J

Etymology

From a modification of the Latin letter I (“i”), from the Etruscan letter 𐌉 (i, “i”), from the Ancient Greek letter Ι (I, “iota”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤉 (y, “yod”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓂝.

Letter

J (lower case j)

1. The tenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

Symbol

J

1. (metrology) The symbol for joule, the unit of work or energy in the International System of Units
2. jack (playing card)
3. (linguistics) A wildcard for a palatal consonant

   Synonym: Ɉ

4. (mathematics) A matrix of ones.

   J₂ (2x2 matrix of all ones)

5. (Voice Quality Symbols) position of the jaw (modified for protruded, offset, etc.)
6. (clothing) Bra cup size.

Numeral

J (upper case Roman numeral, lower case j)

1. Archaic form of I (“1”) used at the end of a number.

   VIIJ ― 8

Gallery

• Letter styles
• 
  Uppercase and lowercase versions of J, in normal and italic type
• 
  Uppercase and lowercase J in Fraktur

See also

Character=J0

Other representations of J:

Alternative forms

• J., j., j

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /d͡ʒeɪ/, (Indic) /d͡ʒeː/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ

Letter

J (upper case, lower case j, plural Js or J's)

1. The tenth letter of the English alphabet, called jay and written in the Latin script.

Noun

J (plural Js or J's or JJ)

1. (slang) (plural Js or J's) A marijuana cigarette. (Abbreviation of joint.)
   • 1980 July, Paul Simon, “Late in the Evening”, in One-Trick Pony:

     I stepped outside to smoke myself a J.

   • 1998, Joel and Ethan Coen, The Big Lebowski (motion picture), spoken by The Dude (Jeff Bridges):

     Mind if I do a J?

   • 2023, “Modern Day Ripoff”, in Every Loser, performed by Iggy Pop:

     I ran out of blow a long time ago / I can't smoke a J or my guts fly away

2. In the name of a serial publication: abbreviation of Journal.
   • 1969, The Law Commission, Family Law: Report on Financial Provision in Matrimonial Proceedings (Law Com. No. 25)‎, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, →OCLC, paragraph 29, note 57:

     "Custody or upbringing" is regarded as including access; yet in B. v. B. & F. above no regard was paid to the welfare of the infants which was irrelevant to the particular issue with which the court was concerned—namely whether children were "children of the family". But the effect was to deprive the husband of access and it seems clear that whether or not he was the father, access could have been awarded to him in an application other than under s. 34 of the 1965 Act if the welfare of the children so demanded: [1969] Cam. L.J. [Cambridge Law Journal] 37 […]

3. (law, postnominal) (plural JJ) Abbreviation of judge or justice.
   • 1992 June 3, Chief Justice Anthony Mason, Justice Michael McHugh, “Mabo v Queensland (No 2)”, in Australasian Legal Information Institute‎, High Court of Australia:

     In the result, six members of the Court (Dawson J. dissenting) are in agreement that the common law of this country recognizes a form of native title which, in the cases where it has not been extinguished, reflects the entitlement of the indigenous inhabitants, in accordance with their laws or customs, to their traditional lands and that, subject to the effect of some particular Crown leases, the land entitlement of the Murray Islanders in accordance with their laws or customs is preserved, as native title, under the law of Queensland. The main difference between those members of the Court who constitute the majority is that, subject to the operation of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth), neither of us nor Brennan J. agrees with the conclusion to be drawn from the judgments of Deane, Toohey and Gaudron JJ. that, at least in the absence of clear and unambiguous statutory provision to the contrary, extinguishment of native title by the Crown by inconsistent grant is wrongful and gives rise to a claim for compensatory damages.

4. (British, road transport) Abbreviation of junction.

   The Highways Agency plan to close J10 of the M5 to refurbish the motorway bridge.

5. (card games) Abbreviation of jack.
6. (basketball) Abbreviation of jump shot.
   • 2017 February 18, Mike Gantner, “Durant a big admirer of DeRozan and his work ethic”, in Toronto Sun‎:

     And Durant had a front seat for just how much work DeRozan was putting in during their time together in Rio. "I watched him man," Durant said. "His footwork in the post is flawless. His jump shot in the mid-range is incredible. That is the type of stuff I look at as a basketball guy, his footwork, his mechanics on his J, his handle. At first he was a dunker and he barely dunks now. He’s a finesse player but he can play power forward. I’m a big fan."

