| Arabic script | |
|---|---|
| Script type | primarily,alphabet |
Time period | 3rd century CE to the present[1] |
| Direction | Right-to-left |
| Official script | 20 sovereign states Co-official script in: |
| Languages | See below |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | N'Ko Hanifi script Persian alphabet |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Arab(160), Arabic |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Arabic |
| |
| This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
| Worldwide use of the Arabic script | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Countries where the Arabic script is: | ||
| → | the sole official script | |
| → | official alongside other scripts | |
| → | official at a provincial level (China, India, Tanzania) or a recognized second script of the official language (Malaysia, Tajikistan) | |
TheArabic script is thewriting system used forArabic (Arabic alphabet) and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely usedalphabetic writing system in the world (after theLatin script),[2] the second-most widely usedwriting system in the world by number of countries using it, and the third-most by number of users (after the Latin andChinese scripts).[3]
The script was first used to write texts in Arabic, most notably theQuran, the holy book ofIslam. Withthe religion's spread, it came to be used as the primary script for many language families, leading to the addition of new letters and other symbols. Such languages still using it areArabic,Persian (Farsi andDari),Urdu,Uyghur,Kurdish,Pashto,Punjabi (Shahmukhi),Sindhi,Azerbaijani (Torki in Iran),Malay (Jawi),Javanese andIndonesian (Pegon),Balti,Balochi,Luri,Kashmiri,Cham (Akhar Srak),[4]Rohingya,Somali,Mandinka, andMooré, among others.[5] Until the 16th century, it was also used for someSpanish texts, and—prior to thescript reform in 1928—it was the writing system ofTurkish.[6]
The script is written fromright to left in acursive style, in which most of the letters are written in slightly different forms according to whether they stand alone or are joined to a following or preceding letter. The script does not havecapital letters.[7] In most cases, the letters transcribeconsonants, or consonants and a few vowels, so most Arabic alphabets areabjads, with the versions used for some languages, such asKurdish dialect of Sorani,Uyghur,Mandarin, andBosniak, beingalphabets. It is the basis for the tradition ofArabic calligraphy.
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The Arabic alphabet is derived either from theNabataean alphabet[8][9] or (less widely believed) directly from theSyriac alphabet,[10] which are both derived from theAramaic alphabet, which, in turn, descended from thePhoenician alphabet. The Phoenician script also gave rise to theGreek alphabet (and, therefore, both theCyrillic alphabet and theLatin alphabet used in North and South America and most European countries.).
In the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, northern Arab tribes emigrated and founded a kingdom centred aroundPetra,Jordan. These people (now namedNabataeans from the name of one of the tribes, Nabatu) spokeNabataean Arabic, a dialect of theArabic language. In the 2nd or 1st centuries BCE,[11][12] the first known records of the Nabataean alphabet were written in theAramaic language (which was the language of communication and trade), but included some Arabic language features: the Nabataeans did not write the language which they spoke. They wrote in a form of the Aramaic alphabet, which continued to evolve; it separated into two forms: one intended forinscriptions (known as "monumental Nabataean") and the other, more cursive and hurriedly written and with joined letters, for writing onpapyrus.[13] This cursive form influenced the monumental form more and more and gradually changed into the Arabic alphabet.
