Usage
In English and most other European languages, P is a voiceless bilabial plosive. Both initial and final Ps can be combined with many other discrete consonants in English words. A common example of assimilation is the tendency of prefixes ending in N to assume an M sound before Ps (such as in + pulse → impulse — see also List of Latin words with English derivatives).
A common digraph in English is ph, which represents the voiceless labiodental fricative /f/, and can be used to transliterate Phi (φ) in loanwords from Greek. In German, the digraph pf is common, representing a labial affricate of /pf/.
Arabic speakers are usually unaccustomed to pronouncing /p/; they pronounce it as /b/.
Most English words beginning with P are of foreign origin, primarily French, Latin, Greek, and Slavic. In these languages, words from Proto Indo-European have p at the beginning if they come from initial *p. English cognates often start with F, since English is a Germanic language, and has undergone the Grimm's law.
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Famous quotes containing the word usage:
“I am using it [the word ‘perceive’] here in such a way that to say of an object that it is perceived does not entail saying that it exists in any sense at all. And this is a perfectly correct and familiar usage of the word.”
—A.J. (Alfred Jules)
“Pythagoras, Locke, Socrates—but pages
Might be filled up, as vainly as before,
With the sad usage of all sorts of sages,
Who in his life-time, each was deemed a bore!
The loftiest minds outrun their tardy ages.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“Girls who put out are tramps. Girls who don’t are ladies. This is, however, a rather archaic usage of the word. Should one of you boys happen upon a girl who doesn’t put out, do not jump to the conclusion that you have found a lady. What you have probably found is a lesbian.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1951)