G

See also: Appendix:Variations of "g" and Ⴚ

G	U+0047, G LATIN CAPITAL LETTER G

← F
[U+0046]

Basic Latin

H →
[U+0048]

Ｇ	U+FF27, Ｇ FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER G

← Ｆ
[U+FF26]

Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms

Ｈ →
[U+FF28]

Translingual

Etymology

From a modification of the Latin letter C (“ce”), from the Etruscan letter 𐌂 (c, “ce”), from the Ancient Greek letter Γ (G, “gamma”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤂‎ (g, “giml”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓌙.

Letter

G (lower case g)

The seventh letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

Symbol

G

(metrology) giga-.
gauss.
(biochemistry) glycine, a natural amino acid.
(biochemistry) Any of the nucleotides guanodine, nucleoside guanosine, or nucleobase guanine, which are components of DNA.
(physics) The gravitational constant in the formula F = Gm₁m₂/r²; sometimes called "big G" to distinguish from g for the acceleration of gravity.
(linguistics) A wildcard for a glide or semivowel
(clothing) Bra cup size.

Gallery

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

English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /dʒiː/
Audio (UK) (file)
Rhymes: -iː

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g, plural Gs or G's)

The seventh letter of the English alphabet, called gee and written in the Latin script.
- 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 3, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473:
  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.

Number

G (upper case, lower case g)

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

Noun

G (countable and uncountable, plural Gs)

(sports, baseball) Games (the statistic reporting the number of games that a player has participated in).
(US, politics) Green.
(US, of a movie) General (suitable for a general audience).
(sports) Goals (a sports statistic).
Ground floor (of a building).
A galaxy.
gravity
(chiefly US) Grand (thousand dollars).
- 1994, Juicy‎ (Hip Hop), spoken by The Notorious B.I.G., 2:40 from the start:
  Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis
  When I was dead broke, man, I couldn't picture this
  50-inch screen, money-green leather sofa
  Got two rides, a limousine with a chauffeur
  Phone bill about two G's flat
  No need to worry, my accountant handles that
  And my whole crew is loungin'
  Celebratin' every day, no more public housin'
- 2005, Jordan Houston, Darnell Carlton, Paul Beauregard, Premro Smith, Marlon Goodwin, David Brown, and Willie Hutchinson (lyrics), “Stay Fly”, in Most Known Unknown‎, Sony BMG, performed by Three 6 Mafia (featuring Young Buck, 8 Ball, and MJG):
  Just really want to smoke my weed, fuck these hoes, and stack my Gs.
- 2010, Gloria Campisi, "Psychologist sues city for 100G, alleging beating by cop earlier this year", Philadelphia Inquirer, 9 September 2010:
  Psychologist sues city for 100G, alleging beating by cop earlier this year
(grammar) Abbreviation of genitive case.
(UK, education) The academic grade that comes next below F.
(slang) A gangster; often used to address one's friend.
- 1995 August 1, “Gangsta's Paradise”, in Gangsta's Paradise, performed by Coolio, Kylian Mash:
  I'm the kinda G the little homies wanna be like / On my knees in the night, sayin' prayers in the streetlight
(economics) Abbreviation for Government Spending.
Alternative letter-case form of g (unit of gravitational acceleration).
(drug slang) Short for gamma-hydroxybutyrate.
(obsolete, chemistry) glucinum.

Alternative forms

G.

Derived terms

(gravity): 1-G
(astronomy): ClG
(sports): GF, GA

Related terms

(gangster): O.G.

Afar

Letter

G

The fourteenth letter in the Afar alphabet.

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /χɪə/

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

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

Noun

G (plural G's, diminutive G'tjie)

G

Angami

Letter

G

The fifteenth letter of the Angami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Azerbaijani

Letter

G upper case (lower case g)

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

Basque

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɡe/, [ɡe̞]

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

The seventh letter of the Basque alphabet, called ge and written in the Latin script.

