U+0158 "Ř" Latin Capital Letter R with Caron Unicode Character

U+0158 "Ř" Latin Capital Letter R with Caron is a distinct letter used primarily in the Czech, Slovak, and Sorbian alphabets, where it represents a raised alveolar trill or a fricative trill, pronounced similarly to a rolled R but with the tongue positioned like the English "zh" sound. It is formed by adding a caron (a small diacritical mark resembling an inverted circumflex) above the standard Latin letter R. This character is part of the Latin Extended-A block in Unicode and is essential for proper spelling in languages that use it, as it can distinguish meaning between words, such as in the Czech words "řeka" (river) and "reka" (a different term). Typographically, the caron is placed above the capital R, while its lowercase counterpart, "ř" (U+0159), often sees the caron modified to a small v-like shape over the letter.