F

From the Etruscan letter 𐌅 (v, “ve”), from the Ancient Greek letter Ϝ (W, “digamma”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤅 (w, “waw”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓏲.

Letter

F (lower case f)

The sixth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

Symbol

F

(chemistry) Symbol for fluorine.
(metrology) Symbol for farad.
(computing) Hexadecimal symbol for 15.
(biochemistry) IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for phenylalanine
(physics) force
(medicine) Symbol for the French gauge.
Coordinate term: G (“Birmingham gauge”)
(linguistics) A wildcard for a fricative
synonyms: S for a sibilant fricative
(linguistics) falling tone
synonyms: more commonly HL, or more specifically HM or ML
(Voice Quality Symbols) falsetto
(clothing) Bra cup size.

Gallery

Letter styles
Uppercase and lowercase versions of F, in normal and italic type
Uppercase and lowercase F in Fraktur

English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /ɛf/

Audio (UK):

(file)

Rhymes: -ɛf

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f, plural Fs or F's)

The sixth letter of the English alphabet, called ef and written in the Latin script.
- 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
  On several occasions, indeed, he did learn E, F, G, H, but by the time he knew them, it was always discovered that he had forgotten A, B, C, and D.

Derived terms

Number

F (upper case, lower case f)

The ordinal number sixth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called ef and written in the Latin script.

Symbol

F

(music)
1. The fourth note of the diatonic scale of C major, called fa in solfège.
2. The scale or key which has that note for its tonic.
3. On a piano keyboard, the white key next to the left of each group of three black keys (see figure).
4. The degree of a staff assigned to such a key or tone; a note on such a degree.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Abbreviation.

(stenoscript) Abbreviation of full, fully.
(stenoscript) suffixes -full, -fully.

Symbol

F

(stock ticker symbol) Ford Motor Company
Synonyms: Ford (common short form), FMC (initialism)

Adjective

F (not comparable)

Abbreviation of false.
Antonym: T
Abbreviation of female.
Coordinate terms: M, X
(philately) Abbreviation of fine.
(numismatic slang) Abbreviation of fine.

Translations

fine

French: TB (fr)

Noun

F (plural Fs)

An academic grade, specifically:
2. A failing grade, with the next best grade being either a D or an E (some institutions issue Es instead of Fs).
3. (UK) A grade lower than E but higher than G.
A grade of black-lead pencil (originally an abbreviation of fine).
In the American Library Association, a folio-sized book, over 30 cm in height.
Abbreviation of fellow.
FGS ― fellow of the Geological Society

FRS ― fellow of the Royal Society
(nautical) Abbreviation of fog, as in a ship's log.
(US, meteorology) Initialism of Fujita (followed by a number when used in a rating on the Fujita scale and indicating the intensity of a tornado).
the F-scale ; an F3 tornado
Initialism of function (followed by a number when used on or referencing a function key of a computer keyboard).
Press F1 for help.
(bacteriology) Abbreviation of fertility factor.

Proper noun

F

Abbreviation of various proper names.
Abbreviation of Fahrenheit.
Abbreviation of Father, as a title given to priests.
Synonym: Fr
Abbreviation of French.
Abbreviation of Friday.
Synonym: Fri

Verb

F (third-person singular simple present F's, present participle F'ing, simple past and past participle F'ed)

(euphemistic) Initialism of fuck.
- 2011, Don Pendleton, Assassin's Code, page 139:
  "Oh, F you."
- 2012, Michelle Bogre, Photography as Activism: Images for Social Change:
  I'll be in tears on every second assignment; they're just like, "Oh f', this guy really cares."
- 2017, Richard Segal, Sunday Night at the Races:
  Oh F this for a laugh, ya get the yoke I'm sure now, ya doesn't has to explain.

Etymology 3

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!
Particularly: “Ideally on its own, not in the phrases press F to pay respects, F in the chat.”

See press F to pay respects.