| خ | ح | ج | ث | ت | ب | ا |
| khā’ | ḥā’ | jīm | tha’ | tā’ | bā’ | alif |
| ص | ش | س | ز | ر | ذ | د |
| ṣād | shīn | sīn | zāy / zayn | rā’ | dhāl | dāl |
| ق | ف | غ | ع | ظ | ط | ض |
| qāf | fā’ | ghayn | ‘ayn | ẓā’ | ṭā’ | ḍād |
| ي | و | ه | ن | م | ل | ك |
| yā’ | wāw | hā’ | nūn | mīm | lām | kāf |
| أ | آ | إ | ئ | ؠ | ء | ࢬ |
| alif hamza↑ | alif madda | alif hamza↓ | yā’ hamza↑ | kashmiri yā’ | hamza | rohingya yā’ |
| ى | ٱ | ی | ە | ً | ٌ | ٍ |
| alif maksura | alif wasla | farsi yā’ | ae | fathatan | dammatan | kasratan |
| َ | ُ | ِ | ّ | ْ | ٓ | ۤ |
| fatha | damma | kasra | shadda | sukun | maddah | madda |
| ں | ٹ | ٺ | ٻ | پ | ٿ | ڃ |
| nūn ghunna | ttā’ | ttāhā’ | bāā’ | pā’ | tāhā’ | nyā’ |
| ڄ | چ | ڇ | ڈ | ڌ | ڍ | ڎ |
| dyā’ | tchā’ | tchahā’ | ddāl | dāhāl | ddāhāl | duul |
| ڑ | ژ | ڤ | ڦ | ک | ڭ | گ |
| rrā’ | jā’ | vā’ | pāḥā’ | kāḥā’ | ng | gāf |
| ڳ | ڻ | ھ | ہ | ة | ۃ | ۅ |
| gueh | rnūn | hā’ doachashmee | hā’ goal | tā’ marbuta | tā’ marbuta goal | kirghiz oe |
| ۆ | ۇ | ۈ | ۉ | ۋ | ې | ے |
| oe | u | yu | kirghiz yu | ve | e | yā’ barree |
| (see below for other alphabets) | ||||||
The Arabic script has been adapted for use in a wide variety of languages aside from Arabic, includingPersian,Malay andUrdu, which are notSemitic. Such adaptations may feature altered or new characters to representphonemes that do not appear in Arabicphonology. For example, the Arabic language lacks avoiceless bilabial plosive (the[p] sound), therefore many languages add their own letter to represent[p] in the script, though the specific letter used varies from language to language. These modifications tend to fall into groups:Indian andTurkic languages written in the Arabic script tend to use thePersian modified letters, whereas thelanguages of Indonesia tend to imitate those ofJawi. The modified version of the Arabic script originally devised for use with Persian is known as thePerso-Arabic script by scholars.
When the Arabic script is used to writeSerbo-Croatian,Sorani,Kashmiri,Mandarin Chinese, orUyghur, vowels are mandatory. The Arabic script can, therefore, be used as a truealphabet as well as anabjad, although it is often strongly, if erroneously, connected to the latter due to it being originally used only for Arabic.
Use of the Arabic script inWest African languages, especially in theSahel, developed with the spread ofIslam. To a certain degree the style and usage tends to follow those of theMaghreb (for instance the position of the dots in the lettersfāʼ andqāf).[14][15] Additionaldiacritics have come into use to facilitate the writing of sounds not represented in the Arabic language. The termʻAjamī, which comes from the Arabic root for "foreign", has been applied to Arabic-based orthographies of African languages.
