From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
G is the seventh letter in the Roman alphabet.
The letter G was created by the Romans because they felt that C was not an adequate letter to represent both /k/ AND /g/. Fascinatingly, the alleged inventor is a known historical figure, Spurius Carvilius Ruga (who flourished around 230 BC). G, which at this time took the place of the letter Z, came to represent the sound /g/. As the sound /k/ did, /g/ also developed palatal and velar allophones which is the reason why today, G has different sound values in all Romance languages and English (due to French influence).
In English, the letter can be pronounced as a "soft G" (SAMPA: [dZ]), as in: giant, ginger, geology, or it can be pronounced as a "hard G" (SAMPA: [g]), as in: goose, gargoyle, game.
Golf represents the letter G in the NATO phonetic alphabet.
G is also:
- A musical note
- As G, giga, an SI prefix meaning 109 = 1,000,000,000 (one billion) or a binary prefix used in computing to mean 230 = 1,073,741,824.
- As G, a symbol for the gravitational constant
- As g, a unit for acceleration, see gee force.
- As g, an SI unit for mass, see Gram (unit).
- The stock symbol for The Gillette Company
- A British film, G, made in 1974
- The variable G for conductance
- Short for the slang word "gangsta" or gangster
Words beginning with the letter G, suitable for teaching children the alphabet
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