Interjection

F

(Internet slang, Twitch) Used to indicate regret for an unfortunate event.
- 2022 March 18, Linus Tech Tips, tweet by @LinusTech‎^[1]:
  big F for google maps

Afar

Letter

F

The thirteenth letter in the Afar alphabet.

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /ɛf/

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The sixth letter of the Afrikaans alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Noun

F (plural F's, diminutive F'ie)

F

Azerbaijani

Letter

F upper case (lower case f)

The eighth letter of the Azerbaijani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Basque

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /efe/, [e̞.fe̞]

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The sixth letter of the Basque alphabet, called efe and written in the Latin script.

Central Franconian

Etymology

/f/ is from West Germanic post-vocalic *p; from *p in lp, rp in Moselle Franconian; from *ff; from stem-initial *f except around Aachen and in the Netherlands.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /f/

Letter

F

A letter in the German-based alphabet of Central Franconian.
A letter in the Dutch-based alphabet of Central Franconian.

Usage notes

Doubling of F

In the German-based spelling, f is doubled after short vowels except in certain function words and when the letter is followed by another consonant within the word stem.
In the Dutch-based spelling, f is doubled after short vowels if the syllable were otherwise open.

Chinese

Pronunciation 1

Mandarin
(Pinyin): áifu

(Zhuyin): ㄞˊ ˙ㄈㄨ
Cantonese (Jyutping): e¹ fu⁴
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): e fò

(Teochew, Peng'im): êh⁸ hu⁷
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁷eq ⁶fu

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: áifu
  - Zhuyin: ㄞˊ ˙ㄈㄨ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: áifů
  - Wade–Giles: ai²-fu⁵
  - Yale: ái-fu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: air.fu
  - Palladius: айфу (ajfu)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀaɪ̯³⁵ fu³/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: e¹ fu⁴
  - Yale: ē fùh
  - Cantonese Pinyin: e¹ fu⁴
  - Guangdong Romanization: é¹ fu⁴
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɛː⁵⁵ fuː²¹/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Xiamen)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: e fò
  - Tâi-lô: e fò
  - IPA (Xiamen): /e⁴⁴⁻²² fo²¹/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: êh⁸ hu⁷
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: e̍h hū
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /eʔ⁴⁻² hu¹¹/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ⁷eq ⁶fu
  - MiniDict: eh^入 fu^去
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ⁴eq ³fu
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /əʔ⁵⁵ fu²³/

Note: Often realised as ⁷ɛq ⁶fu.

Definitions

F

The sixth letter of the Latin alphabet.

Pronunciation 2

Mandarin
(Pinyin): fō (fo¹)

(Zhuyin): ㄈㄛ

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese, common)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: fō
  - Zhuyin: ㄈㄛ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: fo
  - Wade–Giles: fo¹
  - Yale: fwō
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: fo
  - Palladius: фо (fo)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /fu̯ɔ⁵⁵/

Letter

F

The sixth letter used in Pinyin.

Usage notes

《汉语拼音方案》 defines a standard pronunciation for each letter. However, these pronunciations are rarely used in education; another pronunciation is commonly used instead.
The pronunciation above are only used while referring to letters in Pinyin. They are not used in other context (such as English).
The official pronunciation defined in 《汉语拼音方案》, ㄝㄈ (ê̄f), is not a valid syllable in Pinyin.

Dutch

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /ɛf/
Audio: (file)

Letter

F (capital, lowercase f)

the sixth letter of the Dutch alphabet

Elfdalian

Alternative forms

ᚠ (Dalecarlian runes)

Letter

F (upper case F, lower case f)

The eighth letter of the Elfdalian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Esperanto

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /fo/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /f/
Audio: (file)

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The seventh letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called fo and written in the Latin script.

Estonian

Estonian Wikipedia has an article on:

F

Wikipedia ^et

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The sixth letter of the Estonian alphabet, called eff and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

Used only in loanwords.

Finnish

Etymology

The Finnish orthography using the Latin script was based on those of Swedish, German and Latin, and was first used in the mid-16th century. No earlier script is known. See the Wikipedia article on Finnish for more information, and F for information on the development of the glyph itself.

