Ḫāʾ

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2009)

Ḫāʾ (ﺥ, transliterated as ḫ (DIN-31635), ẖ (ISO 233), "kh" or "x") is one of the six letters the Arabic alphabet added to the twenty-two inherited from the Phoenician alphabet (the others being ṯāʼ, ḏāl, ḍād, ẓāʼ, ġayn). It represents the voiceless velar fricative (IPA: [x]). The pronunciation of ﺥ is very similar to German, Scottish, and Polish unpalatalised "ch", Russian х (Cyrillic Kha), and Spanish "j". In name and shape, it is a variant of ḥāʼ (see also there). South Semitic also kept the phoneme separate, and it appears as South Arabian , Ge'ez Ḫarm ኀ. Its numerical value is 600 (see Abjad numerals).

The most common transliteration in English is "kh", e.g. Khartoum (الخرطوم al-Kharṭūm), sheikh (شيخ).

Ḫāʼ is written is several ways depending in its position in the word:

See also

• Arabic phonology
• Х, х: Kha (Cyrillic)

v • d • e Arabic · العربية Overviews Language · Alphabet · History · Transliteration · Numerology · Influence on other languages Alphabet Arabic numerals · Eastern numerals · Diacritics · Hamza Letters ʾAlif · Bāʾ · Tāʾ · Ṯāʾ · Ǧīm · Ḥāʾ · Ḫāʾ · Dāl · Ḏāl · Rāʾ · Zayn · Sīn · Šīn · Ṣād · Ḍād · Ṭāʾ · Ẓāʾ · ʿAyn · Ġain · Fāʾ · Qāf · Kāf · Lām · Mīm · Nūn · Hāʾ · Wāw · Yāʾ Eras Ancient North Arabian · Classical · Modern Major varieties Modern Standard Arabic (formal)  · Maghrebi · Egyptian · Sudanese  · Levantine · Arabian · Iraqi · Judeo-Arabic Academic Literature · Names Calligraphy and scripts Naskh · Kufic · Thuluth · Ruq'ah · Diwani · Muhaqqaq · Maghrebi · Hejazi · Mashq · Jawi · Pegon Linguistics Phonology · Sun and moon letters · ʼIʻrab (inflection) · Grammar · Triliteral root · Mater lectionis

This writing system-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.