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Ghayn

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This article is about the Arabic letter. For the Cyrillic letter, see Ghayn (Cyrillic).
Ghayn
Arabic
غ‎
Phonemic representationɣ, ʁ
Position in alphabet28
Numerical value1000
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician
ġayn غين
غ
Usage
Writing systemArabic script
TypeAbjad
Language of originArabic language
Sound valuesɣ, ʁ
Alphabetical position19
Numerical value: 1000
History
Development
V28
Other
Associated numbers1000
Writing directionRight-to-left
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
Arabic alphabet
Arabic script

The Arabic letter غ‎ (Arabic: غَيْنْ, ghayn or ġayn /ɣajn/) is the nineteenth letter of the Arabic alphabet, one of the six letters not in the twenty-two akin to the Phoenician alphabet (the others being thāʼ, khāʼ, dhāl, ḍād, ẓāʼ). It represents the sound /ɣ/ or /ʁ/. In name and shape, it is a variant of ʻayn (ع‎). Its numerical value is 1000 (see Abjad numerals). In the Persian language, it represents [ɣ]~[ɢ] and is the twenty-second letter in the new Persian alphabet.

Ghayn is written in several ways depending on its position in the word:

Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help) 		غ‎ ـغ‎ ـغـ‎ غـ‎

History

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Proto-Semitic ġ (usually reconstructed as voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ or voiced uvular fricative /ʁ/) merged with ʻayn in most Semitic languages except for Arabic, Ugaritic, and older varieties of the Canaanite languages. The South Arabian alphabet retained a symbol for ġ, 𐩶. Biblical Hebrew, as of the 3rd century BCE, apparently still distinguished the phonemes ġ and ḫ /χ/, based on transcriptions in the Septuagint, such as that of the name "Gomorrah" as Gomorras (Γομορραν) for the Hebrew ‘Ămōrā (עֲמֹרָה). Canaanite languages, including Hebrew, later also merged ġ with ʻayin, and the merger was complete in Tiberian Hebrew.

Proto-Semitic Akkadian Arabic Canaanite Hebrew Aramaic South Arabian Geʻez
ġ - غ gh ġ, ʻ ע ʻ ע ʻ ġ ዐ ʻ

Usage

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The letter ghayn (غ) is preferred in the Levant (nowadays), and by Aljazeera TV channel, to represent /ɡ/, e.g., هونغ كونغ (Hong Kong), البرتغال (Portugal), أغسطس (August), and غاندالف (Gandalf). Foreign publications and TV channels in Arabic, e.g. Deutsche Welle,[1] and Alhurra,[2] follow this practice. It is then often pronounced /ɡ/, not /ɣ/, though in many cases, غ is pronounced in loanwords as expected (/ɣ/, not /ɡ/).

Other letters can be used to transcribe /ɡ/ in loanwords and names, depending on whether the local variety of Arabic in the country has the phoneme /ɡ/, and if it does, which letter represents it, and whether it is customary in the country to use that letter to transcribe /ɡ/. For instance, in Egypt, where ج is pronounced as [ɡ] in all situations, even in speaking Modern Standard Arabic[3] (except in certain contexts, such as reciting the Qur'an), ج is used to transcribe foreign [ɡ] in all contexts. The same applies to coastal Yemen, as well as southwestern and eastern Oman. In Algerian Arabic, Hejazi Arabic and Najdi Arabic it is qāf (ق‎). In Iraq, gaf (گ‎) is more used. In Morocco, gāf (ݣ‎) or kāf (ك‎) is used. In Tunisia and Algeria, ڨ‎ or qāf ق‎ is used.

When representing the sound in transliteration of Arabic into Hebrew, it is written as ע׳. In English, the letter غ in Arabic names is usually transliterated as gh, ġ, or simply g: بغداد Baghdād 'Baghdad', قرغيزستان Qirghizstan 'Kyrgyzstan', سنغافورة Singhafura 'Singapore', or غزة Ghazzah 'Gaza', the latter of which does not render the sound [ɣ]~[ʁ] accurately. The closest equivalent sound to be known to most English-speakers is the Parisian French "r" [ʁ]. In the Maltese alphabet which is written in the Latin alphabet, the only Semitic language to do so in its standard form, writes the ghayn as ⟨g⟩. It is usually represented as voiced velar plosive.

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For the related characters, see ng (Arabic letter) and ayin.

Character encodings

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Character information
Preview غ ﻍ ﻎ ﻏ ﻐ
Unicode name ARABIC LETTER GHAIN ARABIC LETTER GHAIN
ISOLATED FORM 		ARABIC LETTER GHAIN
FINAL FORM 		ARABIC LETTER GHAIN
INITIAL FORM 		ARABIC LETTER GHAIN
MEDIAL FORM
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 1594 U+063A 65229 U+FECD 65230 U+FECE 65231 U+FECF 65232 U+FED0
UTF-8 216 186 D8 BA 239 187 141 EF BB 8D 239 187 142 EF BB 8E 239 187 143 EF BB 8F 239 187 144 EF BB 90
Numeric character reference غ غ ﻍ ﻍ ﻎ ﻎ ﻏ ﻏ ﻐ ﻐ
Character information
Preview ڠ ݝ ࢳ
Unicode name ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS ABOVE ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH TWO DOTS ABOVE ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS BELOW
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 1696 U+06A0 1885 U+075D 2227 U+08B3
UTF-8 218 160 DA A0 221 157 DD 9D 224 162 179 E0 A2 B3
Numeric character reference ڠ ڠ ݝ ݝ ࢳ ࢳ

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Leningrad لينينغراد spelled with غ rather than ج". Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  2. ^ ""Blogger" بلوغر is spelled with غ, not ج about an article on Egypt quoting an Egyptian official Facebook post spelling it بلوجر with ج". Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  3. ^ al Nassir, Abdulmunʿim Abdulamir (1985). Sibawayh the Phonologist (PDF) (in Arabic). University of New York. p. 80. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
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