The Arabic alphabet, or the Arabic abjad, is the Arabic script as specifically codified for writing the Arabic language. It is a unicameral script written from right-to-left in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters, of which most have contextual forms. The Arabic alphabet is an abjad, meaning that the letters only record consonants; due to its optional use of diacritics to notate vowels, it is considered an impure abjad.
Letters The basic Arabic alphabet contains 28 letters, each of which behaves either as a full-fledged letter or as a diacritic. Forms using the Arabic script to write other languages added and removed letters: for example ⟨پ⟩ is often used to represent in adaptations of the Arabic script.
Many letters look similar but are distinguished from one another by dots () above or below their central part (). These dots are an integral part of a letter, since they distinguish between letters that represent different sounds. For example, the Arabic letters , , and have the same basic shape, but with one dot added below, two dots added above, and three dots added above respectively. The letter also has the same form in initial and medial forms, with one dot added above, though it is somewhat different in its isolated and final forms. Historically, they were often omitted, in a writing style called rasm.
Both printed and written Arabic are cursive, with most letters within a word directly joined to adjacent letters.
Letter forms
The Arabic alphabet is always cursive and letters vary in shape depending on their position within a word. Letters can exhibit up to four distinct forms corresponding to an initial, medial (middle), final, or isolated position (IMFI). While some letters show considerable variations, others remain almost identical across all four positions. Generally, letters in the same word are linked together on both sides by short horizontal lines, but six letters () can only be linked to their preceding letter. In addition, some letter combinations are written as ligatures (special shapes), notably , which is the only mandatory ligature (the unligated combination is considered difficult to read).
Table of basic letters Isolated formContextual formsNameMSA Pronunciation (IPA)RomanizationInitialMedialFinalArabicRomanized, / , / / / zāy / / / , , , , (used in medial and final positions as an unlinked letter)ʾ /
Hamza forms
The hamza (glottal stop) can be written either alone, as if it were a letter, or with a carrier, when it becomes a diacritic. () indicates a long + sound as in "sorry", while the other hamzas indicate the glottal stop in different positions of the word as in and , the writing of the hamza is based on a set of rules, For the writing rule of each form, see . IsolatedContextual formsNameMSA Pronunciation (IPA)InitialMedialFinalArabicRomanized -() -() (medial), (final) (medial), (final) -
Modified letters The following are not individual letters, but rather different contextual variants of some of the Arabic letters.
Isolated formContextual formsNameMSA Pronunciation (IPA)RomanizationNotesInitialMedialFinalArabicRomanized - - or / or Used in final position only as a marker of feminine gender for nouns and adjectives. While it was originally pronounced as /t/ in every instance, in Modern Standard Arabic it is only pronounced as such if the word is suffixed with a case ending or it is in the construct state, otherwise it is unpronounced or pronounced as /h/. Compare "school" and "Sarah's school". - - Used only at the end of some words as a spelling convention for etymological reasons.
Long vowels In the fully vocalized Arabic text found in texts such as the Quran, a long following a consonant other than a hamza is written with a short sign () on the consonant plus an after it; long is written as a sign for short () plus a ; and long as a sign for short () plus a . Briefly, = ; = ; and = . Long following a hamza may be represented by an or by a free hamza followed by an . Arabic never allows two consecutive s.
The table below shows vowels placed above or below a dotted circle replacing a primary consonant letter or a sign. For clarity in the table, the primary letters on the left used to mark these long vowels are shown only in their isolated form. 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 representative glyph and joining types.
Letter with diacritic Name Trans. Variants Valueألف ممدودةaa الف مقصورةواو ممدودة uw/ouيا ممدودةiy
In unvocalized text (one in which the short vowels are not marked), the long vowels are represented by the vowel in question: , , or . Long vowels written in the middle of a word of unvocalized text are treated like consonants with a (see below) in a text that has full diacritics. Here also, the table shows long vowel letters only in isolated form for clarity.
Combinations and are always pronounced and respectively. The exception is the suffix in verb endings where is silent, resulting in or . In addition, when transliterating names and loanwords, Arabic language speakers write out most or all the vowels as long ( with , and with , and and with ), meaning it approaches a true alphabet.
Diphthongs The diphthongs and are represented in vocalized text as follows:
Diphthongs(fully vocalized text)Trans.Value064A 064E0648 064EOther Diphthongs A final is usually written at the end of words for nisba ( ) which is a common suffix to form adjectives of relation or pertinence. The suffix is for masculine ( for feminine); for example "socialist", it is also used for a singulative ending that applies to human or other sentient beings as in jundiyy "a soldier". However nowadays this final is mostly pronounced with a long () as in instead of . A similar mistake happens at the end of some third person plural verbs as in "they ran" which is pronounced nowadays as .
Ligatures
The use of ligature in Arabic is common. There is one compulsory ligature, that for ل + ا, which exists in two forms. All other ligatures, of which there are many, are optional.
