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Arabic alphabet
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The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing languages such as Arabic, Kurdish, Persian, Urdu, and others. Arabic is written from right to left, and is written in a cursive style of script. There are 28 basic letters in the Arabic alphabet. Because some of the vowels are indicated with optional symbols, the script is classified as an abjad.
Just as different handwriting styles and typefaces exist in the Roman alphabet, there are Arabic scripts in a number of different Arabic calligraphy styles, including Naskh, Nasta?liq, Shahmukhi, Ruq'ah, Thuluth, Kufic, and Hijazi. After the Latin alphabet, the Arabic writing system is the second-most widely used alphabet around the world.
The alphabet was first used to write texts in Arabic — most importantly, the , the holy book of Islam.
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The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing languages such as Arabic, Kurdish, Persian, Urdu, and others. Arabic is written from right to left, and is written in a cursive style of script. There are 28 basic letters in the Arabic alphabet. Because some of the vowels are indicated with optional symbols, the script is classified as an abjad.
Just as different handwriting styles and typefaces exist in the Roman alphabet, there are Arabic scripts in a number of different Arabic calligraphy styles, including Naskh, Nasta?liq, Shahmukhi, Ruq'ah, Thuluth, Kufic, and Hijazi. After the Latin alphabet, the Arabic writing system is the second-most widely used alphabet around the world.
The alphabet was first used to write texts in Arabic — most importantly, the , the holy book of Islam. With the spread of Islam, it came to be used to write many other languages, even outside of the Semitic family to which Arabic belongs. Examples of non-Semitic languages written with the Arabic alphabet include Persian, Urdu, Pashto, Baloch, Malay, Balti, Brahui, Panjabi (in Pakistan), Kashmiri, Sindhi (in Pakistan), Uyghur (in China), Kazakh (in China), Kyrgyz (in China), Azerbaijani (in Iran), Kurdish (in Iraq and Iran) and the language of the former Ottoman Empire. In order to accommodate the needs of these other languages, new letters and other symbols were added to the original alphabet. (See Use of the Arabic script for languages other than Arabic below.)
StructureThe Arabic alphabet has 28 basic letters. Adaptations of Arabic script for other languages, such the Malay Arabic script, have additional letters. There are no distinct upper and lower case letter forms.
Both printed and written Arabic are cursive, with most of the letters directly connected to the letter that immediately follows. Each individual letter can have up to four distinct forms, based on its position within in the word. These forms are:
- Initial: at the beginning of a word; or in the middle of a word, after a non-connecting letter.
- Medial: between two connecting letters (non-connecting letters lack a medial form).
- Final: at the end of a word following a connecting letter.
- Isolated: at the end of a word following a non-connecting letter; or used independently.
Some letters look almost the same in all four forms, while others show considerable variety. In addition, some letter combinations are written as ligatures (special shapes), including . Many letters look similar but are distinguished from one another by dots above or below their central part, called i'jam. The dots are an integral part of the letter, not diacritics, because they distinguish completely different letters (and sounds). For example, the Arabic letters transliterated as b and t have the same basic shape, but b has one dot below, , and t has two dots above, .
The Arabic alphabet is an "impure" abjad. Long vowels are written, but short ones are not, so the reader must be familiar with the language to understand the missing vowels. However, in editions of the and in didactic works, vocalization marks are used, including the sukun for vowel omission and the šadda for consonant gemination (consonant doubling).
Sorting
There are two collating orders for the Arabic alphabet. The original abjadi order () derives from the order of the Phoenician alphabet, and is therefore similar to the order of other Phoenician-derived alphabets, such as the Hebrew alphabet. The abjadi order is used for numbering. In the order (), similarly-shaped letters are grouped together (see the next section). The hija'i order is used wherever lists of names and words are sorted, as in phonebooks, classroom lists, and dictionaries.
Letters and letter variants The following table provides all of the Unicode characters for Arabic, and none of the supplementary letters used for other languages. The transliteration given is the widespread DIN 31635 standard, with some common alternatives. See the article Romanization of Arabic for details and various other transliteration schemes.
Regarding pronunciation, the phonetic values given are those of the standard pronunciation of literary Arabic, the Dachsprache which is taught in universities. Actual pronunciation between the varieties of Arabic may vary widely. For more details concerning the pronunciation of Arabic, consult the article Arabic phonology.
Modified lettersThe following are not individual letters, but rather different contextual variants of some of the Arabic letters.
