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Hamza همزة ‎
ء
Usage
Writing system	Arabic script
Type	Abjad
Language of origin	Arabic language
Phonetic usage	/ʔ/
Unicode codepoint	U+0621 ARABIC LETTER HAMZA
History
Development	ء
Other
Writing direction	Right-to-left
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between  , / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The hamza (Arabic: هَمْزَة hamza) (ء‎) is an Arabic script character that, in the Arabic alphabet, denotes a glottal stop and, in non-Arabic languages, indicates a diphthong, vowel, or other features, depending on the language. Derived from the letter ʿAyn (ع‎),^[1] the hamza is written in medial and final positions as an unlinked letter or placed above or under a carrier character. Despite its common usage as a letter in Modern Standard Arabic, it is generally not considered to be one of its letters, although some argue that it should be considered a letter.

The hamza is often romanized as a typewriter apostophe ('), a modifier letter apostrophe (ʼ), a modifier letter right half ring (ʾ), or as the International Phonetic Alphabet symbol ʔ. In Arabizi, it is either written as "2" or not written at all.

In the Phoenician, Hebrew and Aramaic alphabets, from which the Arabic alphabet is descended, the glottal stop was expressed by alif (𐤀), continued by Alif (ا) in the Arabic alphabet. However, Alif was used to express both a glottal stop and a long vowel /aː/. In order to indicate that a glottal stop is used and not a mere vowel, it was added to Alif diacritically. In modern orthography, hamza may also appear on the line, under certain circumstances as though it were a full letter, independent of an alif.

Etymologyedit

Hamza is derived from the verb hamaza (هَمَزَ‎) meaning 'to prick, goad, drive' or 'to provide (a letter or word) with hamzah'.^{[2][citation needed]}

Hamzat al-waṣl (ٱ)edit

The hamza (ء‎) on its own is hamzat al-qaṭ‘ (هَمْزَة الْقَطْع‎, "the hamzah which breaks, ceases or halts", i.e. the broken, cessation, halting"), otherwise referred to as qaṭ‘at (قَطْعَة‎), that is, a phonemic glottal stop unlike the hamzat al-waṣl (هَمْزَة الوَصْل‎, "the hamzah which attaches, connects or joins", i.e. the attachment, connection, joining"), a non-phonemic glottal stop produced automatically only if at the beginning of an utterance, otherwise assimilated. Although the hamzat al-waṣl can be written as an alif carrying a waṣlah sign ٱ‎ (only in the Quran), it is normally indicated by a plain alif without a hamza.^[3]

ٱ ‎ occurs in:

• the definite article al-
• some short words with two of their three-consonant roots apparent: ism اسْم‎, ibn ابْن‎, imru' امْرُؤ‎ (fem. imra'ah امْرَأَة‎), ithnāni اثْنَانِ‎ (fem. ithnatāni اثْنَتَانِ‎)
• the imperative verbs of forms I and VII to X
• the perfective aspect of verb forms VII to X and their verbal nouns
• some borrowed words that start with consonant clusters such as istūdiyū

It is not pronounced following a vowel (البَيْتُ الكَبِير‎, al-baytu l-kabīru). This event occurs in the definite article or at the beginning of a noun following a preposition or a verb following a relative pronoun. If the definite article al- is followed by a sun letter, -l- also gives way for the next letter for lām is assimilated.

Orthographyedit

The hamza can be written either alone, as if it were a letter, or with a carrier, when it becomes a diacritic:

• Alone: (only one isolated form):

• By itself:

• Combined with a letter:

Arabic "seat" rulesedit

The rules for writing hamza differ somewhat between languages even if the writing is based on the Arabic abjad. The following addresses Arabic specifically.

Summaryedit

• Initial hamza is always placed over (أ for ʾa- or ʾu-) or under (إ for ʾi-) an alif.
• Medial hamza will have a seat or be written alone:
  • Surrounding vowels determine the seat of the hamza with preceding long vowels and diphthongs (such as aw or ay) being ignored.
  • i- (ئ) over u- (ؤ) over a- (أ) if there are two conflicting vowels that count; on the line (ء) if there are none.
  • As a special case, āʾa, ūʾa and awʾa require hamza on the line, instead of over an alif as one would expect. (See III.1b below.)
• Final hamza will have a seat or be written alone:
  • Alone on the line when preceded by a long vowel or final consonant.
  • Has a seat matching the final short vowel for words ending in a short vowel.
• Two adjacent alifs are never allowed. If the rules call for this, replace the combination by a single alif maddah.