| Script or style | Alphabet(s) | Language(s) | Region | Derived from | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naskh | Arabic, Pashto, & others | Arabic, Pashto, Sindhi, & others | Every region where Arabic scripts are used | Sometimes refers to a veryspecific calligraphic style, but sometimes used to refer more broadly to almost every font that is notKufic orNastaliq. | |
| Nastaliq | Urdu, Shahmukhi, Persian, & others | Urdu, Punjabi, Persian, Kashmiri & others | Southern and Western Asia | Taliq | Used for almost all modern Urdu and Punjabi text, but only occasionally used for Persian. (The term "Nastaliq" is sometimes used by Urdu-speakers to refer to all Perso-Arabic scripts.) |
| Taliq | Persian | Persian | A predecessor ofNastaliq. | ||
| Kufic | Arabic | Arabic | Middle East and parts of North Africa | ||
| Rasm | RestrictedArabic alphabet | Arabic | Mainly historical | Omits all diacritics includingi'jam. Digital replication usually requires some special characters. See:ٮ ڡ ٯ (links to Wiktionary). |
| Alphabet | Letters | Additional Characters | Script or Style | Languages | Region | Derived from: (or related to) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | 28 | ^(see above) | Naskh,Kufi,Rasm, & others | Arabic | North Africa, West Asia | PhoenicianAramaicNabataean | |
| Ajami script | 33 | ٻتٜتٰٜ | Naskh | Hausa,Yoruba,Swahili | West Africa, East Africa | Arabic | Abjad | documented use likely between the 15th to 18th century for Hausa, Mande, Pulaar, Swahili, Wolof, and Yoruba Languages |
| Aljamiado | 28 | Maghrebi, Andalusi variant;Kufic | Old Spanish,Andalusi Romance,Ladino,Aragonese,Valencian,Old Galician-Portuguese | Southwest Europe | Arabic | 8th–13th centuries for Andalusi Romance, 14th–16th centuries for the other languages | |
| Arebica | 30 | ڄەاٖىيڵںٛۉۆ | Naskh | Serbo-Croatian | Southeastern Europe | Perso-Arabic | Latest stage has full vowel marking |
| Arwi alphabet | 41 | ڊڍڔصٜۻࢳڣࢴڹݧ | Naskh | Tamil | Southern India, Sri Lanka | Perso-Arabic | |
| Belarusian Arabic alphabet | 32 | ࢮࢯ | Naskh | Belarusian | Eastern Europe | Perso-Arabic | 15th / 16th century |
| Balochi Standard Alphabet(s) | 29 | ٹڈۏݔے | Naskh andNastaliq | Balochi | South-West Asia | Perso-Arabic, also borrows multiple glyphs fromUrdu | This standardization is based on the previous orthography. For more information, seeBalochi writing. |
| Berber Arabic alphabet(s) | 33 | چژڞݣء | VariousBerber languages | North Africa | Arabic | ||
| Burushaski | 53 | ݳݴݼڅڎݽڞݣݸݹݶݷݺݻ (see note) | Nastaliq | Burushaski | South-West Asia (Pakistan) | Urdu | Also uses the additional letters shown for Urdu.(see below) Sometimes written with just the Urdu alphabet, or with theLatin alphabet. |
| Chagatai alphabet | 32 | ݣ | Nastaliq andNaskh | Chagatai | Central Asia | Perso-Arabic | ݣ is interchangeable with نگ and ڭ. |
| Dobrujan Tatar | 32 | Naskh | Dobrujan Tatar | Southeastern Europe | Chagatai | ||
| Galal | 32 | Naskh | Somali | Horn of Africa | Arabic | ||
| Jawi | 36 | چڠڤݢڽۏ | Naskh | Malay | Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and part of Borneo | Arabic | Since 1303 AD (Trengganu Stone) |