General
Unicode | Conditional forms | Name | Translit. | Phonemic Value (IPA) |
|---|
| Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|
0622
| FE81
| FE82
| — | | | | 0629
| FE93
| FE94
| — | | h / | | 0649
| FEEF
| FEF0
| FBE9
| FBE8
| | (see note below) | 06CC
| FBFC
| FBFD
| FBFF
| FBFE
| | (see note below) | | |
The broken alif (), commonly encoded as Unicode 0x0649 () in Arabic, is sometimes replaced in Persian or Urdu, with Unicode 0x06CC (?), called "Persian yeh", in accordance with its pronunciation in those languages. The glyphs are identical in isolated and final form (? ?), but not in initial and medial position, where the Persian yeh gains two dots below (? ?). The has neither an initial nor a medial form in very old unicode, though from Unicode 3.0 and later, an alif maqsura with all positions is provided.
Although this is the common situation, the problem is not so simple, as computers recognize the "three yeh's" (0x064A, 0x0649, 0x06CC) as different letters though may have identical shapes in some forms. No solution has been met yet as of May 2009. A version of an Arabic standard parallel from Unicode is proposed.
LigaturesThe only compulsory ligature is + . All other ligatures ( + , etc.) are optional.
Unicode has a special glyph for the ligature (“God”), U+FDF2 ARABIC LIGATURE ALLAH ISOLATED FORM:
The latter is a work-around for the shortcomings of most text processors, which are incapable of displaying the correct vowel marks for the word , because it should compose a small sign above a gemination sign. Compare the display of the composed equivalents below (the exact outcome will depend on your browser and font configuration):
- , (geminated) (with implied short a vowel, reversed) :
- , , (geminated) (with implied short a vowel, reversed) :
Extra lettersAdditional modified letters, used in non-Arabic languages, or in Arabic for transliterating foreign words, include:
Sometimes used in Arabic- ? - Va', sometimes used to represent the letter V when transliterating foreign words in Arabic. Normally the letter ? - Fa' is used to transliterate the V letter.
It's also used as Pa in the Jawi script.
- ? - Pa', represents the sound [p] in Persian, Kurdish, and Urdu; sometimes used to represent the letter P when transliterating foreign words in Arabic, although Arabic nearly always substitutes B for P in the transliteration of foreign terms. Normally the letter ? - Ba' is used to transliterate the P letter. So, "7up" can be transcribed as ??? ?? or ??? ??.
- ? - Cha', used to represent the [t?] ("ch") phoneme; sometimes used when transliterating foreign words in Arabic, although Arabic usually substitutes other letters in the transliteration of foreign terms. Normally the combination ?? - ta' and šin are used to transliterate the [t?] ("ch") sound.
It's also used in several other languages. Ca in the Jawi script
- ? - Gaf, used to represent the [g] phoneme (as in "get"). Normally used in Persian. Often foreign words with the G sound are transliterated in Arabic with ? (kaf), ? (gayn) or ? (gim), which may or may not change the original sound, (in Egyptian Arabic ? is usually read as a hard "G" (get), which also creates a confusion when the original sound is like the English [d?] (j) phoneme (as in "job")).
Only used in non-Arabic languages
- ? - used to represent the equivalent of the Latin letter the Latin letter ? in some African languages such as Fulfulde; not used in Arabic
- ? - represents a variety of G in Sindhi
- ? - represents an aspirated "b" ("bh") in Sindhi and Urdu
- ? - Gaf, represents G in informal Moroccan Arabic, as well as officially to transliterate the letter G in many city names such as Agadir (??????), and family names such as El Guerrouj (??????).
- ? or ? - Gaf, represents G in the Jawi script of Malay
- ? - represents V in Kyrgyz, Uyghur, and Old Tatar; and W in Kazakh; also formerly used in Nogai
- ? - Nya in the Jawi script
- ? - Nga in the Jawi script
- ? - Va in the Jawi script
Writing vowels
Short vowels
Short vowels are generally not written in Arabic, except in sacred texts (such as the , where they must be written) and sometimes in teaching material. These are known as vocalized texts.
Short vowels are occasionally marked where the word would otherwise be ambiguous and could not be resolved simply from context, or simply wherever they are aesthetically pleasing.
Short vowels may be written with diacritics placed above or below the consonant that precedes them in the syllable, called harakat. All Arabic vowels, long and short, follow a consonant; contrary to appearances, there is a consonant at the start of a name like Ali — in Arabic — or of a word like .
Short vowels
(fully vocalised text) | Name | Trans. | Value |
|---|
064E
? | | | 064F
? | | | 0650
? | | | | | |
Long vowels
A long a following a consonant other than a hamza is written with a short a sign on the consonant plus an after it; long i is written as a sign for short i plus a ; and long u as a sign for short u plus a . Briefly, aa = a, iy = i and uw = u. Long a following a hamza may be represented by an or by a free hamza followed by an 'alif.
In the table below, vowels will be placed above or below a dotted circle replacing a primary consonant letter or a šadda sign. For clarity in the table below, the primary letter on the left used to mark these long vowels are shown only in their isolated form. Please note that most consonants do connect to the left with , and written then with their medial or final form. Additionally, the letter in the last row may connect to the letter on its left, and then will use a medial or initial form. Use the table of primary letters to look at their actual glyph and joining types.
