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Gaf (Persian: گاف; gāf), is the name of different Perso-Arabic letters, all representing /ɡ/. They are all derived from the letter kāf, with additional diacritics, such as dots and lines. It is also one of the four letters the Persian alphabet added from the twenty-eight inherited from the Arabic alphabet (the others being pe, che, and že). In name and shape, it is a variant of kaf. Its numerical value is 5000 (see Abjad numerals). There are four forms, each used in different alphabets:
- گ in the Persian alphabet, Tausug written in Arabic Script
- ݢ in the Jawi script
- ࢴ/ڮ in the Pegon script
- ګ in Pashto
- ڭـ/ڭ in Moroccan Arabic
| Gaf | |
|---|---|
| Persian | گ |
| Phonemic representation | ɡ |
| Position in alphabet | 32 |
| Numerical value | 5000 |
| Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician | |
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gāf (گ) or kāf (ك) has been traditionally used in the Levant and Iraq for /g/. In Iraq, gāf (گ) is more used. Ġayn (غ) is preferred in the Levant (nowadays) and by Al Jazeera TV channel to represent /ɡ/, e.g., هونغ كونغ (Hong Kong), البرتغال (Portugal), أغسطس (August), and غاندالف (Gandalf). Foreign publications and TV channels in Arabic, e.g. Deutsche Welle[1] and Alhurra,[2] follow this practice.
In Morocco, gāf (ڭ) or kāf (ك) is used. In Tunisia and Algeria, ڨ or qāf ق is used. The standard practice in Egypt (for Literary and Egyptian Arabic),[3] as in coastal Yemen and southwestern and eastern Oman, is the use of (ج) for /g/.
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Kaf with line
The most common form of gāf (گ) is based on kāf with an additional line. It is rarely used in Standard Arabic itself but is used to represent the sound /ɡ/ when writing other languages.
When representing this sound in transliteration of Persian into Hebrew, it is written as כ׳ kaph and a geresh.
It is frequently used in Persian, Pashto, Uyghur, Urdu and Kurdish, and is one of four Perso-Arabic letters not found in Arabic. It is also commonly used in Mesopotamian Arabic.[4]
Kaf with ring
Kaf with single dot above
This gāf (ݢ) is derived from a variant form of kāf (ک), with the addition of a dot. It is not used in the Arabic language itself, but is used in the Jawi script to represent /ɡ/.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ݢ | ـݢ | ـݢـ | ݢـ |
Unicode includes two forms on this letter: one based on the standard Arabic kāf (ك), and one based on the variant form (ک). The latter is the preferred form.[5]
| Preview | ڬ | ݢ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH DOT ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH DOT ABOVE | ||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1708 | U+06AC | 1890 | U+0762 |
| UTF-8 | 218 172 | DA AC | 221 162 | DD A2 |
| Numeric character reference | ڬ | ڬ | ݢ | ݢ |
Kaf with three dots below
This letter (ڮ) is derived from a form of kāf (ك), with the addition of three dots below.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ڮ | ـڮ | ـڮـ | ڮـ |
Gaf with inverted stroke
In Chechen, Kabardian, and Adyghe, the Arabic character ࢰ is used to spell /kʼ/ or /t͡ʃʼ/. In Chechen, ⟨گ⟩ is alternatively used as well.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ࢰ | ـࢰ | ـࢰـ | ࢰـ |
Kaf with a dot below
This letter (ࢴ) is derived from a form of kāf (ك), with the addition of three a dot below. It is not used in the Arabic language itself, but is used in the Arwi alphabet for the Tamil language and the Pegon script for Indonesian languages to represent /ɡ/.[6][7]
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ࢴ | ـࢴ | ـࢴـ | ࢴـ |
Kaf with three dots
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The letter ڭ is used in Berber and Moroccan Arabic to represent /ɡ/.[8] Examples of its use include city names (e.g., Agadir: أݣادير) and family names (e.g., El Guerrouj: الݣروج). The preferred form is ڭ.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ڭ | ـڭ | ـڭـ | ڭـ |
It was also used in Ottoman Turkish for /ŋ/. Both forms are based on variant forms of kāf (ك/ک), with the addition of three dots. The preferred form is ݣ. It was also used in Persian instead of گ.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ݣ | ـݣ | ـݣـ | ݣـ |
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| Preview | ګ | ڬ | ڮ | گ | ࢰ | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH RING | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH DOT ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH THREE DOTS BELOW | ARABIC LETTER GAF | ARABIC LETTER GAF WITH INVERTED STROKE | |||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1707 | U+06AB | 1708 | U+06AC | 1710 | U+06AE | 1711 | U+06AF | 2224 | U+08B0 |
| UTF-8 | 218 171 | DA AB | 218 172 | DA AC | 218 174 | DA AE | 218 175 | DA AF | 224 162 176 | E0 A2 B0 |
| Numeric character reference | ګ | ګ | ڬ | ڬ | ڮ | ڮ | گ | گ | ࢰ | ࢰ |
| Preview | ݢ | ݣ | ڭ | ࢴ | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH DOT ABOVE |
ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH THREE DOTS ABOVE |
ARABIC LETTER NG | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH DOT BELOW | ||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1890 | U+0762 | 1891 | U+0763 | 1709 | U+06AD | 2228 | U+08B4 |
| UTF-8 | 221 162 | DD A2 | 221 163 | DD A3 | 218 173 | DA AD | 224 162 180 | E0 A2 B4 |
| Numeric character reference | ݢ | ݢ | ݣ | ݣ | ڭ | ڭ | ࢴ | ࢴ |
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