. (sometimes lowercase) the medieval Roman numeral for 400.

3. Genetics. parental.

4. Chemistry. phosphorus.

5. Physics.

   1. power.

   2. pressure.

   3. Chemistry. proton.

   4. space inversion.

   5. poise.

6. Biochemistry. proline.

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p- ⁶ American  

abbreviation

1. Chemistry. para-.

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P- ⁷ American  

abbreviation

1. Military. (in designations of fighter aircraft) pursuit.

   P-38.

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p. ⁸ American  

abbreviation

1. father.

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p. ⁹ American  

abbreviation

1. Music. softly.

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p. ¹⁰ American  

abbreviation

1. after.

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p. ¹¹ American  

abbreviation

1. page.

2. part.

3. participle.

4. past.

5. Chess. pawn.

6. penny; pence.

7. per.

8. Grammar. person.

9. peseta.

10. peso.

11. pint.

12. pipe.

13. Baseball. pitcher.

14. pole.

15. population.

16. president.

17. pressure.

18. purl.

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P. ¹² American  

abbreviation

1. father.

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P. ¹³ American  

abbreviation

1. pastor.

2. peseta.

3. peso.

4. post.

5. president.

6. pressure.

7. priest.

8. prince.

9. progressive.

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P ¹ British  

symbol

1. chem phosphorus

2. physics

   1. pressure

   2. power

   3. parity

   4. poise

3. (on road signs) parking

4. chess pawn

5. currency

   1. (the former) peseta

   2. peso

   3. pataca

   4. pula

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abbreviation

1. Portugal (international car registration)

2. pharmacy only: used to label medicines that can be obtained without a prescription, but only at a shop at which there is a pharmacist

p. ² British  

abbreviation

1. page

2. part

3. participle

4. past

5. per

6. post

7. pro

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p ³ British  

symbol

1. (in Britain) penny or pence

2. music piano: an instruction to play quietly

3. pico-

4. physics

   1. momentum

   2. proton

   3. pressure

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p ⁴ British  

/ piː /

noun

1. the 16th letter and 12th consonant of the modern English alphabet

2. a speech sound represented by this letter, usually a voiceless bilabial stop, as in pig

3. to be careful to behave correctly and use polite or suitable language

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p- ⁵ British  

prefix

1. short for para- 1

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p Idioms  

1. see mind one's p's and q's.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• P's
  plural
• Ps
  plural
• p's
  plural
• ps
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of p¹

From the Italian word piano

Origin of p.⁸

From the Latin word pater

Origin of p.⁹

From the Italian word piano

Origin of p.¹⁰

From the Latin word post

Origin of P.¹²

From the Latin word Pater

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

p P p- P- p. P. P's Ps p's ps

The SEC yield is based on a Securities and Exchange Commission formula, which you can view in detail on p.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Rajadhyaksha points out there is a “remarkably consistent pattern p st most geopolitical conflicts …of an initial shock…then a grind back as economic fundamentals reassert themselves.”

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 26, 2026

Age also influenced how quickly symptoms followed rising p tau217 levels.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 23, 2026

Biden then speaks for several minutes with some of the hundreds of guests and p oses for photos.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 24, 2023

The more general version of Newton’s law is F = p, where p is an object’s momentum.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

“It was ‘art’—theater and absurd all at the same time,” recalls Susan P.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

Test your knowledge of the English language: How many words can you create with the letters P, Y, C, R, O, and T?

From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2026

Under typical conditions, Po and So waves form when P and S waves scatter repeatedly through layered structures inside an oceanic plate.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026

Thankfully for the attendant, Tito Double P is always camera-ready.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026

Dr. P goes out and refills the glass, giving me time to think.

From "Every Day" by David Levithan

“It’s awful hard to ask the girl, ‘Will you go to the p- pr- pr- prom with me?’

From New York Times ● Nov. 6, 2022

The antiproton p- is u- u- d , for example.

From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015

Who would not give all else for two p- ennyworth only of beautiful soup!

From Songs From Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

It was something like this: Man with p- Get- Br- We spelled it out slowly.

From The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart

It was p- pretty f-f-foggy when we got to the wharf, and we s-saw it wouldn't be s-safe for F-Father and M-M-Mother and B-Betty and Alice and the b-b-baby to go sailing, anyhow.

From The Voyage of the Hoppergrass by Edmund Lester Pearson

The time between the P- and S-waves is routinely used to determine the distance to their source, the epicenter of the earthquake.

