From The Hebrew Alphabet...

The Hebrew Alphabet Letter Resh

The twentieth letter of many of the Semitic alphabets, including Hebrew, is Resh. In most of the Semitic alphabets, The Hebrew Alphabet Letter Resh is often very similar to The Hebrew Alphabet Letter Dalet. The letters became so similar in the Syriac alphabet that now you can only tell them apart by a dot " Resh, having a dot above the letter and Dalet having a dot below the letter. In the Hebrew and Aramaic square alphabet, the letter Resh is made by a rounded single stroke and Dalet is made by a right-angle of two strokes.

Origins of Resh

The letter Resh was thought to have come from a picture or a pictogram of a head.
Resh in Hebrew

In the Hebrew language, Resh is the representation of a rhotic consonant. It has different pronunciations for different dialects:

- In the Modern Hebrew language, it is pronounced like a voiced uvular fricative.
- In the Ashkenazi pronunciations, it is either pronounced like an alveolar approximant or even a uvular trill.
- In the Mizrahi pronunciations, it is pronounced like an alveolar trill or a flap.

The letter Resh is not able to receive a dagesh.

In gematria, the letter Resh represents the number 200.

As an abbreviation

As an abbreviation, the letter Resh can stand for Rabbi. This letter may also be found after someone’s name on a gravestone which would mean that they were a Rabbi. The other use of Rav as a generic term would come to mean a personal spiritual guide or a teacher.
Spelling out

Resh is often used in an Israeli plrase meaning to lie or to tell a falsehood.

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