| Kashmiri | 44 | ۆۄؠێ | Nastaliq | Kashmiri | South Asia | Urdu | This orthography is fully voweled. 3 out of the 4 (ۆ, ۄ, ێ) additional glyphs are actually vowels. Not all vowels are listed here since they are not separate letters. For further information, seeKashmiri writing. |
| Kazakh Arabic alphabet | 35 | ٵٶۇٷۋۆەھىٸي | Naskh | Kazakh | Central Asia, China | Chagatai | In use since 11th century, reformed in the early 20th century, now official only in China |
| Khowar | 45 | ݯݮڅځݱݰڵ | Nastaliq | Khowar | South Asia | Urdu, however, borrows multiple glyphs fromPashto | |
| Kyrgyz Arabic alphabet | 33 | ۅۇۉۋەىي | Naskh | Kyrgyz | Central Asia | Chagatai | In use since 11th century, reformed in the early 20th century, now official only in China |
| Pashto | 45 | ټڅځډړږښګڼۀيېۍئ | Naskh and occasionally,Nastaliq | Pashto | South-West Asia,Afghanistan andPakistan | Perso-Arabic | ګ is interchangeable with گ. Also, the glyphs ی and ې are often replaced with ے in Pakistan. |
| Pegon script | 35 | چڎڟڠڤڮۑ | Naskh | Javanese,Sundanese,Madurese | South-East Asia (Indonesia) | Arabic | |
| Persian | 32 | پچژگ | Naskh andNastaliq | Persian (Farsi) | West Asia (Iran etc. ) | Arabic | Also known as Perso-Arabic. |
| Shahmukhi | 41 | ݪݨ | Nastaliq | Punjabi | South Asia (Pakistan) | Perso-Arabic | |
| Saraiki | 45 | ٻڄݙڳ | Nastaliq | Saraiki | South Asia (Pakistan) | Urdu | |
| Sindhi | 52 | ڪڳڱگک پڀٻٽٿٺ ڻڦڇچڄڃ ھڙڌڏڎڍڊ | Naskh | Sindhi | South Asia (Pakistan) | Perso-Arabic | |
| Sorabe | 28 | Naskh | Malagasy | Madagascar | Arabic | ||
| Soranî | 33 | ڕڤڵۆێ | Naskh | Kurdish languages | Middle-East | Perso-Arabic | Vowels are mandatory, i.e. alphabet |
| Swahili Arabic script | 28 | Naskh | Swahili | Western and Southern Africa | Arabic | ||
| İske imlâ | 35 | ۋ | Naskh | Tatar | Volga region | Chagatai | Used prior to 1920. |
| Ottoman Turkish | 32 | ﭖﭺﮊﮒﯓئەی | Ottoman Turkish | Ottoman Empire | Chagatai | Official until 1928 | |
| Urdu | 39+ (see notes) | ٹڈڑںہھے (see notes) | Nastaliq | Urdu | South Asia | Perso-Arabic | 58[citation needed] letters including digraphs representingaspirated consonants. بھپھتھٹھجھچھدھڈھکھگھ |
| Uyghur | 32 | ئائەھئوئۇئۆئۈۋئېئى | Naskh | Uyghur | China, Central Asia | Chagatai | Reform of older Arabic-script Uyghur orthography that was used prior to the 1950s. Vowels are mandatory, i.e. alphabet |
| Wolofal | 33 | ݖگݧݝݒ | Naskh | Wolof | West Africa | Arabic, however, borrows at least one glyph fromPerso-Arabic | |
| Xiao'erjing | 36 | ٿس﮲ڞي | Naskh | Sinitic languages | China, Central Asia | Chagatai | Used to write Chinese languages by Muslims living in China such as the Hui people. |
| Yaña imlâ | 29 | ئائەئیئوئۇئھ | Naskh | Tatar | Volga region | İske imlâ alphabet | 1920–1927 replaced with Cyrillic |
Today Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and China are the main non-Arabic speaking states using the Arabic alphabet to write one or more official national languages, includingAzerbaijani,Baluchi,Brahui,Persian,Pashto,Central Kurdish,Urdu,Sindhi,Kashmiri,Punjabi andUyghur.[citation needed]
