Persian alphabet (old page history)

This redirect is about the modern Persian alphabet. For other scripts that have been used to write the Persian language, see Scripts used for Persian.

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	Template:Arabiyyah / Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit / Template:Semxlit / Template:Semxlit / Template:Semxlit / Template:Semxlit	various, including [ɒ]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[b]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[p]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[t]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[s]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[ʤ]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[ʧ]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[h]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit / Template:Semxlit	[x]
Template:Arabiyyah	—	—	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[d]
Template:Arabiyyah	—	—	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[z]
Template:Arabiyyah	—	—	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[ɾ]
Template:Arabiyyah	—	—	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[z]
Template:Arabiyyah	—	—	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[ʒ]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[s]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit / Template:Semxlit	[ʃ]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[s]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[z]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[t]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[z]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit / Template:Semxlit	[ʔ]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit / Template:Semxlit	[ɣ] / [ɢ]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[f]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit / Template:Semxlit	[ɣ] / [ɢ]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[k]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[g]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[l]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[m]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[n]
Template:Arabiyyah	—	—	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit / Template:Semxlit	[v] / [u]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[h]
Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit , Template:Semxlit	[j] , [i]

Letters lacking an initial or medial version are never tied to the following letter, even within a word. As to Template:Arabiyyah 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 Template:Semxlit, a ligature.

Stand-alone	Initial	Medial	Final	Name	Trans.	Value
Template:Arabiyyah	—		Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[ɒ]
Template:Arabiyyah	—		Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit or Template:Semxlit	[eje]
Template:Arabiyyah	—		Template:Arabiyyah	Template:Semxlit	Template:Semxlit	[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 (paper), g (goal), ch [ʧ] (chair), zh [ʒ] (measure):

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

Urdu adds additional letters, including retroflex consonants:

Sound	Shape	Unicode name
[ʈ]	ٹ	ttay
[ɖ]	ڈ	ddaal
[ɽ]	ڑ	arr
[eː]	ے	barree yay

Urdu also drops the sound:

Sound	Shape	Unicode name
[ʒ]	Template:Arabiyyah	jeh

See also

• Persian phonology
• International Persian Alphabet (Pársik)
• Perso-Arabic script
• Scripts used for Persian
• Nasta'liq Script

External links

• Persian Alphabet