R facts for kids

R is the eighteenth (number 18) letter in the English alphabet.

Meanings for R

On calendars, R is sometimes used as an short letter for Thursday instead of T, to avoid mistakes with Tuesday.
In chess, R is a notation symbol for the rook piece.
In geometry, R is most times a variable for the radius of a circle
In navigation, R means the direction "right."
In movies, R means "restricted."
In Wheel of Fortune, R is one of the six letters given to any contestant participating in the "Bonus Round."

Writing cursive forms of R
The word prognatus as written on the Sarcophagus of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus (280 BC) shows the full development of the Latin R by that time; the letter P at the same time still retains its archaic shape distinguishing it from Greek or Old Italic rho.
Late medieval illuminated initial
18th-century example of use of r rotunda in English blackletter typography
Letter R from the alphabet by Luca Pacioli, in De divina proportione (1509)