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The sixth letter of the Finnish alphabet, called äf or ef and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

Used only in loanwords.

Noun

F

Alternative letter-case form of f (“F (musical note)”)

French

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The sixth letter of the French alphabet, written in the Latin script.

German

Pronunciation

(letter name) IPA^(key): /ɛf/, [ʔɛf]
- Audio: (file)
(phoneme) IPA^(key): /f/
- The pronunciation /v/ for ‹f› is de-facto standard in inflections and derivatives of the numbers fünf, elf, zwölf, as well as inflections of doof. Here the pronunciation /f/ usually sounds “wrong” to speakers from northern and central Germany, though it is normal in Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, and (partially) southern Germany. Northern speakers may also use /v/ in other words (e.g. inflections of schief, steif), but these are informal.

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The sixth letter of the German alphabet.

Derived terms

Schema F

Hungarian

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): [ˈf]
(letter name): IPA^(key): [ˈɛfː]
Audio: (file)

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The eleventh letter of the Hungarian alphabet, called eff and written in the Latin script.

Declension

Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	F	F-ek
accusative	F-et	F-eket
dative	F-nek	F-eknek
instrumental	F-fel	F-ekkel
causal-final	F-ért	F-ekért
translative	F-fé	F-ekké
terminative	F-ig	F-ekig
essive-formal	F-ként	F-ekként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	F-ben	F-ekben
superessive	F-en	F-eken
adessive	F-nél	F-eknél
illative	F-be	F-ekbe
sublative	F-re	F-ekre
allative	F-hez	F-ekhez
elative	F-ből	F-ekből
delative	F-ről	F-ekről
ablative	F-től	F-ektől
non-attributive possessive - singular	F-é	F-eké
non-attributive possessive - plural	F-éi	F-ekéi

Possessive forms of F
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	F-em	F-jeim
2nd person sing.	F-ed	F-jeid
3rd person sing.	F-je	F-jei
1st person plural	F-ünk	F-jeink
2nd person plural	F-etek	F-jeitek
3rd person plural	F-jük	F-jeik

Derived terms

F-dúr

Icelandic

Letter

F (lower case f)

The eighth letter of the Icelandic alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Ido

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /f/

Letter

F (lower case f)

The sixth letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Indonesian

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /ɛf/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /f/

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The sixth letter of the Indonesian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Irish

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The sixth letter of the Irish alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Italian

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:

F

Wikipedia ^it

Pronunciation

(letter name) IPA^(key): /ˈɛf.fe/
- Rhymes: -ɛffe
(phonemic realization) IPA^(key): /f/

Letter

F f or m (invariable, upper case, lower case f)

The sixth letter of the Italian alphabet, called effe and written in the Latin script.

Kashubian

Etymology

The Kashubian orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the Kashubian alphabet article on Wikipedia for more, and F for development of the glyph itself.

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The tenth letter of the Kashubian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Latin

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

A letter in the Latin alphabet, representing the sound /f/

Latvian

Latvian Wikipedia has an article on:

F

Wikipedia ^lv

Etymology

Proposed in 1908 as part of the new Latvian spelling by the scientific commission headed by K. Mīlenbahs, which was accepted and began to be taught in schools in 1909. Prior to that, Latvian had been written in German Fraktur, and sporadically in Cyrillic.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [f]
Audio: (file)

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The ninth letter of the Latvian alphabet, called ef and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

The letter F/f (like H/h, and O/o representing [o], [oː] instead of [uə̯]) is found only in words of foreign origin (borrowings).

Malay

Malay Wikipedia has an article on:

F

Wikipedia ^ms

Pronunciation

(Name of letter) IPA^(key): [ɛf]
(Phoneme) IPA^(key): [f]

Letter

F

The sixth letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Norwegian Bokmål

Letter

F (lowercase f)

The sixth letter of the Norwegian Bokmål alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Nupe

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /f/

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The seventh letter of the Nupe alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Polish

Etymology

The Polish orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the history of Polish orthography article on Wikipedia for more, and F for development of the glyph itself.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɛf/

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The ninth letter of the Polish alphabet, called ef and written in the Latin script.

