J (letter)

J is the tenth letter of the English alphabet. Its name is pronounced like that of the bird jay.

Use in English

J combines the two sounds d (as in dóg) and zh (as in Brézhnev or like z in ázure or s in pléasure). Many languages, including French, German, Portuguese and Arabic, do not have this sound. (Russian and Spanish have the unvoiced version of it, t + sh, which is spelt ch in both English and Spanish, whence mácho.)

J likes to occur initially (the accents show pronunciation: see English phonemes): jét, jázz, jíg, jést, jêep, jólly, jàr, jám, Jásper, Jóhn, Jêsus, Jewish, Jím, Jâmes, Jíll, Jáckson, Jéffrey (= Géoffrey) and after a prefix: disjŏinted, disjúnctive, injúnction, unjúst, injústice, outjúmp. Foreign learners often mispronounce j as zh: its normal sound is dzh.

J is rarely found alone, between two vowels, inside a word: cajôle, ajàr, rejéct. The normal spelling for the j sound here is g or dg: pígeon, dúdgeon. So júdge is pronounced *júj. J renders the d in ad- redundant: adjûdicate, ádjunct, ádjective, adjöurn, adjúst. It is only used finally in words from Hindi: Ràj, Ámritràj. The normal spelling for the j sound finally is (d)ge: bádge, grúdge, plédge, dódge, gâuge, câge, pâge, wâge, sìêge, wâge, sâge, gàrbage, lúggage.

And g is more usual than j before front vowels: Géoffrey, Gíllian (cf. Jíll) gîant, gigántic, Gërmany, géneral, George, géntle, and is much more common inside words: âgent, págeant, pígeon, rêgion.

J does not begin consonant clusters, and the only jj is in hàjj.

See also

• Letter (alphabet)
• Alphabet
• Writing system
• Orthography
• Written language
• Writing