An Arabic alphabet is currently used for the following languages:[citation needed]
With the establishment ofMuslim rule in thesubcontinent, one or more forms of the Arabic script were incorporated among the assortment of scripts used for writing native languages.[37] In the 20th century, the Arabic script was generally replaced by theLatin alphabet in theBalkans,[dubious –discuss] parts ofSub-Saharan Africa, andSoutheast Asia, while in theSoviet Union, after a brief period ofLatinisation,[38] use ofCyrillic was mandated.Turkey changed to the Latin alphabet in 1928 as part of an internal Westernizing revolution. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, many of the Turkic languages of the ex-USSR attempted to follow Turkey's lead and convert to a Turkish-style Latin alphabet. However, renewed use of the Arabic alphabet has occurred to a limited extent inTajikistan, whose language's close resemblance toPersian allows direct use of publications from Afghanistan and Iran.[39]
As of Unicode 15.1, the following ranges encode Arabic characters:
| Language family | Austron. | Dravid. | Turkic | Indo-European | Niger–Con. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language/script | Pegon | Jawi | Arwi | Azeri | Kazakh | Uyghur | Uzbek | Sindhi | Punjabi | Urdu | Persian | Pashto[a] | Balochi | Kurdish | Swahili |
| /t͡ʃ/ | چ | ||||||||||||||
| /ʒ/ | ∅ | ژ | |||||||||||||
| /p/ | ڤ | ڣ | پ | ||||||||||||
| /g/ | ؼ | ݢ | ࢴ | ق | گ | ڠ | |||||||||
| /v/ | ∅ | ۏ | و | ۆ | ۋ | و | ∅ | ڤ | |||||||
| /ŋ/ | ڠ | ࢳ | ∅ | ڭ | نگ | ڱ | ن | ∅ | نݝ | ||||||
| /ɲ/ | ۑ | ڽ | ݧ | ∅ | ڃ | ن | ∅ | نْي | |||||||
| /ɳ/ | ∅ | ڹ | ∅ | ڻ | ݨ | ن | ∅ | ڼ | ∅ | ||||||
| Letter[A] | Use & Pronunciation | Unicode | i'jam & other additions | Shape | Similar Arabic Letter(s) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U+ | [B] | [C] | above | below | ||||
| Additional letters with additional marks | ||||||||
| پ | Pe, used to represent the phoneme/p/ inPersian,Pashto,Punjabi,Khowar,Sindhi,Urdu,Kurdish,Kashmiri; it can be used in Arabic to describe the phoneme/p/ otherwise it is written ب/b/. | U+067E | ﮹ | none | 3 dots | ٮ | ب | |
| ݐ | used to represent the equivalent of the Latin letterƳ (palatalizedglottal stop/ʔʲ/) in some African languages such asFulfulde. | U+0750 | ﮳﮳﮳ | none | 3 dots (horizontal) | ٮ | ب | |
| ٻ | B̤ē, used to represent avoiced bilabial implosive/ɓ/ inHausa,Sindhi andSaraiki. | U+067B | ﮾ | none | 2 dots (vertically) | ٮ | ب | |
| ڀ | represents an aspiratedvoiced bilabial plosive/bʱ/ inSindhi. | U+0680 | ﮻ | none | 4 dots | ٮ | ب | |
| ٺ | Ṭhē, represents the aspiratedvoiceless retroflex plosive/ʈʰ/ inSindhi. | U+067A | ﮽ | 2 dots (vertically) | none | ٮ | ت | |
| ټ | Ṭē, used to represent the phoneme/ʈ/ inPashto. | U+067C | ﮿ | ﮴ | 2 dots | ring | ٮ | ت |
| ٽ | Ṭe, used to represent the phoneme (avoiceless retroflex plosive/ʈ/) inSindhi | U+067D | ﮸ | 3 dots (inverted) | none | ٮ | ت | |
| ﭦ | Ṭe, used to represent Ṭ (avoiceless retroflex plosive/ʈ/) inPunjabi,Kashmiri,Urdu. | U+0679 | ◌ؕ | small ط | none | ٮ | ت | |
