Emily Dickinson Lexicon

D,

in the English alphabet, is the fourth letter and the third articulation. It holds the same place in the English, as in the Chaldee, Syriac, Hebrew, Samaritan, Greek and Latin alphabets. In the Arabic, it is the eighth; in the Russian, the fifth; and in the Ethiopic, the nineteenth letter. D is a dental articulation, formed by placing the end of the tongue against the gum just above the upper teeth. It is nearly allied to T, but is not so close a letter, or rather it does not interrupt the voice so suddenly as T, and in forming the articulation, there is a lingual and nasal sound, which has induced some writers to rank D among the lingual letters. It has but one sound, as in do, din, bad; and is never quiescent in English words, except in a rapid utterance of such words as handkerchief. As a numeral, D represents five hundred, and when a dash or stroke is placed over it thus, D̅, it denotes five thousand. As an abbreviation, D stands for Doctor; as M.D. Doctor of Medicine; D.T. Doctor of Theology, or S.T.D. Doctor of Sacred Theology; D.D. Doctor of Divinity, or dono dedit; D.D.D. dat, dicat, dedicat; and D.D.D.D. dignum Deo donum dedit.