Overview
R with tail refers to a pair of letters in the Latin alphabet that are derived from the standard letter R by adding a descending tail. The two forms are:
- Capital: Ɽ (Unicode U+2C64, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER R WITH TAIL)
- Small: ɽ (Unicode U+027D, LATIN SMALL LETTER R WITH TAIL)
The design of the capital form may be based on either an uppercase or a lowercase R with a tail attached to its right side.
Unicode and Encoding
Both characters are encoded in the Unicode Standard. The small letter belongs to the IPA Extensions block, while the capital letter is placed in the Latin Extended‑C block. They can be represented in HTML using Ɽ (Ɽ) and ɽ (ɽ), respectively.
Phonetic Usage
The small form ɽ is employed in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to denote a voiced retroflex flap, a consonantal sound produced by quickly tapping the tongue against the palate with a retroflexed articulation. This usage appears in linguistic descriptions of languages that contain such a sound, for example certain Indo‑Aryan and Australian Aboriginal languages.
Other Applications
Beyond phonetics, the letters have occasionally been used in orthographies or specialized transcription systems that require a distinct grapheme derived from R. Their visual similarity to a regular “r” with an added tail facilitates recognition while providing a unique code point for digital encoding.
References
- Unicode Standard, characters U+027D and U+2C64.
- International Phonetic Association, IPA Chart (2020).
This entry summarizes information from publicly available encyclopedic sources.