| ٿ | Teheh, used in Sindhi and Rajasthani (when written in Sindhi alphabet); used to represent the phoneme/t͡ɕʰ/ (pinyinq) in ChineseXiao'erjing. | U+067F | ﮺ | 4 dots | none | ٮ | ت | |
| ڄ | represents the "c"voiceless dental affricate/t͡s/ phoneme inBosnian | U+0684 | ﮾ | none | 2 dots (vertically) | ح | ج | |
| ڃ | represents the "ć"voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate/t͡ɕ/ phoneme inBosnian. | U+0683 | ﮵ | none | 2 dots | ح | ج | |
| چ | Che, used to represent/t͡ʃ/ ("ch"). It is used inPersian,Pashto,Punjabi,Urdu,Kashmiri andKurdish./ʒ/ in Egypt. | U+0686 | ﮹ | none | 3 dots | ح | ج | |
| څ | Ce, used to represent the phoneme/t͡s/ inPashto. | U+0685 | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ح | خ | |
| ݗ | represents the "đ"voiced alveolo-palatal affricate/d͡ʑ/ phoneme inBosnian. Also used to represent the letter X inAfrikaans. | U+0757 | ﮴ | 2 dots | none | ح | خ | |
| ځ | Źim, used to represent the phoneme/d͡z/ inPashto. | U+0681 | ◌ٔ | Hamza | none | ح | خ | |
| ڎ | Used to represent the phoneme/ɖ/ inSomali | U+068E | 3 dots | |||||
| ݙ | used inSaraiki to represent aVoiced alveolar implosive/ɗ̢/. | U+0759 | ﯀ | ﮾ | small ط | 2 dots (vertically) | د | د |
| ڊ | used inSaraiki to represent avoiced retroflex implosive/ᶑ/. | U+068A | ﮳ | none | 1 dot | د | د | |
| ڈ | Ḍal, used to represent a Ḍ (avoiced retroflex plosive/ɖ/) inPunjabi,Kashmiri andUrdu. | U+0688 | ◌ؕ | small ط | none | د | د | |
| ڌ | Dhal, used to represent the phoneme/d̪ʱ/ inSindhi | U+068C | ﮴ | 2 dots | none | د | د | |
| ډ | Ḍal, used to represent the phoneme/ɖ/ inPashto. | U+0689 | ﮿ | none | ring | د | د | |
| ڑ | Ṛe, represents aretroflex flap/ɽ/ inPunjabi andUrdu. | U+0691 | ◌ؕ | small ط | none | ر | ر | |
| ړ | Ṛe, used to represent aretroflex lateral flap inPashto. | U+0693 | ﮿ | none | ring | ر | ر | |
| ݫ | used inOrmuri to represent avoiced alveolo-palatal fricative/ʑ/, as well as inTorwali. | U+076B | ﮽ | 2 dots (vertically) | none | ر | ر | |
| ژ | Že / zhe, used to represent thevoiced postalveolar fricative/ʒ/ in,Persian,Pashto,Kurdish,Urdu,Punjabi andUyghur. | U+0698 | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ر | ز | |
| ږ | Ǵe / ẓ̌e, used to represent the phoneme/ʐ//ɡ//ʝ/ inPashto. | U+0696 | ﮲ | ﮳ | 1 dot | 1 dot | ر | ز |
| ڕ | used inKurdish to represent rr/r/ inSoranî dialect. | U+0695 | ٚ | none | V pointing down | ر | ر | |
| ݭ | used inKalami to represent avoiceless retroflex fricative/ʂ/, and inOrmuri to represent a voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative /ɕ/. | U+076D | ﮽ | 2 dotsvertically | none | س | س | |
| ݜ | used inShina to represent avoiceless retroflex fricative/ʂ/. | U+075C | ﮺ | 4 dots | none | س | ش | |
| ښ | X̌īn / ṣ̌īn, used to represent the phoneme/x//ʂ//ç/ inPashto. | U+069A | ﮲ | ﮳ | 1 dot | 1 dot | س | س |
| ڜ | Used inWakhi to represent the phoneme/ʂ/. | U+069C | ﮶ | ﮹ | 3 dots | 3 dots | س | ش |
| ڞ | Used to represent the phoneme/tsʰ/ (pinyinc) inChinese. | U+069E | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ص | ض | |
