• tenth letter of the Latin alphabet, seventh consonant
  • phonetic name: "voiced post-alveolar affricate"; sound: place your tongue between your alveolar ridge and your top teeth, and make a buzzy sound (n.b: The only two affricate sounds in the English language are 'j' and 'ch')
  • 'j' was the last letter of the alphabet to be added; until the 16th century, 'i' and 'j' were used interchangeably. In France 1542, grammarian Louis Meigret suggesting separating the two sounds into separate letters - 'i' as vowel, 'j' as consonant. Jacques Peletier (1550) and Petrus Ramus (1557) are also credited with supporting this division.
  • 'j' was first used by printers in Holland, and first used in an English-language book published in 1634.
  • 'j' finally achieved full recognition by Noah Webster in 1828, and with his dictionary, delivered the 26-letter alphabet to North America
  • the lower case 'j' began as a swashed version of lower case 'i' to mark differentiation as a consonant
  • upper case 'J' was an invention by 16th century printers. For this reason, it is sometimes criticized as "lacking the balance, boldness, and dignity of the classical Roman letters."
  • 'j' was originally pronounced "jye" (to rhyme with 'i'), but eventually took to rhyming with 'k'
  • 'J' does not appear in the Italian language (excepted imported words)
  • in Spanish, 'j' makes the 'h' sound (as in "Jose"); in German, 'j' makes the 'y' sound (as in "jot")
  • words ending in double i ('ii') were often marked with the digraph 'ij' - the Dutch consider this a single letter, and type designers often create it as a ligature
  • like with 'i', the dot on the lower case 'j' is called a tittle
  • in physics, 'J' is a joule, the energy exerted by the force of one newton acting to move an object through a distance of one metre
  • like 'I', 'J' is associated with verticality, elevation, joy and clarity
  • in astronomy, 'J' stands for Jupiter
  • in economics, 'J curve' illustrates how currency can fall in value
  • "J box" is a J-shapes box through which fabric is passed through for a process such as bleaching
  • "J bag" is a bag used for carrying gold clubs
  • phonetic sound, "jay", is a bird (usually colourful and noisy); "jaywalk" first appeared in print in 1915 (1917?), referring to this intrusive, "simpleton" bird ("jay" in slang can also mean an impertinent person)
  • in colloquial English, 'J' can stand for a joint/cannibus
  • Famous Js / JJs: Jack and Jill, Janet Jackson, J.J. Abrams, Janis Joplin, Judge Judy
  • NATO phonetic alphabet: JULIET
  • "'J' is the plowshare and the horn of plenty." -Victor Hugo, French poet & playwright
  • J can also abbreviate jack, Japan, joule, journal, judge, justice