resh

/ɹɛʃ/

resh

English Noun

Definition

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

Etymology

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