r rotunda

UK/ˌɑː.ɹəʊˈtʌn.də/US/ˌɑɹ.ɹoʊˈtʌn.də/

noun

A curved form of the letter r, found in some medieval and fraktur scripts: ⟨ ꝛ ⟩.

Meanings

nounr rotunda (plural rs rotunda or rs rotundae)

plural rs rotunda · plural rs rotundae

  1. 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 11
    2 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 3

    And 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

  1. Latinr rotunda
  2. 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.

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
APA

r rotunda. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/r%20rotunda

MLA

“r rotunda.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/r%20rotunda. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

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.