Persian alphabet
Encyclopedia : P : PE : PER : Persian alphabet
The script used for the Persian language is a modified form of the Arabic alphabet, which in turn is derived from Phoenician with four extra letters. in Persian the letters are pronounced differently than Arabic. A slightly further modified form is used for Urdu. Below are the 32 letters of Persian.
| Solo | Initial | Medial | Final | Name | Translit. | IPA
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ﺍ | / ا | aa / ʼ / ʾ / ’ | ||||
| x | ||||||
| — | ||||||
| — | ||||||
| — | ||||||
| — | ||||||
| — | ||||||
| sh | ||||||
| ‘ | ||||||
| gh | [ɢ]
| |||||
| gh | [ɢ]
| |||||
| — | u | [u]
| ||||
| i | [i] | |||||
Letters lacking an initial or medial version are never tied to the following letter, even within a word. As to ﺀ hamze, it has only a single graphic, since it is never tied to a preceding or following letter. However, it is sometimes 'seated' on a vāv, ye or alef, and in that case the seat behaves like an ordinary vāv, ye or alef.
Technically, hamze is not a letter, but a diacritic.
Other characters
The following are not actual letters, but rather different orthographical shapes for letters, and in the case of the lām alef, a ligature.
| Stand-alone | Initial | Medial | Final | Name | Trans. | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | ||||||
| — | ||||||
| — | ||||||
Although at first glance they may seem similar, there are many differences in the way the different languages use the alphabets. For example, similar words are written differently in Persian and Arabic, as they are used differently.
The Persian alphabet adds four letters to the Arabic alphabet, p (paper), g (goal), ch [ʧ] (chair), zh [ʒ] (measure):
| Sound | Shape | Unicode name |
| پ | peh | |
| چ | tcheh | |
| ژ | jeh | |
| گ | gaf |
Urdu adds additional letters, including retroflex consonants:
| Sound | Shape | Unicode name |
| ٹ | ttay | |
| ڈ | ddaal | |
| ڑ | arr | |
| ے | barree yay |
Urdu also drops the sound:
| Sound | Shape | Unicode name |
| ﺫ | zal |
See also
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