Central Franconian

Etymology

/ɡ/ is from West Germanic stem-initial *g in most of Moselle Franconian; from *gg in Ripuarian and northernmost Moselle Franconian; in much of Ripuarian from *d, *þ after long high vowels.
For the origin of /j/, see J. /ɣ/ replaces the former after back vowels.

Pronunciation

/ɡ/, /ɣ/, /j/, (coda respectively) [k], [x], [ɕ]

Letter

G

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

Usage notes

Systems for the use of G

In the spelling of the Colognian Academy (Akademie för uns kölsche Sproch), any West Germanic or otherwise underyling *g is spelt g regardless of the pronunciation, except that ck is used for [k] in the syllable coda.
In the popular German-based spelling, the sounds [ɣ] and [ɡ] are spelt g. The other sounds are represented by j [j] and ch [ɕ], [x] (except sometimes in unstressed ig for [iɕ]). In the coda, ck or rarely gg may be used for [k].
In the Dutch-based spelling, [j] is j, [ɡ] is gk, coda [k] is k. The other sounds are spelt g.

Doubling of G

In the German-based spelling, g [ɡ] is always doubled after short vowels. However, g for any other sound is never doubled according the Colognian Academy. In the popular system, g for [ɣ] may be doubled after short vowels or not.
In the Dutch-based spelling, g is regularly doubled after short vowels if the syllable were otherwise open.

Chinese

Etymology 1

From English G, gig (“gigabyte”).

Alternative forms

(Hong Kong Cantonese) 激 (gik1), GB

Pronunciation

Cantonese (Jyutping): gik¹

Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: gik¹
  - Yale: gīk
  - Cantonese Pinyin: gik⁷
  - Guangdong Romanization: gig¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kɪk̚⁵/

Noun

G

(computing, informal) gigabyte

Related terms

M (“megabyte”)

References

English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

Pronunciation 1

Mandarin
(Pinyin): jì (ji⁴)
(Zhuyin): ㄐㄧˋ
Cantonese (Jyutping): zyu¹, zi¹
Wu (Wiktionary): jji (T3)

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: jì
  - Zhuyin: ㄐㄧˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: jì
  - Wade–Giles: chi⁴
  - Yale: jì
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jih
  - Palladius: цзи (czi)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕi⁵¹/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: zyu¹, zi¹
  - Yale: jyū, jī
  - Cantonese Pinyin: dzy¹, dzi¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: ju¹, ji¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ʃyː⁵⁵/, /t͡siː⁵⁵/

Note:

zyu1 - Guangzhou;
zi1 - Hong Kong, often realised as /t͡ʃiː⁵⁵/ by younger speakers.

Wu
- (Shanghainese)
  - Wiktionary: jji (T3)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /d̥͡ʑi²³/

Note: Often realised as 1jji.

Letter

G

The seventh letter of the Latin alphabet.

Pronunciation 2

Mandarin
(Pinyin): gē, gê̄ (ge¹, gê¹)
(Zhuyin): ㄍㄜ, ㄍㄝ

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese, common)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: gē
  - Zhuyin: ㄍㄜ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: ge
  - Wade–Giles: ko¹
  - Yale: gē
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ge
  - Palladius: гэ (gɛ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kɤ⁵⁵/
- (Standard Chinese, official)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: gê̄
  - Zhuyin: ㄍㄝ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: gê
  - Wade–Giles: keh¹
  - Yale: gē
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: gè
  - Palladius: гэй (gɛj)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kɛ⁵⁵/

Letter

G

The seventh 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).

Dutch

Pronunciation

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

Letter

G (capital, lowercase g)

The seventh letter of the Dutch alphabet.

Esperanto

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /ɡo/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /ɡ/
Audio (file)

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

The eighth letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called go and written in the Latin script.

Estonian

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

The seventh letter of the Estonian alphabet, called gee and written in the Latin script.

Finnish

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

The seventh letter of the Finnish alphabet, called gee and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

Used only in loanwords except for ng [ŋː].