7. (slang, chiefly in the plural) (plural Js or J's) an Air Jordan shoe
   • 2022 December 21, Ghetto Smosh, 1:57 from the start, in MY J’S CAN TALK!?!?‎, via YouTube, archived from the original on 5 June 2023:

     Don't pay no mind, Antwon, it's just an angry-ass J...

Proper noun

J

1. (religion) Abbreviation of Jehovist.

Symbol

J

1. Tatami mat, used as a unit of floorspace area (Kyoto tatami are 0.955 by 1.91 m, Nagoya 0.91 by 1.82 m, Tokyo 0.88 by 1.76 m). (From 畳 (-jō).)

See also

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /jɛ/

Letter

J (upper case, lower case j)

1. The tenth letter of the Afrikaans alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Noun

J (plural J's, diminutive J'tjie)

1. J

Letter

J

1. The nineteenth letter of the Angami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃ/

Letter

J (lowercase j)

1. A letter of the Araki alphabet.

Letter

J upper case (lower case j)

1. The fifteenth letter of the Azerbaijani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Southern) /xota/, [xo̞.t̪a]
• IPA^(key): (Northern) /jota/, [jo̞.t̪a]

Letter

J (upper case, lower case j)

1. The tenth letter of the Basque alphabet, called jota and written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈʒɔ.tə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈd͡ʒo.ta]

Letter

J (upper case, lower case j)

1. The tenth letter of the Catalan alphabet, called jota and written in the Latin script.

Etymology

• /j/, /ɣ/ are from West Germanic stem-initial *j; from stem-internal *g; from stem-initial *g in Ripuarian and northernmost Moselle Franconian.

Pronunciation

• /j/, [j], (Moselle Franconian also) [ʑ]

Letter

J

1. A letter in the German-based alphabet of Central Franconian.
2. A letter in the Dutch-based alphabet of Central Franconian.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h/, /j/

Letter

J (lower case j)

1. A letter of the Mazahua alphabet.

Etymology 1

Initialism of jer (“penis”).

Etymology 2

From the letter J of the English pattern playing cards. Various names exist for this symbol in the spoken language.

Mandarin gōu

From 鉤 / 钩 (gōu, “hook”), because the letter J resembles a hook.

Cantonese zik¹

Borrowed from English jack.

Etymology 3

Etymology 4

References

• Bauer, Robert S. (2021) ABC Cantonese-English Comprehensive Dictionary, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, →ISBN, page 1058

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͜ʃ/

Letter

J (lower case j)

1. A letter of the Chipewyan alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /jeː/

• Audio:

  (file)

Letter

J (capital, lowercase j)

1. the tenth letter of the Dutch alphabet

See also

• Previous letter: I
• Next letter: K

Pronunciation

• (phoneme): in a syllable onset, IPA^(key): /j/; in a coda, IPA^(key): /i̯/

• Audio:

  (file)

Letter

J (upper case, lower case j)

1. The thirteenth letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called jo or je and written in the Latin script.

Letter

J (upper case, lower case j)

1. The tenth letter of the Estonian alphabet, called jott and written in the Latin script.

Etymology

The Finnish orthography using the Latin script was based on those of Swedish, German and Latin, and was first used in the mid-16th century. No earlier script is known. See the Wikipedia article on Finnish for more information, and J for information on the development of the glyph itself.

Letter

J (upper case, lower case j)

1. The tenth letter of the Finnish alphabet, called jii and written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɔt/

• Audio:

  (file)

Letter

J (upper case, lower case j)

1. The tenth letter of the German alphabet, called Jot and written in the Latin script.

Symbol

J

1. (chemistry) The chemical symbol of iodine.
2. (card games) A jack, also called Junge.

Pronunciation

• (phoneme): IPA^(key): [ˈj]
• (letter name): IPA^(key): [ˈjeː]

Letter

J (upper case, lower case j)

1. The seventeenth letter of the Hungarian alphabet, called jé and written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) betű; A a, Á á, B b, C c, Cs cs, D d, Dz dz, Dzs dzs, E e, É é, F f, G g, Gy gy, H h, I i, Í í, J j, K k, L l, Ly ly, M m, N n, Ny ny, O o, Ó ó, Ö ö, Ő ő, P p, Q q, R r, S s, Sz sz, T t, Ty ty, U u, Ú ú, Ü ü, Ű ű, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z, Zs zs

Further reading

• j in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

Letter

J (lower case j)

1. The thirteenth letter of the Icelandic alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒ/

Letter

J (lower case j)

1. The tenth letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.