Ẓāʾ

Ẓāʾ
Ẓāʾ
ظ
Usage
Writing system	Arabic script
Type	Abjad
Language of origin	Arabic language
Phonetic usage	ðˤ~zˤ, dˤ
History
Development	ظ;
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.

← Ḍād
Ẓāʾ
Ghayn →
← Ḍād Ẓāʾ Ghayn →
Phoenician
Hebrew	-
Aramaic
Syriac	-
Arabic	ظ
Phonemic representation	ðˤ~zˤ, dˤ
Position in alphabet	27
Numerical value	900
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician
Greek	-
Latin	-
Cyrillic	-

Ẓāʾ, or ḏ̣āʾ (ظ), is one of the six letters the Arabic alphabet added to the twenty-two inherited from the Phoenician alphabet (the others being ṯāʾ, ḫāʾ, ḏāl, ḍād, ġayn). In Classical Arabic, it represents a velarized voiced dental fricative [ðˠ], and in Modern Standard Arabic, it can also be a pharyngealized, [ðˤ] voiced dental fricative or voiced alveolar fricative [zˤ]. In name and shape, it is a variant of ṭāʾ. Its numerical value is 900 (see Abjad numerals).

Ẓāʾ does not change its shape depending on its position in the word:

Position in word	Isolated	Final	Medial	Initial
Glyph form: (Help)	ظ‎	ـظ‎	ـظـ‎	ظـ‎

Pronunciation

File:The main Pronunciations of written ظ in Arabic dialects.png

The main pronunciations of written ⟨ظ⟩ in Arabic dialects.

In Classical Arabic, it represents a velarized voiced dental fricative [ðˠ], and in Modern Standard Arabic, it can also be a pharyngealized, [ðˤ] voiced dental fricative or voiced alveolar fricative [zˤ].

In most Arabic vernaculars ظ ẓāʾ and ض ḍād have been merged quite early.^[1] The outcome depends on the dialect. In those varieties (such as Egyptian, Levantine and Hejazi), where the dental fricatives /θ/, /ð/ are merged with the dental stops /t/, /d/, ẓāʾ is pronounced /dˤ/ or /zˤ/ depending on the word; e.g. ظِل is pronounced /dˤilː/ but ظاهِر is pronounced /zˤaːhir/, In loanwords from Classical Arabic ẓāʾ is often /zˤ/, e.g. Egyptian ʿaẓīm (< Classical عظيم ʿaḏ̣īm) "great".^[1]^[2]^[3]

In the varieties (such as Bedouin and Iraqi), where the dental fricatives are preserved, both ḍād and ẓāʾ are pronounced /ðˤ/.^[1]^[2]^[4]^[5] However, there are dialects in South Arabia and in Mauritania where both the letters are kept different but not consistently.^[1]

A "de-emphaticized" pronunciation of both letters in the form of the plain /z/ entered into other non-Arabic languages such as Persian, Urdu, Turkish.^[1] However, there do exist Arabic borrowings into Ibero-Romance languages as well as Hausa and Malay, where ḍād and ẓāʾ are differentiated.^[1]

Statistics

Ẓāʾ is the rarest phoneme of the Arabic language. Out of 2,967 triliteral roots listed by Hans Wehr in his 1952 dictionary, only 42 (1.4%) contain ظ.^[6]

In other Semitic languages

In some reconstructions of Proto-Semitic phonology, there is an emphatic interdental fricative, ṱ ([θˤ] or [ðˤ]), featuring as the direct ancestor of Arabic ẓāʾ, while it merged with ṣ in most other Semitic languages, although the South Arabian alphabet retained a symbol for ẓ.

Writing in the Hebrew alphabet

When representing this sound in transliteration of Arabic into Hebrew, it is written as ט׳.

Character encodings

Character information
Preview	ظ
Unicode name	ARABIC LETTER ZAH
Encodings	decimal	hex
Unicode	1592	U+0638
UTF-8	216 184	D8 B8
Numeric character reference	ظ	ظ

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Versteegh, Kees (1999). "Loanwords from Arabic and the merger of ḍ/ḏ̣". In Arazi, Albert; Sadan, Joseph; Wasserstein, David J. (eds.). Compilation and Creation in Adab and Luġa: Studies in Memory of Naphtali Kinberg (1948–1997). pp. 273–286.
^ ^a ^b Versteegh, Kees (2000). "Treatise on the pronunciation of the ḍād". In Kinberg, Leah; Versteegh, Kees (eds.). Studies in the Linguistic Structure of Classical Arabic. Brill. pp. 197–199. ISBN 9004117652.
^ Retsö, Jan (2012). "Classical Arabic". In Weninger, Stefan (ed.). The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 785–786. ISBN 978-3-11-025158-6.
^ Ferguson, Charles (1959). "The Arabic koine". Language. 35 (4): 630. doi:10.2307/410601.
^ Ferguson, Charles Albert (1997) [1959]. "The Arabic koine". In Belnap, R. Kirk; Haeri, Niloofar (eds.). Structuralist studies in Arabic linguistics: Charles A. Ferguson's papers, 1954–1994. Brill. pp. 67–68. ISBN 9004105115.
^ Wehr, Hans (1952). Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart. ^{[page needed]}

[Versteegh1999-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Versteegh, Kees (1999). "Loanwords from Arabic and the merger of ḍ/ḏ̣". In Arazi, Albert; Sadan, Joseph; Wasserstein, David J. (eds.). Compilation and Creation in Adab and Luġa: Studies in Memory of Naphtali Kinberg (1948–1997). pp. 273–286.

[Versteegh2000-2] Versteegh, Kees (2000). "Treatise on the pronunciation of the ḍād". In Kinberg, Leah; Versteegh, Kees (eds.). Studies in the Linguistic Structure of Classical Arabic. Brill. pp. 197–199. ISBN 9004117652.

[Retsö2012-3] Retsö, Jan (2012). "Classical Arabic". In Weninger, Stefan (ed.). The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 785–786. ISBN 978-3-11-025158-6.

[Ferguson1959-4] Ferguson, Charles (1959). "The Arabic koine". Language. 35 (4): 630. doi:10.2307/410601.

[Ferguson1997-5] Ferguson, Charles Albert (1997) [1959]. "The Arabic koine". In Belnap, R. Kirk; Haeri, Niloofar (eds.). Structuralist studies in Arabic linguistics: Charles A. Ferguson's papers, 1954–1994. Brill. pp. 67–68. ISBN 9004105115.

[Wehr-6] Wehr, Hans (1952). Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart. ^{[page needed]}

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]