| ڠ | Nga/ŋ/ in theJawi script andPegon script. | U+06A0 | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ع | غ | |
| ڤ | Ve, used inKurdish to represent/v/, it can be used in Arabic to describe the phoneme/v/ otherwise it is written ف/f/.Pa, used in theJawi script andPegon script to represent/p/. | U+06A4 | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ڡ | ف | |
| ڥ | Vi, used inAlgerian Arabic andTunisian Arabic when written in Arabic script to represent the sound/v/ if needed. | U+06A5 | ﮹ | none | 3 dots | ڡ | ف | |
| ڨ | Ga, used to represent thevoiced velar plosive/ɡ/ inAlgerian andTunisian. | U+06A8 | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ٯ | ق | |
| ڭ | Ng, used to represent the/ŋ/ phone inOttoman Turkish,Kazakh,Kyrgyz, andUyghur. Used to represent/ɡ/ inMorocco and in many dialects ofAlgerian. | U+06AD | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ك | ك | |
| ڬ | Gaf, represents avoiced velar plosive/ɡ/ in theJawi script ofMalay. | U+06AC | ﮲ | 1 dot | none | ك | ك | |
| ݢ | U+0762 | ﮲ | 1 dot | none | ک | ك | ||
| گ | Gaf, represents avoiced velar plosive/ɡ/ inPersian,Pashto,Punjabi,Somali,Kyrgyz,Kazakh,Kurdish,Uyghur,Mesopotamian Arabic,Urdu andOttoman Turkish. | U+06AF | line | horizontal line | none | ک | ك | |
| ګ | Gaf, used to represent the phoneme/ɡ/ inPashto. | U+06AB | ﮿ | ring | none | ک | ك | |
| ؼ | Gaf, represents avoiced velar plosive/ɡ/ in thePegon script ofIndonesian. | U+08B4 | ﮳ | none | 3 dots | ک | ك | |
| ڱ | represents theVelar nasal/ŋ/ phoneme inSindhi. | U+06B1 | ﮴ | 2 dots +horizontal line | none | ک | ك | |
| ڳ | represents avoiced velar implosive/ɠ/ inSindhi andSaraiki | U+06B1 | ﮾ | horizontal line | 2 dots | ک | ك | |
| ݣ | used to represent the phoneme/ŋ/ (pinyinng) inChinese. | U+0763 | ﮹ | none | 3 dots | ک | ك | |
| ݪ | used inMarwari to represent aretroflex lateral flap/ɺ̢/, and inKalami to represent avoiceless lateral fricative/ɬ/. | U+076A | line | horizontal line | none | ل | ل | |
| ࣇ | ࣇ – or alternately typeset as لؕ – is used inPunjabi to representvoiced retroflex lateral approximant /ɭ/[43] | U+08C7 | ◌ؕ | small ط | none | ل | ل | |
| لؕ | U+0644U+0615 | |||||||
| ڵ | used inKurdish to represent ll/ɫ/ inSoranî dialect. Represents the "lj"palatal lateral approximant/ʎ/ phoneme inBosnian. | U+06B5 | ◌ٚ | V pointing down | none | ل | ل | |
| ڼ | represents theretroflex nasal/ɳ/ phoneme inPashto. | U+06BC | ﮲ | ﮿ | 1 dot | ring | ں | ن |
| ڻ | represents theretroflex nasal/ɳ/ phoneme inSindhi. | U+06BB | ◌ؕ | small ط | none | ں | ن | |
| ݨ | used inPunjabi to represent/ɳ/ andSaraiki to represent/ɲ/. | U+0768 | ﮲ | ﯀ | 1 dot + small ط | none | ں | ن |
| ڽ | Nya/ɲ/ in theJawi script ڽـ ـڽـ ڽ., The isolated ڽ and final ـڽ resemble the form ڽ, while the initial ڽـ and medial forms ـڽـ, resemble the form پ. | U+06BD | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ں | ن | |
| ݩ | represents the "nj"palatal nasal/ɲ/ phoneme inBosnian. | U+0769 | ﮲ | ◌ٚ | 1 dot V pointing down | none | ں | ن |
| ۅ | Ö, used to represent the phoneme/ø/ inKyrgyz. | U+0624 | ◌̵ | Strikethrough[D] | none | و | و | |
