The fourth letter of the English alphabet, and a vocal consonant. The English letter is from Latin, which is from Greek, which took it from Phœnician, the probable ultimate origin being Egyptian. It is related most nearly to t and th; . See Guide to Pronunciation, √178, 179, 229.

The nominal of the second tone in the model major scale (that in C), or of the fourth tone in the relative minor scale of C (that in A minor), or of the key tone in the relative minor of F.

As a numeral D stands for 500. in this use it is not the initial of any word, or even strictly a letter, but one half of the sign [GREEK] (or [GREEK] ) the original Tuscan numeral for 1000.