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Yodh (also spelledjodh,yod, orjod) is the tenthletter of the Semiticabjads, includingPhoenicianyōd 𐤉,Hebrewyodי‎,Aramaicyod 𐡉,Syriacyōḏ ܝ, andArabicyāʾي‎. It is also related to theAncient North Arabian 𐪚‎‎‎,South Arabian𐩺, andGe'ezየ. Its sound value is/j/ in all languages for which it is used; in many languages, it also serves as along vowel, representing/iː/.^{[citation needed]}

The Phoenician letter gave rise to theGreekIota (Ι),^[1]LatinI andJ,CyrillicІ,CopticIauda (Ⲓ) andGothiceis.

The termyod is often used to refer to the speech sound[j], apalatal approximant, even in discussions of languages not written in Semitic abjads, as in phonological phenomena such as English "yod-dropping".

Yod is derived from a Semitic pictograph representing a hand, as in the Biblical Hebrew wordyad (יָד) 'hand'.^[2]

Before the late nineteenth century, the letter yāʼ was written without its two dots, especially those in theLevant.

The letterي is namedyāʼ (يَاء). It is written in several ways depending on its position in the word:

It is pronounced in four ways:

• As a consonant, it is pronounced as apalatal approximant/j/, typically at the beginnings of words in front of short or long vowels.
• Along/iː/ usually in the middle or end of words. In this case it has no diacritic, but could be marked with akasra in the preceding letter in some traditions.
• Along/eː/ In manydialects, as a result of themonophthongization that the diphthong/aj/ underwent in most words.
• A part of adiphthong,/aj/. Then, it has no diacritic but could be marked with a sukun in some traditions. The preceding consonant could have no diacritic or havefatḥa sign, hinting to the first vowel in the diphthong, i.e./a/.

As a vowel, yāʾ can serve as the "seat" of thehamza:ئ

Yāʾ serves several functions in the Arabic language. Yāʾ as a prefix is the marker for a singularimperfective verb, as inيَكْتُبyaktub "he writes" from the rootك-ت-ب K-T-B ("write, writing"). Yāʾ with ashadda is particularly used to turn a noun into an adjective, called anisbah (نِسْبَة). For instance,مِصْرMiṣr (Egypt) →مِصْرِيّMiṣriyy (Egyptian). The transformation can be more abstract; for instance,مَوْضَوعmawḍūʿ (matter, object) →مَوْضُوعِيّmawḍūʿiyy (objective). Still other uses of this function can be a bit further from the root:اِشْتِرَاكishtirāk (cooperation) →اِشْتِرَاكِيّishtirākiyy (socialist). The common pronunciation of the final/-ijj/ is most often pronounced as[i] or[iː].

A form similar to but distinguished from yāʾ is theʾalif maqṣūrah (أَلِف مَقْصُورَة) "limited/restrictedalif", with the formى. It indicates a final long/aː/.

In Arabic,alif maqṣūrah is the letteryāʼ without its two dots, and it is thus written as:

However, this letter cannot be used initially or medially in Arabic. Thealif maqṣūrah withhamza is thus written as:

In thePersian alphabet, the letter is generally calledye followingPersian-language custom. Traditionally, in its isolated and final forms, the letter does not have dots (ی), much like the ArabicAlif maqṣūrah or, in theQuran, much like the custom in Egypt, Sudan, and sometimes Maghreb. On account of this difference, Perso-Arabicye is located at a differentUnicodecode point than both of the standard Arabic letters. In computers, the Persian version of the letter automatically appears with two dots initially and medially: (یـ ـیـ ـی).

InKashmiri, it uses a ring instead of dots below (ؠ) (ؠ ؠـ ـؠـ ـؠ‎).

In different calligraphic styles like theHijazi script,Kufic, andNastaʿlīq script, a finalyāʾ might have a particular shape with the descender turned to the right (ـے), calledal-yāʾ al-mardūdah/al-rājiʿah ("returned, recurredyāʾ"),^[3] either with two dots or without them.^[4]

InUrdu this is calledbaṛī ye ("big ye"), but is an independent letter used for /ɛː, eː/ and differs from the basic ye (choṭī ye, "little ye"). For this reason the letter has its owncode point in Unicode. Nevertheless, its initial and medial forms are not different from the otherye (practicallybaṛī ye is not used in these positions).

Orthographic variants
Various print fonts			Cursive Hebrew	Rashi script
Serif	Sans-serif	Monospaced
י	י	י

Hebrew spelling:יוֹד;^[5][6] colloquialיוּד

The letter appears with or without a hook on different sans-serif fonts, for example

• Arial, DejaVu Sans, Arimo, Open Sans:י
• Tahoma, Alef, Heebo:י

In bothBiblical andModern Hebrew, Yod represents apalatal approximant ([j]). As amater lectionis, it represents the vowel[i].

Ingematria, Yod represents the number ten.

As aprefix, it designates the third person singular (or plural, with aVav as asuffix) in the future tense.

As asuffix, it indicates first person singular possessive;av (father) becomesavi (my father).

Two Yods in a row (יי) designate thename of God and in pointed texts are written with the vowels ofAdonai, which is done as well with theTetragrammaton.

As Yod is the smallest letter, muchkabbalistic and mystical significance is attached. According to theGospel of Matthew,Jesus mentioned it during theAntithesis of the Law, when he says: "One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Jot, or iota, refers to the letter Yod; scribes often overlooked it because of its size and position as amater lectionis. In Modern Hebrew, "tip of the yod" refers to a small and insignificant thing, and someone who "worries about the tip of a yod" is picky and meticulous about minor details.

Much kabbalistic and mystical significance is also attached to it because of itsgematria value as ten, which is an important number in Judaism, and its place in the name of God.^[7]

InYiddish,^[8] the letter yod is used for several orthographic purposes in native words:

• Alone, a single yodי may represent the vowel[i] or the consonant[j]. When adjacent to another vowel, or another yod,[i] may be distinguished from[j] by the addition of a dot below. Thus the wordYidish 'Yiddish' is spelledייִדיש. The first yod represents [j]; the second yod represents [i] and is distinguished from the adjacent [j] by a dot; the third yod represents [i] as well, but no dot is necessary.
• Thedigraphיי, consisting of two yods, represents the diphthong [ej].
• A pair of yods with a horizontal line (pasekh) under them,ײַ, represents the diphthong [aj] in standard Yiddish.
• The digraph consisting of avov followed by a yod,וי, represents the diphthong [oj].

In traditional andYIVOYiddish orthography,loanwords from Hebrew or Aramaic ("loshn koydesh") are spelled as they are in their language of origin. In theSoviet orthography, they are written phonetically like other Yiddish words.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toYodh (letter).

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