The oreeginalSemitic letter mey hae been inspired bi anEgyptian hieroglyph fortp, "head". It wis uised for/r/ bi Semites acause in thair leid, the wird for "heid" wisrêš (an aa the name o the letter). It developed intae Greek 'Ρ'ῥῶ (rhô) an Latin R. It is likely that some Etruscan an Wastren Greek fairms o the letter addit the extra stroke tae distinguish it frae a later fairm o the letter P.
The name o the letter in Latin wiser (/ɛr/), follaein the pattern o ither letters representincontinuants, sic as F, L, M, N, an S. This name is preserved inFrench an mony ither leids. InMiddlin Inglis, the name o the letter chynged frae/ɛr/ tae/ar/, follaein a pattern exhibitit in mony ither wirds sic asfarm (compare Frenchferme), anstar (compare GermanStern).
The minuscule (lowercase) fairm as 'r' developed throu several variations on the caipital fairm. In haundwritin it wis common nae tae close the bottom o the luip but continue intae the leg, savin an extra pen stroke. The luip-leg stroke shortened intae the semple arc uised the day. Anither minuscule,r rotunda (ꝛ), kept the luip-leg stroke but dropped the vertical stroke, altho it fell oot o uise aroond the 18t century.
German stage staundart; someDutch dialects (in Brabant an Limburg, an some ceety dialects in The Netherlands),Swadish in Soothren Swaden,Norwegian in wastren an soothren pairts
Ither leids mey uise the letter 'r' in thair alphabets (or Latin transleeterations schemes) tae represent rhotic consonants different frae the alveolar trill. InHaitian Creole, it represents a soondsae weak that it is eften written interchyngeably wi 'w', e.g. 'Kweyol' for 'Kreyol'.
BrazilianPortuguese haes a great nummer o allophones o/ʁ/ sic as[χ],[h],[ɦ],[x],[ɣ],[ɹ] an[r], the latter three anes can be uised anly in certaint contexts ([ɣ] an[r] as 'rr';[ɹ] in the syllable coda, as an allophone o/ɾ/ accordin tae the European Portuguese norm an/ʁ/ accordin tae the Brazilian Portuguese norm). Uisually at least twa o them are present in a single dialect, sic asRio de Janeiro's[ʁ],[χ],[ɦ] an, for a few speakers,[ɣ].