From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015

Mantle rock is generally denser and stronger than crustal rock and both P- and S-waves travel faster through the mantle than they do through the crust.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Kt- Q1, in order to start an assault on the King's side with P-B5, P- KR4 and P-Kt5.

From Chess Strategy by J. Du Mont

The beginner, in his haste to advance the Pawn, will probably play P- e5 at once and lose the Pawn, as Black can answer Q-d4 check with simultaneous attack on the Pawn.

From Chess and Checkers : the Way to Mastership by Edward Lasker

White's P- B3 is then clearly a lost move.

From Chess Strategy by J. Du Mont

For example, where Bromley sounds pedantic or confused, the index picks this up: “Chatham, where and how situated, viz., on the other Side Rochester Bridge, though commonly reported to be on this Side, p. 1.”

From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2022

Open Saturdays 8 a.m. to 1 p. m.,

From Washington Post ● Aug. 19, 2021

The District Court stayed its order pending appellate review on condition that review was sought before 4 p. m.,

From MSNBC ● Jul. 22, 2015

SAT City of Seattle, Belltown Business Association, Belltown Chamber of Commerce clean up downtown Seattle project, coffee and instructions 9:30 a.m., work 10 a.m.-2 p. m.

From Seattle Times ● May 30, 2012

Opposite p., left: When the sun is not directly overhead, shadows of equal length are cast.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Eli P. Clark made big money as a railway pioneer in Los Angeles and beyond.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026

MarketWatch’s Isabel Wang and Myra P. Saefong have an explanation of why relief may not be coming soon.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026

“We want to give our brokers, and therefore our consumers, the ability to get the best of whatever is available to them,” said Desmond P. Smith, chief growth officer at UWM.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

The newly described fossils also provide evidence that P. robustus changed over time.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026

When third period finally arrives, I change my clothes and bolt out of the locker room to the field, where Coach P. is starting drills.

From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko

Also on the list are Tito Doble P’s “Acomodo” and Trio Asesino’s self-titled.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026

Armenta was instrumental in writing and producing Tito Double P’s 2024 debut “Incómodo,” a 21-track project that helped distinguish the Mexican corrido singer from his already famous cousin, Peso Pluma.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2026

After exhausting all of her options, she opened Ms. P’s Child and Family Services in the downtown Washington area to provide services to middle- and low-income families with disabled children.

From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2025

“I was like, ‘This is going to be a 10-minute phone call, check my background, P’s and Q’s, whatever,’” UW director of social media Hadley Heck recalls of her job interview last summer.

From Seattle Times ● May 11, 2023

At Mr. P’s Tommy O’Brien had snuck up from behind to tug a braid.

From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord

You need the three Ps: patience, paperwork and perseverance.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026

Dr Longo sums up the modern Italian diet with what he calls the "five Ps": pizza, pasta, potatoes, protein and pane - the Italian word for bread.

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

“You need to be on your Ps and Qs in both categories,” Snead said, “both variables, right, to earn that type of contract.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2026

The designers also introduced their new logo in various forms — two abstract letter Ps combined to form an S — on a black sweater, or as hardware on shoes, belts or bags.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 10, 2023

The class was busy coloring Ps for “pumpkin.”

From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter

Viewed this way, minding our p’s and q’s is less about proscriptive notions of correctness, and more about mindfulness, self-discovery and proper conduct.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 7, 2023

Being aware of how to mind your p's and q's in each of those places is essential to getting by or possibly moving up in the world.

From Salon ● Nov. 24, 2022

Meanwhile, I minded my p’s and q’s—aka be little Miss Perfect.

From Slate ● Jun. 9, 2021

We do this again and again etc., etc. until we have the theoretical distribution of p's.

From Textbooks ● Nov. 29, 2017

The only double letters are the p’s in the middle.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

Meaningful employment prospects are weak. ps - May we please see the underlying assumptions on which these claims of full employment are based?

From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2017

The standard normal distribution in probability, ps, corresponds to μ = 0 and σ = 1.

From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016

For example, because of their lifetimes of about 1.5 ps and their production at the LHC with momenta between a few GeV/c and ~100 GeV/c, mesons travel up to a few centimetres before they decay.

From Nature ● May 12, 2015

Sales came in at $7,898m, vs cons $7,887m and core EPS of $1.50 ps vs consensus €1.47 per share.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 28, 2010

Instead of consulting people of experience—ps, ps, ps—first sponger that comes along.

From The Nabob by W. Blaydes

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