Portuguese

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The sixth letter of the Portuguese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Romani

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /f/

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

(International Standard) The eighth letter of the Romani alphabet, written in the Latin script.
(Pan-Vlax) The ninth letter of the Romani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Romanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /f/

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The eighth letter of the Romanian alphabet, called ef, fe, or fî and written in the Latin script.

Scottish Gaelic

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The sixth letter of the Scottish Gaelic alphabet, written in the Latin script. It is preceded by e and followed by g. Its traditional name is feàrna (“alder”).

Silesian

Etymology

The Silesian orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the Silesian language article on Wikipedia for more, and F for development of the glyph itself.

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The eighth letter of the Silesian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /f/

Letter

F (lower case f)

The eleventh letter of the Skolt Sami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Slovene

Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:

F

Wikipedia ^sl

Etymology

From Gaj's Latin alphabet F, from Czech alphabet F, from Latin F, from the Etruscan letter 𐌅 (v, “ve”), from the Ancient Greek letter Ϝ (W, “digamma”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤅 (w, “waw”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓏲. Pronunciation as IPA^(key): /fə/ is initial Slovene (phoneme plus a fill vowel) and the second pronunciation is probably taken from German f.

Pronunciation

Phoneme

Pronunciation of F

• (Standard Slovene, tonal) IPA^(key): /f/, [v], SNPT: /f/, [v]
• (Standard Slovene, non-tonal) IPA^(key): /f/, [v], SNPT: /f/, [v]

Note:different distinctions and accent shifts do not necessarily exclude other and most of them exist in both tonal and non-tonal Slovene.

Letter name

Pronunciation of F [fə̀, èf] (ə̏, ȅ)

• (Standard Slovene, tonal) IPA^(key): [ˈfə̂], [ˈɛ̂f], SNPT: [fə̏], [ȅf]
• (Standard Slovene, non-tonal) IPA^(key): [ˈfə], [ˈɛf], SNPT: [fə̀], [èf],

Audio:

(file)

,

Audio:

(file)

Note:different distinctions and accent shifts do not necessarily exclude other and most of them exist in both tonal and non-tonal Slovene.

Miscellaneous

• Rhymes: -ə, -ɛf (ə̀, èf) (non-tonal)
• Hyphenation: F
• Homophone: f (tonal and non-tonal)
• Homophone: f (non-tonal only)

• Alpine Slavic (1000–1200 AD): *fə̀
• Carinthian dialect plane: *fə̏
• Veneitian–Karst dialect plane: *fə̏
• Soča–Idrija dialect plane: *fə̏
• Upper Carniolan dialect plane: *fə̏
• Lower Carniolan dialect plane: *fə̏
• Southern Styrian dialect plane: *fə̏
• Northern Styrian dialect plane: *fə̏
• Pannonian dialect plane: *fə̏

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The seventh letter of the Slovene alphabet, written in the Latin script.
The tenth letter of the Slovene alphabet (Resian), written in the Latin script.
The seventh letter of the Slovene alphabet (Natisone Valley dialect), written in the Latin script.

Noun

F m inan

The name of the Latin script letter F / f.

Inflection

First pronunciation

First masculine declension (soft o-stem, inanimate) , -j- infix
nom. sing.	F
gen. sing.	F-ja
	singular	dual	plural
nominative imenovȃlnik	F	F-ja	F-ji
genitive rodȋlnik	F-ja	F-jev	F-jev
dative dajȃlnik	F-ju, F-ji	F-jema	F-jem
accusative tožȋlnik	F	F-ja	F-je
locative mẹ̑stnik	F-ju, F-ji	F-jih	F-jih
instrumental orọ̑dnik	F-jem	F-jema	F-ji
(vocative) (ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik)	F	F-ja	F-ji

