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), the hamza is written in initial, 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 so. The hamza is often romanized as a typewriter apostrophe ('), 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 aleph (𐤀), continued by alif (ا) in the Arabic alphabet. However, alif was used to express both a glottal stop /ʔ/ and a long vowel /aː/. In order to indicate that a glottal stop is used and not a mere vowel, the hamza was added to alif diacritically. Just as Greek vowels were used as diacritical marks to indicate vowel sounds in Western Syriac, the hamza (in effect a lower-case Greek alpha) was used as a diacritical mark in Arabic to indicate the original Alif glottal stop. In modern Arabic orthography, hamza may also appear on the line under certain circumstances as though it were a full letter, independent of an alif.
Etymology Hamza is derived from the verb hamaza (هَمَزَ) meaning 'to prick, goad, drive' or 'to provide (a letter or word) with hamzah'.
Hamzat al-waṣl ⟨ٱ⟩
The hamza ⟨ء⟩ on its own is hamzat al-qaṭʿ (هَمْزَة الْقَطْع, "the hamzah which breaks, ceases or halts", i.e. the broken, cessation, halting"), otherwise referred to as qaṭʿat (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 ⟨ا⟩. ⟨ٱ⟩ occurs in:
the definite article al- some short words with two of their three-consonant roots apparent: ism اِسْم 'name', ibn اِبْن 'son', imruʾ اِمْرُؤ 'man', iṯnān اِثْنَان 'two' 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 ʾistūdiyū إِسْتُودِيُو It is not pronounced following a vowel (الْبَيْتُ 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 ⟨ل⟩ is assimilated.
Orthography The hamza can be written either alone, as if it were a letter, or with a carrier, when it becomes a diacritic:
Low hamza (only one form):
By itself:
Combined with a letter:
Arabic "seat" rules The rules for writing hamza differ somewhat between languages even if the writing is based on the Arabic abjad. The following addresses Arabic specifically.
Summary 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 description 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:
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