P

P, the 16th letter of the English alphabet, coming from the Latin as an adaptation of the Greek letter pi, which in turn was derived ultimately from an Egyptian hieroglyph.

The English initial p sound is technically a voiceless bilabial stop and is related to the voiced b (see Phonetics). In cognate words, English p generally corresponds to German pf and f, Latin b, and Greek b. The letter p is often silent in English words of Greek derivation, particularly when it is part of initial combinations. Examples include pneumonia, psychic, and ptarmigan. The digraph ph, corresponding to the Greek phi, is pronounced f, as in pharmacy and phonetic.