Isolated form Contextual formsMSA Pronunciation (IPA) Initial Medial Final
A more complex ligature that combines as many as seven distinct components is commonly used to represent the word . The only ligature within the primary range of Arabic script in Unicode (U+06xx) is + . This is the only one compulsory for fonts and word-processing. Other ranges are for compatibility to older standards and contain other ligatures, which are optional.
Note: Unicode also has in its Presentation Form B FExx range a code for this ligature. If your browser and font are configured correctly for Arabic, the ligature displayed above should be identical to this one, U+FEFB
Alphabetical order There are two main collating sequences ('alphabetical orderings') for the Arabic alphabet: , and .
The Hija'i order ( ) is the more common order and it is used when sorting lists of words and names, such as in phonebooks, classroom lists, and dictionaries.
The original order ( ) derives from that used by the Phoenician alphabet and therefore resembles the sequence of letters in Hebrew and Greek. Letters are also assigned numerical values (abjad numerals) for purposes of numerology, as is done in Hebrew gematria and Greek isopsephy. Letters in the Hija'i order are not considered to have numerical values.
Hijaʼi Modern dictionaries and reference books use the alphabetical order instead of the Abjadi alphabetical order, in which letters are arranged mainly by similarity of shape. The hijaʼi order is never used for numerals.
+ Common order ʾ
A different hijaʼi order was used in the Maghreb but is now considered obsolete. The sequence is:
+ Maghrebian order (obsolete) ʾ The colors indicate which letters have different positions from the previous table
The al-iklīl order, now obsolete, also arranged letters mainly by shape. It was first used in the 10th-century work Kitāb al-Iklīl. The sequence is:
+ Al-iklīl order (obsolete) ʾ The colors indicate which letters have different positions from the previous table
Abjadi The abjadi order is the usual Arabic order in dictionaries and reference books of the late 1st millennium to the early 2nd millennium. However, this Arabic abjadi order is not a simple correspondence with the earlier north Semitic alphabetic order, as the latter has a position corresponding to the Aramaic letter samek , which has no cognate letter in the Arabic alphabet historically because Proto-Semitic fricatives *š (represented by šin in Aramaic) and *s (represented by samek in Aramaic) had merged into Arabic s , while Proto-Semitic *ś became Arabic š .
The loss of was compensated for:
In the Mashriqi abjad sequence, by splitting the letter šīn into two independent Arabic letters: and , with the latter taking the place of ; And in the Maghrebi abjad sequence, by splitting the letter ṣāḏē into two independent Arabic letters: and , with the latter taking the place of .
The six other letters that do not correspond to any north Semitic letter are placed at the end. +Common sequenceʾ123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627281234567891020304050607080901002003004005006007008009001000 This is commonly vocalized as follows:
.
Another vocalization is:
+Maghrebian sequence (quoted in apparently earliest authorities & considered older) Alyaseer.net Ordering entries and cards in subject indexes Discussion thread (Accessed 2009-October–06)ʾ123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627281234567891020304050607080901002003004005006007008009001000The colors indicate which letters have different positions from the previous table This can be vocalized as:
Notes:
Diacritics
Users of Arabic usually write long vowels but omit short ones, so readers must utilize their knowledge of the language in order to supply the missing vowels. However, in the education system and particularly in classes on Arabic grammar these vowels are used since they are crucial to the grammar. An Arabic sentence can have a completely different meaning by a subtle change of the vowels. This is why in an important text such as the the three basic vowel signs are mandated, like the Arabic diacritics and other types of marks, like the cantillation signs.
Short vowels Short vowels may be written with diacritics placed above or below the consonant that precedes them in the syllable, called ḥarakāt.
In the Arabic handwriting of everyday use, in general publications, and on street signs, short vowels are typically not written. On the other hand, copies of the cannot be endorsed by the religious institutes that review them unless the diacritics are included. Children's books, elementary school texts, and Arabic-language grammars in general will include diacritics to some degree. These are known as "vocalized" texts.
Short vowels(fully vocalized text) Code Name Name in Arabic script Trans. Phonemic Value Remarks 064E fat·ḥah Ranges from , , , , , to , depending on the native dialect, position, and stress. 064F Ranges from , , to , depending on the native dialect, position, and stress. Approximated to English "U" (as in "put")0650 Ranges from , , to , depending on the native dialect, position, and stress. Approximated to English "I" (as in "pick")
Nunation
Nunation ( ) is the addition of a final to a noun or adjective. The vowel before it indicates grammatical case. In written Arabic, nunation is indicated by doubling the vowel diacritic at the end of the word, e.g. . + Nunation – tanwīn forms Symbol Transliteration
Gemination
Gemination is the doubling of a consonant. Instead of writing the letter twice, Arabic places a W-shaped sign called above it.
General Unicode Name Name in Arabic script Transliteration 0651 (consonant doubled/geminated)
Vowel omission