German

Pronunciation

(letter name) IPA^(key): /ɡeː/
(phoneme) IPA^(key): /ɡ/, (coda) /k/, /ç/, /x/
- In Standard German proper, ‹g› in the syllable coda is pronounced [k] except for the unstressed syllable ig, which becomes [ɪç]. In southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and South Tyrol, [ɪk] is often heard in the latter case, too. In northern and central Germany, conversely, coda ‹g› is traditionally always pronounced like ‹ch›, thus as fricative [ç], [x~χ]. Many speakers have now adapted to the standard or mix both ways, e.g. restricting the fricative (outside of ig) to some of the commonest words. Those who still use it generally, may nevertheless switch to [k] in enunciation or when reading out.
- Fricative realisations [j~ʝ~ʒ] and [x~ɣ~ʁ] also occur syllable-initially in various regions, but these are now clearly marked as dialectal.

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

The seventh letter of the German alphabet.

Hungarian

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): [ˈɡ]
(letter name): IPA^(key): [ˈɡeː]
Audio (file)

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

The twelfth letter of the Hungarian alphabet, called gé and written in the Latin script.

Declension

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, front unrounded harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	G	G-k
accusative	G-t	G-ket
dative	G-nek	G-knek
instrumental	G-vel	G-kkel
causal-final	G-ért	G-kért
translative	G-vé	G-kké
terminative	G-ig	G-kig
essive-formal	G-ként	G-kként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	G-ben	G-kben
superessive	G-n	G-ken
adessive	G-nél	G-knél
illative	G-be	G-kbe
sublative	G-re	G-kre
allative	G-hez	G-khez
elative	G-ből	G-kből
delative	G-ről	G-kről
ablative	G-től	G-ktől
non-attributive possessive - singular	G-é	G-ké
non-attributive possessive - plural	G-éi	G-kéi

Possessive forms of G
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	G-m	G-im
2nd person sing.	G-d	G-id
3rd person sing.	G-je	G-i
1st person plural	G-nk	G-ink
2nd person plural	G-tek	G-itek
3rd person plural	G-jük	G-ik

Derived terms

G-dúr

Ido

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɡ/

Letter

G (lower case g)

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

Indonesian

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /ɡe/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /ɡ/

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

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

Italian

Pronunciation

(letter name) IPA^(key): ^**/ˈd͡ʒi/^*
- Rhymes: -i
(phonemic realization) IPA^(key): /ɡ/
(phonemic realization before e or i) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒ/

Letter

G f or m (invariable, upper case, lower case g)

The seventh letter of the Italian alphabet, called gi and written in the Latin script.

Japanese

Etymology 1

From English G.

Noun

G(ジー) • (jī)

G, gravity

Etymology 2

Initial of ゴキブリ (gokiburi).

Noun

G(ジー) • (jī)

(slang, euphemistic) cockroach
G(ジー)との格闘(かくとう)
jī to no kakutō
fight with a cockroach

Latvian

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): [ɡ]

(file)

Letter

G

G (upper case, lower case g)

The tenth letter of the Latvian alphabet, called gā and written in the Latin script.

Malay

Pronunciation

(Name of letter) IPA^(key): [d͡ʒi]
(Phoneme, Syllable initial) IPA^(key): [ɡ]
(Phoneme, Syllable final) IPA^(key): [k̚]

Letter

G

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

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

G

(pensions) Initialism of grunnbeløp.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

G

(pensions) Initialism of grunnbeløp.

Nupe

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /ɡ/

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

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

Polish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɡjɛ/

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

The tenth letter of the Polish alphabet, called gie and written in the Latin script.

Portuguese

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

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

Romani

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɡ/

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

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

Romanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɡ/, /dʒ/

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

The ninth letter of the Romanian alphabet, called ge, ghe, or gî and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

When followed by an i or e, this letter represents the phoneme /dʒ/, as in plângi (/plɨndʒʲ/) and înger (/ɨn.dʒer/). When followed by hi or he (ghi and ghe) and in all other cases, it represents /ɡ/.

