Gaf , is the name of different Perso-Arabic letters, all representing /ɡ/. They are all derived from the letter kāf, with additional diacritics, such as dots and lines. In name and shape, it is a variant of kaf. It is also one of the five letters the Persian alphabet added to the Arabic alphabet (the others being ژ, پ, and چ in addition to the obsolete ڤ). Its numerical value is 5000 (see Abjad numerals). There are four forms, each used in different alphabets:
- گ in the Persian alphabet, Tausug written in Arabic Script
- ݢ in the Jawi script
- ࢴ/ڮ in the Pegon script
- ګ in Pashto
Use in Arabic
A non-standard letter to the Arabic alphabet; Gāf (گ) has been traditionally used in Iraq and parts of the Levant for /g/. In Morocco, a similar letter (ݣ) is used. while in other Arabic-speaking countries other letters are used, such as ڨ in Tunisia and Algeria, and any of the standard letters ج, غ, or ق in the other countries.
Variant forms
Kaf with line
The most common form of gāf (گ) is based on kāf with an additional line. It is rarely used in Standard Arabic itself but is used to represent the sound /ɡ/ when writing other languages.
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naskh glyph form:(Help) | گ | ـگ | ـگـ | گـ |
| Nastaʿlīq glyph form: | گ | ــــگ | ــــگــــ | گــــ |
When representing this sound in transliteration of Persian into Hebrew, it is written as כ׳ kaph and a geresh.
It is frequently used in Persian, Pashto, Uyghur, Urdu and Kurdish, and is one of four Perso-Arabic letters not found in Arabic. It is also commonly used in Mesopotamian Arabic.1
Kaf with ring
In Pashto, this letter is used for /ɡ/.
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naskh glyph form:(Help) | ګ | ـګ | ـګـ | ګـ |
| Nastaʿlīq glyph form: | ګ | ــــګ | ــــګــــ | ګــــ |
Kaf with single dot above
This gāf (ݢ) is derived from a variant form of kāf (ک), with the addition of a dot. It is not used in the Arabic language itself, but is used in the Jawi script to represent /ɡ/.
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form:(Help) | ݢ | ـݢ | ـݢـ | ݢـ |
Unicode includes two forms on this letter: one based on the standard Arabic kāf (ك), and one based on the variant form (ک). The latter is the preferred form.2
Character information| Preview | ڬ | ݢ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH DOT ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH DOT ABOVE | ||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1708 | U+06AC | 1890 | U+0762 |
| UTF-8 | 218 172 | DA AC | 221 162 | DD A2 |
| Numeric character reference | ڬ | ڬ | ݢ | ݢ |
Kaf with three dots below
This letter (ڮ) is derived from a form of kāf (ك), with the addition of three dots below.
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form:(Help) | ڮ | ـڮ | ـڮـ | ڮـ |
Gaf with inverted stroke
In Chechen, Kabardian, and Adyghe, the Arabic character ࢰ is used to spell /kʼ/ or /t͡ʃʼ/. In Chechen, ⟨گ⟩ is alternatively used as well.
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form:(Help) | ࢰ | ـࢰ | ـࢰـ | ࢰـ |
Kaf with a dot below
This letter (ࢴ) is derived from a form of kāf (ك), with the addition of three a dot below. It is not used in the Arabic language itself, but is used in the Arwi alphabet for the Tamil language and the Pegon script for Indonesian languages to represent /ɡ/.34
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form:(Help) | ࢴ | ـࢴ | ـࢴـ | ࢴـ |
Kaf with three dots
See also: Ng (Arabic letter)
The letter ڭ is used in Berber and Moroccan Arabic to represent /ɡ/.5 Examples of its use include city names (e.g., Agadir: أݣادير) and family names (e.g., El Guerrouj: الݣروج). The preferred form is ڭ.
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form:(Help) | ڭ | ـڭ | ـڭـ | ڭـ |
It was also used in Ottoman Turkish for /ŋ/. Both forms are based on variant forms of kāf (ك/ک), with the addition of three dots. The preferred form is ݣ.
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form:(Help) | ݣ | ـݣ | ـݣـ | ݣـ |
Character encoding
Character information| Preview | ګ | ڬ | ڮ | گ | ࢰ | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH RING | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH DOT ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH THREE DOTS BELOW | ARABIC LETTER GAF | ARABIC LETTER GAF WITH INVERTED STROKE | |||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1707 | U+06AB | 1708 | U+06AC | 1710 | U+06AE | 1711 | U+06AF | 2224 | U+08B0 |
| UTF-8 | 218 171 | DA AB | 218 172 | DA AC | 218 174 | DA AE | 218 175 | DA AF | 224 162 176 | E0 A2 B0 |
| Numeric character reference | ګ | ګ | ڬ | ڬ | ڮ | ڮ | گ | گ | ࢰ | ࢰ |
| Preview | ݢ | ݣ | ڭ | ࢴ | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITHDOT ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITHTHREE DOTS ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER NG | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITHDOT BELOW | ||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1890 | U+0762 | 1891 | U+0763 | 1709 | U+06AD | 2228 | U+08B4 |
| UTF-8 | 221 162 | DD A2 | 221 163 | DD A3 | 218 173 | DA AD | 224 162 180 | E0 A2 B4 |
| Numeric character reference | ݢ | ݢ | ݣ | ݣ | ڭ | ڭ | ࢴ | ࢴ |
See also
- ڨ, a letter derived from qāf and used for /ɡ/ in Tunisia and Algeria
- Ng (Arabic letter)
- Gueh
- Ayin
- Ghayn
External links
References
Alkalesi, Yasin M. (2001) "Modern iraqi arabic: A textbook". Georgetown University Press. ISBN 978-0878407880 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩
Jonatha Kew (2003). "Proposal to encode Jawi and Moroccan Arabic GAF characters" (PDF). https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03176-gafs.pdf ↩
Pournader, Roozbeh (June 24, 2013). "Proposal to encode three Arabic characters for Arwi" (PDF). https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2013/13130-arwi.pdf ↩
Nasrullah, Febri Muhammad (2022-09-11). "On ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH DOT BELOW" (PDF). UTC Document Register for 2022. https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2022/22221-arabic-kaf-with-dot-below.pdf ↩
"Learn Moroccan Arabic". Best Riad Marakkesh. 8 November 2009. واش كتهدر بالإنݣليزية واش كتهدر بالإنݣليزية ↩