Final form

<h2 id="hebrew">Hebrew</h2>
<p>In the <a href="/facts/Hebrew_alphabet/qQStmr5u">Hebrew alphabet</a> the final form is called sofit (<a href="/facts/Hebrew_language/hqKCSy9d">Hebrew</a>: סופית, meaning "final" or "ending").
</p>
Hebrew letters that have a final form<table><tbody><tr><th>Letter name</th><th>Non-final</th><th>Final (<i>sofit</i>)</th></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Mem/ykDtAr5g">Mem</a></td><td>מ‎</td><td>ם‎</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Nun_(letter)/3mQbmbHv">Nun</a></td><td>נ‎</td><td>ן‎</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Tsadi/cN3xQlt6">Tsadi</a></td><td>צ‎</td><td>ץ‎</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Pe_(Semitic_letter)/QDVgytTJ">Pe</a></td><td>פ‎</td><td>ף‎</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Kaph/hDIlq2Ml">Kaf</a></td><td>כ‎</td><td>ך‎</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>This set of letters is known acronymically as אותיות מנצפ"ך‎ (מ, נ, צ, פ, ך‎ letters).
</p><p>The now final forms ן ץ ף ך‎ predate their non-final counterparts; They were the default forms used in any position within a word. Their <a href="/facts/Descender/4Hlu3whC">descender</a> eventually bent forwards when preceding another letter to facilitate writing. A final form of these letters is also called <i>pshuta</i> (פשוטה‎, meaning extended or plain).
</p><p>The letter Mem also had a descender 𐡌‎, however, its current final form ם‎ was a variant of מ‎ used interchangeably in all positions. The standardization is mentioned in the <a href="/facts/Babylonian_Talmud/8416nnBV">Babylonian Talmud</a> (Megillah 2b-3a and Shabbas 104a). One instance of a medial ם‎ is preserved in Isaiah 9:6 of the <a href="/facts/Hebrew_Bible/y8yblF9f">Hebrew Bible</a>, while Nehemiah 2:13 and arguably Genesis 49:19–20 have a final מ‎.
</p><p><a href="/facts/Modern_Hebrew/xIj94mYw">Modern Hebrew</a> uses the forms פ כ‎ finally, when <a href="/facts/Orthographic_transcription/2TJuqvw1">transcribing</a> a <a href="/facts/Plosive/okC9pztc">plosive</a> pronunciation, for example מיקרוסקופ‎ (microscope), מובארכ‎ (Mubarak, مبارك), while their final forms ף ך‎, are transcribing a <a href="/facts/Fricative/1FQuuhfX">fricative</a> pronunciation, for example כך‎ (Kach), שף‎ (Chef).
</p>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Sarkis, Kristyan. "Arabic Calligraphy and Type Design". Typotheque. Retrieved 7 June 2023. <a href="https://www.typotheque.com/articles/arabic-calligraphy-and-type-design" target="_blank">https://www.typotheque.com/articles/arabic-calligraphy-and-type-design</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Leonidas, Gerry. "A primer on Greek type design". Gerry Leonidas/University of Reading. Archived from the original on 4 January 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2017. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170104212416/http://leonidas.org/text-archive/" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20170104212416/http://leonidas.org/text-archive/</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Final form open-in-new

Final form