Detailed descriptionedit

• Logically, hamza is just like any other letter, but it may be written in different ways. It has no effect on the way other letters are written. In particular, surrounding long vowels are written just as they always are, regardless of the "seat" of the hamza—even if this results in the appearance of two consecutive wāws or yāʾs.
• The hamza can be written in five ways: on its own ("on the line"), under an alif, or over an alif, wāw, or yāʾ, called the "seat" of the hamza. When written over yāʾ, the dots that would normally be written underneath are omitted.
• When according to the rules below, a hamza with an alif seat would occur before an alif which represents the vowel ā, a single alif is instead written with the maddah symbol over it.
• The rules for hamza depend on whether it occurs as the initial, middle, or final letter (not sound) in a word. (Thus, final short inflectional vowels do not count, but -an is written as alif + nunation, counts, and the hamza is considered medial.)

I. If the hamza is initial:

• If the following letter is a short vowel, fatḥah (a) (as in أَفْرَاد‎ ʾafrād) or ḍammah (u) (as in أُصُول‎ ʾuṣūl), the hamza is written over a place-holding alif; kasrah (i) (as in إِسْلَام‎ ʾislām) the hamza is written under a place-holding alif and is called "hamza on a wall."
• If the letter following the hamza is an alif itself: (as in آكُل‎ ʾākul) alif maddah will occur.

II. If the hamza is final:

• If a short vowel precedes, the hamza is written over the letter (alif, wāw, or yāʾ) corresponding to the short vowel.
• Otherwise, the hamza is written on the line (as in شَيْء‎ shayʾ  "thing").

III. If the hamza is medial:

• If a long vowel or diphthong precedes, the seat of the hamza is determined mostly by what follows:

• If i or u follows, the hamza is written over yāʾ or wāw, accordingly.
• Otherwise, the hamza would be written on the line. If a yāʾ precedes, however, that would conflict with the stroke joining the yāʾ to the following letter, so the hamza is written over yāʾ. (as in بطِيئَة‎)

• Otherwise, both preceding and following vowels have an effect on the hamza.

• If there is only one vowel (or two of the same kind), that vowel determines the seat (alif, wāw, or yāʾ).
• If there are two conflicting vowels, i takes precedence over u, u over a so miʾah 'hundred' is written مِئَة‎, with hamza over the yāʾ.
• Alif-maddah occurs if appropriate.

Not surprisingly, the complexity of the rules causes some disagreement.

• Barron's 201 Arabic Verbs follows the rules exactly (but the sequence ūʾū does not occur; see below).
• John Mace's Teach Yourself Arabic Verbs and Essential Grammar presents alternative forms in almost all cases when hamza is followed by a long ū. The motivation appears to be to avoid two wāws in a row. Generally, the choice is between the form following the rules here or an alternative form using hamza over yāʾ in all cases. Example forms are masʾūl (مَسْئُول‎, adj: responsible, in charge, accountable; noun: official, functionary), yajīʾūna (يَجِيئُونَ‎, verb: jāʾa جَاءَ‎ "to come"), yashāʾūna (يَشَائُونَ، يَشَاءُونَ‎, verb: shāʾa شَاءَ‎ "to will, to want, to intend, to wish"). Exceptions:

• In the sequence ūʾū (yasūʾūna, verb: sā'a سَاءَ‎ "to act badly, be bad") the alternatives are hamza on the line يَسُوءُونَ‎, or hamza over yāʾ يَسُوئُونَ‎, when the rules here would call for hamza over wāw. Perhaps, the resulting sequence of three wāws would be especially repugnant.
• In the sequence yaqraʾūna (يَقْرَأُونَ‎, verb: qaraʾa قَرَأَ‎ "to read, to recite, to review/ study") the alternative form has hamza over alif, not yāʾ.
• The forms yabṭuʾūna (يَبْطُؤُونَ‎, verb: baṭuʾa بَطُؤَ‎ "to be or become slow, late or backward, "to come late", "to move slowly") and yaʾūbu (يَؤُوبُ‎, verb: آبَ‎ "move to the back", "to return to come back", "to repent") have no alternative form. (Note yaqraʾūna with the same sequence of vowels.)

• Haywood and Nahmad's A new Arabic Grammar of the Written Language does not write the paradigms out in full, but in general agrees with John Mace's book, including the alternative forms and sometimes lists a third alternative with the entire sequence ʾū written as a single hamza over wāw instead of as two letters.
• Al-Kitāb fī Taʿallum... presents paradigms with hamza written the same way throughout, regardless of the rules above. Thus yabdaʾūna with hamza only over alif, yajīʾūna with hamza only over yāʾ, yaqraʾīna with hamza only over alif, but that is not allowed in any of the previous three books. (It appears to be an overgeneralization on the part of the al-Kitāb writers.)

Overview tablesedit

The letter ط ‎ (ṭ) stands here for any consonant.

Note: The table shows only potential combinations and their graphic representations according to the spelling rules; not every possible combination exists in Arabic.