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /ɡ/

Letter

G (lower case g)

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

Slovene

Etymology

From Gaj's Latin alphabet G, from Czech alphabet G, from Latin G, from a modification of the Latin letter C (“ce”), from the Etruscan letter 𐌂 (c, “ce”), from the Ancient Greek letter Γ (G, “gamma”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤂‎ (g, “giml”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓌙. Pronunciation as /ɡə/ is initial Slovene (phoneme plus a fill vowel) and the second pronunciation is probably taken from German G.

Pronunciation

Phoneme

Pronunciation of G

• (Standard Slovene, tonal) IPA^(key): /ɡ/, [k], SNPT: /g/, [k]
• (Standard Slovene, non-tonal) IPA^(key): /ɡ/, [k], SNPT: /g/, [k]

• (colloquial): IPA^(key): /ɡ/, [k], [x], SNPT: /g/, [k], [h]
• (Most Littoral and Rovte dialects, part of Upper Carniolan dialects) IPA^(key): /ɣ/, [x], SNPT: /ɣ/, [h]

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 G [gə̀, gé] (ə̏, ẹ̄)

• (Standard Slovene, tonal) IPA^(key): [ˈɡə̂], [ˈɡêː], [ˈɡěː], SNPT: [gə̏], [gẹ̄]
• (Standard Slovene, non-tonal) IPA^(key): [ˈɡə], [ˈɡeː], SNPT: [gə̀], [gé],

Audio:

(file)

• (Most Littoral and Rovte dialects, part of Upper Carniolan dialects) IPA^(key): [ˈɣə̂], [ˈɣêː], [ˈɣěː], SNPT: [ɣə̏], [ɣẹ̄],

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, -eː (ə̀, é) (non-tonal)
• Hyphenation: G
• Homophone: g (tonal and non-tonal)
• Homophone: g (non-tonal only)

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

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

The eighth letter of the Slovene alphabet, written in the Latin script.
The eleventh letter of the Resian alphabet, written in the Latin script.
The eighth letter of the Natisone Valley dialect alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Noun

G m inan

The name of the Latin script letter G / g.

Inflection

Overall more common

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

More common when with a definite adjective

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

Dialectal, in common written language used till 19th century

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

Derived terms

Ǵ
Ǧ

Somali

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /ɡ/
(letter name): IPA^(key): /ɡæ/

Letter

G upper case (lower case g)

The thirteenth letter of the Somali alphabet, called ga and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

The thirteenth letter of the Somali alphabet, which follows Arabic abjad order. It is preceded by C and followed by F.

Spanish

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

the seventh letter of the Spanish alphabet

Derived terms

punto G

Turkish

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /ɡ/, /ɟ/
(letter name): IPA^(key): /ɟeː/

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

The eighth letter of the Turkish alphabet, called ge and written in the Latin script.

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ɣəː˨˩], [ze˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ɣəː˦˩], [jej˧˧]
(Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ɣəː˨˩], [jej˧˧]
Phonetic: gờ, giê

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

The tenth letter of the Vietnamese alphabet, called gờ or giê and written in the Latin script.

Welsh

Pronunciation

(standard) IPA^(key): /ɛɡ/
- (informal) IPA^(key): /ɡə/

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

The tenth letter of the Welsh alphabet, called èg and written in the Latin script. It is preceded by Ff and followed by Ng.

Mutation

G at the beginning of words is omitted in a soft mutation, mutates to Ng in a nasal mutation and is unchanged by aspirate mutation, for example with the word Gwynedd (“Gwynedd”):

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
Gwynedd	Wynedd	Ngwynedd	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Yoruba

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /ɡ/
(letter name): IPA^(key): /ɡí/

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

The seventh letter of the Yoruba alphabet, called gí and written in the Latin script.

Zulu

Letter

G (upper case, lower case g)

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