Long vowels
(fully vocalised text) | Name | Trans. | Value |
|---|
064E 0627
? | | | 064E 0649
? | | | 064E 06CC
? | | | 064F 0648
? | | | 0650 064A
? | | | | | | | |
In unvocalized text (one in which the short vowels are not marked), the long vowels are represented by the consonant in question: , (or ), , or . Long vowels written in the middle of a word of unvocalised text are treated like consonants with a sukun (see below) in a text that has full diacritics. Here also, the table shows long vowel letters only in isolated form for clarity.
Long vowels
(unvocalised text) | Name | Trans. | Value |
|---|
0627
| | | 0649
| | | 06CC
| | | 0648
| | | 064A
| | | | | | | |
Diphthongs
The diphthongs and are represented in vocalised text as follows:
Diphthongs
(fully vocalised text) | Name | Trans. | Value |
|---|
064E 064A
? | | | 064E 0648
? | | | | |
Sukun and alif aboveAn Arabic syllable can be open (ending with a vowel) or closed (ending with a consonant).
- open: CV [consonant-vowel] (long or short vowel)
- closed: CVC (short vowel only)
When the syllable is closed, we can indicate that the consonant that closes it does not carry a vowel by marking it with a diacritic called ( ) to remove any ambiguity, especially when the text is not vocalized. A normal text is composed only of series of consonants; thus, the word , "heart", is written . The indicates where not to place a vowel: could, in effect, be read qalab (meaning "he turned around"), but written with a sukun over the and the (), it can only have the form qVlb. This is one step down from full vocalization, where the vowel a would also be indicated by a : .
The is traditionally written in full vocalization. Outside of the , putting a above a — which represents —, or above a — which stands for — is extremely rare, to the point that with sukun will be unambiguously read as the diphthong , and with will be read .
For example, the letters ( with an at the end of the word)
will be read most naturally as the word (“music”). If one were to write a above the , the and the , one would get , which would be read as (note however that the final , because it is an , never takes a ). The word, entirely vocalized, would be written in the , or elsewhere. (The Quranic spelling would have no sign above the final , but instead a miniature above the preceding consonant, which is a valid Unicode character but most Arabic computer fonts cannot in fact display this miniature as of 2006.)
A is not placed on word-final consonants, even if no vowel is pronounced, because fully vocalised texts are always written as if the vowels were in fact pronounced. For example, , meaning “Ahmed is a bad husband”, for the purposes of Arabic grammar and orthography, is treated as if still pronounced with full , i.e. with the complete desinences.
The is also used for transliterating words into the Arabic script. The Persian word (mâsk, from the English word "mask"), for example, might be written with a sukun above the to signify that there is no vowel sound between that letter and the .
General
Unicode | Name | Translit. | Phonemic Value (IPA) |
|---|
0652
? | | (no vowel with this consonant letter or
diphthong with this long vowel letter) | 0670
? | | (no vowel with next final consonant letter or
diphthong with next final long vowel letter) | | |
Other diacritics
Gemination
The , or shadda ( ? ), marks the gemination (doubling) of a consonant. A ( ? ) may be written between the consonant and the rather than under the consonant.
The w-shaped sign is derived from beginning of a small letter .
General
Unicode | Name is | Translit. |
|---|
0651
? | | (consonant doubled) |
Nunation
| Tanwin letters: | | | used to write the grammatical endings -an, -in and -un, respectively, for desinences with nunation in indefinite state in Arabic. The sign is most commonly written in combination with 'alif ? () or (ta' marbu?a). |
Numerals There are two kinds of numerals used in Arabic writing; standard numerals (predominant in the Arab World), and Eastern Arabic numerals (used in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India). In Arabic, the former are referred to as "Indian numbers" ( ). Arabic (or Hindu-Arabic) numerals are also used in Europe and the rest of the Western World in a third variant, the Western Arabic numerals, even though the Arabic alphabet is not. In most of present-day North Africa, the usual western numerals are used; in medieval times, a slightly different set was used, from which Western Arabic numerals derive, via Italy. Like Arabic alphabetic characters, Arabic numerals are written from right to left, though the units are always right-most, and the highest value left-most, just as with Western "Arabic numerals". Telephone numbers are read from left to right.
| Western | Middle-Eastern
(Standard) | Eastern/Indian |
|---|
| 0 | | | | 1 | | | | 2* | | | | 3 | | | | 4 | | | | 5 | | | | 6 | | | | 7 | | | | 8 | | | | 9 | | |
*The standard form of the numeral 2 is slightly different in Egypt.