Second pronunciation

First masculine declension (hard o-stem, inanimate)
nom. sing.	F
gen. sing.	F-a
	singular	dual	plural
nominative imenovȃlnik	F	F-a	F-i
genitive rodȋlnik	F-a	F-ov	F-ov
dative dajȃlnik	F-u, F-i	F-oma	F-om
accusative tožȋlnik	F	F-a	F-e
locative mẹ̑stnik	F-u, F-i	F-ih	F-ih
instrumental orọ̑dnik	F-om	F-oma	F-i
(vocative) (ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik)	F	F-a	F-i

More common when with a definite adjective

Third masculine declension (no endings)
nom. sing.	F
gen. sing.	F
	singular	dual	plural
nominative imenovȃlnik	F	F	F
genitive rodȋlnik	F	F	F
dative dajȃlnik	F	F	F
accusative tožȋlnik	F	F	F
locative mẹ̑stnik	F	F	F
instrumental orọ̑dnik	F	F	F
(vocative) (ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik)	F	F	F

First pronunciation, dialectal, in common written language used till 19th century

First masculine declension (hard o-stem, inanimate) , -j- infix
nom. sing.	F
gen. sing.	F-ja
	singular	dual	plural
nominative imenovȃlnik	F	F-ja	F-ji
genitive rodȋlnik	F-ja	F-jov	F-jov
dative dajȃlnik	F-ju, F-ji	F-joma	F-jom
accusative tožȋlnik	F	F-ja	F-je
locative mẹ̑stnik	F-ju, F-ji	F-jih	F-jih
instrumental orọ̑dnik	F-jom	F-joma	F-ji
(vocative) (ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik)	F	F-ja	F-ji

Somali

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /f/
(letter name): IPA^(key): /fæ/

Letter

F upper case (lower case f)

The fourteenth letter of the Somali alphabet, called fa and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

The fourteenth letter of the Somali alphabet, which follows Arabic abjad order. It is preceded by G and followed by Q.

Spanish

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

the sixth letter of the Spanish alphabet

Swedish

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The sixth letter of the Swedish alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish F. Each pronunciation has a different source:

Filipino alphabet pronunciation is influenced by English F.
Abecedario pronunciation is from Spanish F.

Pronunciation

(Standard Tagalog)
- IPA^(key): /ˈʔef/ [ˈʔɛf] (letter name, Filipino alphabet)
  - IPA^(key): (more native-sounding) /ˈʔep/ [ˈʔɛp̚] (letter name, Filipino alphabet)
  - Rhymes: -ef (letter name, Filipino alphabet), (more native-sounding) -ep (letter name, Filipino alphabet)
- IPA^(key): /ˈʔefe/ [ˈʔɛː.fɛ] (letter name, Abecedario)
  - IPA^(key): (more native-sounding) /ˈʔepe/ [ˈʔɛː.pɛ] (letter name, Abecedario)
  - Rhymes: -efe (letter name, Abecedario), (more native-sounding) -epe (letter name, Abecedario)
- IPA^(key): /f/ [f] (phoneme)
  - IPA^(key): (more native-sounding) /p/ [p̚] (phoneme)

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f, Baybayin spelling ᜁᜉ᜔)

The sixth letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Filipino alphabet), called ef and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

This letter is mostly used only in Spanish-based spellings, proper nouns, or unadapted loanwords.
Some purists of Tagalog replace F in words with P.

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f, Baybayin spelling ᜁᜉᜒ)

(historical) The seventh letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Abecedario), called efe and written in the Latin script.

Turkish

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The seventh letter of the Turkish alphabet, called fe and written in the Latin script.

Welsh

Pronunciation

(standard) IPA^(key): /ɛv/
- (informal) IPA^(key): /v(ː)/

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The eighth letter of the Welsh alphabet, called èf and written in the Latin script. It is preceded by E and followed by Ff.

Yoruba

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /f/
(letter name): IPA^(key): /fí/

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The sixth letter of the Yoruba alphabet, called fí and written in the Latin script.

Zulu

Letter

F (upper case, lower case f)

The sixth letter of the Zulu alphabet, written in the Latin script.