| ﻭٓ | Uu, used to represent the phoneme/uː/ inSomali. | ﻭ +◌ٓU+0648U+0653 | ◌ٓ | Madda | none | و | ﻭ +◌ٓ | |
| ۏ | Va in theJawi script. | U+06CF | ﮲ | 1 dot | none | و | و | |
| ۋ | represents a/v/ inKyrgyz,Uyghur, and Old Tatar; and/w,ʊw,ʉw/ inKazakh; also formerly used inNogai. | U+06CB | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | و | و | |
| ۆ | represents "o"/oː/ inKurdish, "ü"/y/ in Azerbaijani, and/ø/ inUyghur as part of the digraph ئۆ. It represents the "u"/u/ phoneme inBosnian. | U+06C6 | ◌ٚ | V pointing down | none | و | و | |
| ۇ | U, used to represents the/u/ phoneme inAzerbaijani,Kazakh,Kyrgyz andUyghur. | U+06C7 | ◌ُ | Damma[E] | none | و | و | |
| ۉ | represents the "o"/ɔ/ phoneme inBosnian. Also used to represent /ø/ inKyrgyz. | U+06C9 | ◌ٛ | V pointing up | none | و | و | |
| ىٓ | Ii, used to represent the phoneme/iː/ inSomali andSaraiki. | U+0649U+0653 | ◌ٓ | Madda | none | ى | ي | |
| ې | Pasta Ye, used to represent the phoneme/e/ inPashto andUyghur. | U+06D0 | ﮾ | none | 2 dotsvertical | ى | ي | |
| ۍ | X̌əźīna ye Ye, used to represent the phoneme [əi] inPashto. | U+06CD | line | horizontal line | none | ى | ي | |
| ۑ | Nya/ɲ/ in thePegon script. | U+06D1 | ﮹ | none | 3 dots | ى | ي | |
| ێ | represents ê/eː/ inKurdish. | U+06CE | ◌ٚ | V pointing down | 2 dots (start + mid) | ى | ي | |
| Additional letters with shape alteration | ||||||||
| ک | Khē, represents/kʰ/ inSindhi. | U+06A9 | none | none | none | ک | ك | |
| ڪ | "Swash kāf" is a stylistic variant of ك in Arabic, but represents un-aspirated/k/ inSindhi. | U+06AA | none | none | none | ڪ | ك | |
| ھ ھ | Do-chashmi he (two-eyed hāʼ), used in digraphs for aspiration/ʰ/ and breathy voice/ʱ/ inPunjabi andUrdu. Also used to represent/h/ inKazakh,Sorani andUyghur.[F] | U+06BE | none | none | none | ھ | ه /هـ | |
| ە | Ae, used represent/æ/ and/ɛ/ inKazakh,Sorani andUyghur. | U+06D5 | none | none | none | ه | ه /هـ | |
| ے | Baṛī ye ('bigyāʼ'), is a stylistic variant of ي in Arabic, but represents "ai" or "e"/ɛː/,/eː/ inUrdu andPunjabi. | U+06D2 | none | none | none | ے | ي | |
| AdditionalDigraph letters | ||||||||
| أو | Oo, used to represent the phoneme/oː/ inSomali. | U+0623U+0648 | ◌ٔ | Hamza | none | او | أ + و | |
| اٖى | represents the "i"/i/ phoneme inBosnian. | U+0627U+0656U+0649 | ◌ٖ | Alef | none | اى | اٖ + ى | |
| أي | Ee, used to represent the phoneme/eː/ inSomali. | U+0623U+064A | ◌ٔ | ﮵ | Hamza | 2 dots | اى | أ + ي |
Most languages that use alphabets based on the Arabic alphabet use the same base shapes. Most additional letters in languages that use alphabets based on the Arabic alphabet are built by adding (or removing) diacritics to existing Arabic letters. Some stylistic variants in Arabic have distinct meanings in other languages. For example, variant forms ofkāf ك ک ڪ are used in some languages and sometimes have specific usages. In Urdu and some neighbouring languages, the letter Hā has diverged into two forms ھdō-čašmī hē and ہ ہـ ـہـ ـہgōl hē,[44] while a variant form of يyā referred to asbaṛī yē ے is used at the end of some words.[44]
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