Wikipedia:

Persian alphabet

Persian alphabet
        پ                 چ
                        ژ
                     
                ک    گ
            هـ        
History · Transliteration
Diacritics · Hamza ء
Numerals · Numeration


Persian language

History
Dialects

Writing systems

The script used for the Persian language is a form of the Perso-Arabic script, which is derived from Arabic alphabet with four extra letters. Several letters are pronounced differently in Persian than in Arabic. The Persian alphabet is commonly written in a calligraphic style known as Nasta'liq.

Letters

Below are the 32 letters of Persian.

Solo Initial Medial Final Name Translit. IPA
آ / ا alef ā / aa / ʼ / ʾ / various, including [ɒ]
be b [b]
پ پ pe p [p]
te t [t]
se s [s]
jim j [ʤ]
چ چ‍ ‍چ‍ ‍چ che c / č / ch [ʧ]
he h [h]
khe x / kh [x]
dāl d [d]
zāl z [z]
re r [ɾ]
ze z [z]
ژ zhe ž / zh [ʒ]
sin s [s]
šin š / sh [ʃ]
sād s [s]
ﺿ zād z [z]
t [t]
z [z]
eyn ʻ / [ʔ]
qeyn q / gh [ɣ] / [ɢ]
fe f [f]
qāf q / gh [ɣ] / [ɢ]
ک kāf k [k]
گ gāf g [g]
lām l [l]
mim m [m]
nun n [n]
و vāv v / u / ow [v] / [u]
he h [h]
ye y , i [j] , [i]

Letters lacking an initial or medial version are never tied to the following letter, even within a word. As to 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-
literation
IPA
value
alef madde ā [ɒ]
ۀ he ye -eye or -eyeh [eje]
lām alef [lɒ]

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], [g], [ʧ] (ch – chair), [ʒ] (zh – measure):

Sound Shape Unicode name
[p] پ peh
[ʧ] (ch) چ tcheh
[ʒ] (zh) ژ jeh
[g] گ gaf

Word boundaries

Typically words are separated from each other by a space. Certain morphemes (such as the plural ending '-hâ') are written without a space but separated from the previous word with a zero-width non-joiner.

See also

External links


 
 
 

Join the WikiAnswers Q&A community. Post a question or answer questions about "Persian alphabet" at WikiAnswers.

 

Copyrights:

Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Persian alphabet" Read more

Search for answers directly from your browser with the FREE Answers.com Toolbar!  
Click here to download now. 

Get Answers your way! Check out all our free tools and products.

On this page:   E-mail   print Print  Link  

 

Keep Reading

Mentioned In: