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The Arabic alphabet is the principal script used for writing the Arabic language. It is the alphabet of the language of the Quran, the holy book of Islam. The alphabet's influence spread with that of Islam and it has been, and still is, used to write other languages without any linguistic roots in Arabic, such as Persian and Urdu. (See fuller list below.)
It is often necessary to add or modify certain letters in order to adapt this alphabet to the phonology of the target languages.
1 Structure of the Arabic alphabet
The Arabic alphabet is composed of 28 basic letters and is written from right to left. There is no difference between written and printed letters; the writing is unicase (i.e. the concept of upper and lower case letters does not exist). On the other hand, most of the letters are attached to one another, even when printed, and their appearance changes as a function of whether they are preceded or followed by other letters or stand alone (that is, there is contextual variation and ligature). The Arabic alphabet is an impure abjad - since short vowels are not written, though long ones are - so the reader must know the language in order to restore the vowels. However, in editions of the Quran or in didactic works a vocalization notation in the form of diacritic marks is used. Moreover, in vocalized texts, there is a series of other diacritics of which the most modern are an indication of vowel omission (sukun) and the lengthening of consonants (šadda).
2 Presentation of the alphabet
The Arabic alphabet can be transliterated and transcribed in various ways. The preferred method in this document will be DIN-31635. Alternatives belonging to other standards are indicated after the oblique bar.
Notice that the horizontal-line diacritic above
the long vowels is often replaced by a circumflex,
because it happens to be easier to type in many keyboards.
A transliteration from Arabic must allow the reconstruction
of the original Arabic letters, so it
shows the characters which are not pronounced or which are pronounced as others. A phonemic transcription indicates
only the pronunciation. See below for more details. The phonemic transcription (somewhat simplified here) follows the conventions of the International Phonetic Alphabet: for more details concerning the pronunciation of Arabic, consult the article on Arabic pronunciation.
SATTS, the Standard Arabic Technical Transliteration System, is a US military standard transliteration of Arabic letters to the Latin alphabet.
2.1 Primary letters
| Stand-alone
| Initial
| Medial
| Final
| Name
| Trans.
| Value
|
| ﺀ
| أ ؤ إ ئ ٵ ٶ ٸ ځ, etc.
| hamza | ʾ / ’ | [ʔ]
|
| ﺍ | —
| ﺎ | ʾalif | ā / â
| [aː]
|
| ﺏ | ﺑ | ﺒ | ﺐ | bāʾ
| b | [b]
|
| ﺕ | ﺗ | ﺘ | ﺖ | tāʾ
| t | [t]
|
| ﺙ | ﺛ | ﺜ | ﺚ | ṯāʾ
| ṯ / th | [θ]
|
| ﺝ | ﺟ | ﺠ | ﺞ | ǧim
| ǧ / j / dj | [ʤ]
|
| ﺡ | ﺣ | ﺤ | ﺢ | ḥāʾ
| ḥ | [h]
|
| ﺥ | ﺧ | ﺨ | ﺦ | ḫāʾ
| ḫ / ẖ / kh | [x]
|
| ﺩ | —
| ﺪ | dāl | d | [d]
|
| ﺫ | —
| ﺬ | ḏāl | ḏ / dh
| [ð]
|
| ﺭ | —
| ﺮ | rāʾ | r | [r]
|
| ﺯ | —
| ﺰ | zāy | z | [z]
|
| ﺱ | ﺳ | ﺴ | ﺲ | sin
| s | [s]
|
| ﺵ | ﺷ | ﺸ | ﺶ | šin
| š / sh | [ʃ]
|
| ﺹ | ﺻ | ﺼ | ﺺ | ṣād
| ṣ | [sˁ]
|
| ﺽ | ﺿ | ﻀ | ﺾ | ḍād
| ḍ | [dˁ], [ðˤ]
|
| ﻁ | ﻃ | ﻄ | ﻂ | ṭāʾ
| ṭ | [tˁ]
|
| ﻅ | ﻇ | ﻈ | ﻆ | zāʾ
| ẓ | [zˁ], [ðˁ]
|
| ﻉ | ﻋ | ﻌ | ﻊ | ʿayn
| ʿ / ‘ | [ʔˤ]
|
| ﻍ | ﻏ | ﻐ | ﻎ | gayn
| g / gh | [ɣ]
|
| ﻑ | ﻓ | ﻔ | ﻒ | fāʾ
| f | [f]
|
| ﻕ | ﻗ | ﻘ | ﻖ | qāf
| q / ḳ | [q]
|
| ﻙ | ﻛ | ﻜ | ﻚ | kāf
| k | [k]
|
| ﻝ | ﻟ | ﻠ | ﻞ | lām
| l | [l]
|
| ﻡ | ﻣ | ﻤ | ﻢ | mim
| m | [m]
|
| ﻥ | ﻧ | ﻨ | ﻦ | nun
| n | [n]
|
| ﻩ | ﻫ | ﻬ | ﻪ | hāʾ
| h | [h]
|
| ﻭ | —
| ﻮ | wāw | w | [w]
|
| ﻱ | ﻳ | ﻴ | ﻲ | yāʾ
| y | [j]
|
Letters lacking an initial or medial version are never tied to the following letter, even in a word. As to ﺀ hamza,, it has only a single graphic, since it is never tied to a preceding or following letter.
