Meanings
plural rs rotunda · plural rs rotundae
- mediaA curved form of the letter r, found in some medieval and fraktur scripts: ⟨ ꝛ ⟩.
The distinction between r rotunda and straight r has not been kept in the transcription, as the usage of r rotunda is predictable from the preceding character: r rotunda is used after round letters.
2017, Andrea de Leeuw van Weenen, editor, A Grammar of Möðruvallabók, BRILL, →ISBN, page 112 more examples
[…] completely informed about the decisions made and the reasons to make them, e.g. r rotunda does not figure in the transcription as the use of straight r and r rotunda is governed by the preceding character and thus completely predictable.
1989, Arend Quak, Florus (Floor) Rhee, Palaeogermanica et onomastica., Rodopi, page 3And certain geminated consonants are represented by capitals : ɢ, ɴ, ʀ, ꜱ. Does a form like haʀ mean a long r, or is it a scribal habit on the level of the usage of r rotunda, not straight r, after round letters? The occurrence of forms with -rr […]
2000, Anna A. Grotans, Heinrich Beck, Anton Schwob, De consolatione philogiae: studies in honor of Evelyn S. Firchow, volume 2, page 624
Origin
- Latinr rotunda
- Englishr rotunda
From or representing Latin r rotunda (literally “round ‘r’”). The adjective rotunda is the feminine form of rotundus, inflected to agree with littera (“letter”), elliptically omitted (compare e caudata). The phrase is little attested in Latin, and might have been formed in English, or been borrowed from another language which formed it from those Latin roots.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Czech okrouhlé r
- okrouhlé rcurved form of the letter r
German rundes r
- rundes rcurved form of the letter r
Cite this entry
r rotunda. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/r%20rotunda
“r rotunda.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/r%20rotunda. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “r rotunda,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/r%20rotunda.
Source: r rotunda on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.