In addition, the Arabic alphabet can be used to represent numbers. This usage is based on the abjadi of the alphabet. is 1, is 2, is 3, and so on until = 10, = 20, = 30, …, = 200, …, = 1000. This is sometimes used to produce chronograms.
History
The Arabic alphabet can be traced back to the Nabatean alphabet used to write the Nabataean dialect of Aramaic. The first known text in the Arabic alphabet is a late fourth-century inscription from Jabal Ramm (50 km east of Aqaba), but the first dated one is a trilingual inscription at Zebed in Syria from 512. However, the epigraphic record is extremely sparse, with only five certainly pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions surviving, though some others may be pre-Islamic. Later, dots were added above and below the letters to differentiate them. (The Aramaic language had fewer phonemes than the Arabic, and some originally distinct Aramaic letters had become indistinguishable in shape, so that in the early writings 15 distinct letter-shapes had to do duty for 28 sounds; cf. the similarly ambiguous Pahlavi alphabet.) The first surviving document that definitely uses these dots is also the first surviving Arabic papyrus, dated April 643, although they did not become obligatory until much later. Important texts like the were frequently memorized; this practice, which is still widespread among many Muslim communities today, probably arose partially from a desire to avoid the great ambiguity of the script. (see Arabic Unicode)
Later still, vowel marks and the hamza were introduced, beginning some time in the latter half of the seventh century, preceedign the first invention of Syriac and Hebrew vocalization. Initially, this was done by a system of red dots, said to have been commissioned by an Umayyad governor of Iraq, Hajjaj ibn Yusuf: a dot above = , a dot below = ,
a dot on the line = , and doubled dots indicated nunation. However, this was cumbersome and easily confusable with the letter-distinguishing dots, so about 100 years later, the modern system was adopted. The system was finalized around 786 by al-Farahidi.
Use of the Arabic script for languages other than Arabic| Worldwide use of the Arabic alphabet |
|---|
| | | | ? Countries where the Arabic script is the only official orthography | | | ? Countries where the Arabic script is used alongside other orthographies. |
The Arabic script has been adopted for use in a wide variety of languages other than Arabic, including Persian, Kurdish, Malay and Urdu. Such adaptations may feature altered or new characters to represent phonemes that do not appear in Arabic phonology. For example, the Arabic language lacks a voiceless bilabial plosive (the sound), so many languages add their own letter to represent in the script, though the specific letter used varies from language to language. These modifications tend to fall into groups: all the Indian and Turkic languages written in Arabic script tend to use the Persian modified letters, whereas Indonesian languages tend to imitate those of Jawi. The modified version of the Arabic script originally devised for use with Persian is known as the Perso-Arabic script by scholars.
In the case of Kurdish, vowels are mandatory, making the script an abugida rather than an abjad as it is for most languages. Kashmiri, also, writes all vowels.
Use of the Arabic script in West African languages, especially in the Sahel, developed with the penetration of Islam. To a certain degree the style and usage tends to follow those of the Maghreb (for instance the position of the dots in the letters fa' and qaf). Additional diacritics have come into use to facilitate writing of sounds not represented in the Arabic language. The term Ajami, which comes from the Arabic root for "foreign", has been applied to Arabic-based orthographies of African languages.
Current uses of the alphabet for languages other than ArabicToday Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and China are the main non-Arab states using the Arabic alphabet to write one or more official national languages, including Persian, Dari, Pashto, Urdu, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Uyghur.
The Arabic alphabet is currently used for:
Middle East and Central Asia- Kurdish in Northern Iraq, Northwest Iran, and Northeast Syria. (In Turkey, the Latin alphabet is used for Kurdish);
- Official language Persian and regional languages including Azeri, Kurdish and Baluchi in Iran;
- Official languages Dari (which differs only to a minor degree from Persian) and Pashto and all regional languages including Uzbek in Afghanistan;
- Tajik also differs only to a minor degree from Persian, and while in Tajikistan the usual Tajik alphabet is an extended Cyrillic alphabet, there is also some use of Arabic-alphabet Persian books from Iran; in the southwestern region of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China Arabic script is the official one (like for Uyghur in the rest of Xinjiang);
- Garshuni (or Karshuni) originated in the seventh century AD, when Arabic was becoming the dominant spoken language in the Fertile Crescent, but Arabic script was not yet fully developed and widely read. There is evidence that writing Arabic in Garshuni influenced the style of modern Arabic script. After this initial period, Garshuni writing has continued to the present day among some Syriac Christian communities in the Arabic-speaking regions of the Levant and Mesopotamia.
- Uyghur changed to Roman script in 1969 and back to a simplified, fully voweled, Arabic script in 1983;
- Kazakh is written in Arabic in Pakistan, Iran, China, and Afghanistan; and
- Kyrgyz is written in Arabic by the 150,000 in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China.
East Asia
South Asia- Official language Urdu and regional languages including
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