The tenth letter of the alphabet: called رَآءٌ and رَا: pl. [of the former] رَاآتٌ and [of the latter] أَرْوَآءٌ. (TA in باب الالف الليّنه.) It is one of the letters termed مَجْهُورَة [or vocal, i. e. pronounced with the voice, not with the breath only]; and of the letters termed ذُلْق, which are, and ل and ن, [also termed ذَوْلَقِيَّة, or pronounced with the extremity of the tongue, and ب and ف and م which are also termed شَفَهِيَّة, or pronounced with the lips:] these letters which are pronounced with the tip of the tongue and with the lips abound in the composition of Arabic words: (L:) and hence ر is termed, in a vulgar prov., حِمَارُ الشُعَرَآءِ [“the ass of the poets”]. (TA in باب الالف اللّينة.) ر is substituted for ل, in نَثْرَةٌ for نَثْلَةٌ, and in رَعَلَّ for لَعَلَّ, and in وَجِرٌ and أَوْجَرُ for وَجِلٌ and أَوْجَلُ; and this substitution is a peculiarity of the dial. of Keys; wherefore some assert that the ر in these cases is an original radical letter. (MF.)

[As a numeral, it denotes Two hundred..]

رَ is an imperative of رَأَى [q. v.]. (AZ, T and Ṣ and M in art. رأى.)