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Persian alphabet

ﺍ‎ || ﺏ‎ || پ‎ || ﺕ‎ || ﺙ‎ || ﺝ‎ || چ‎ || ﺡ‎ || ﺥ‎

ﺩ‎ || ﺫ‎ || ﺭ‎ || ﺯ‎ || ژ‎ || ﺱ‎ || ﺵ‎ || ﺹ‎ || ﺽ‎

ﻁ‎ || ﻅ‎ || ﻉ‎ || ﻍ‎ || ﻑ‎ || ﻕ‎

ک‎ || گ‎ || ﻝ‎ || ﻡ‎ || ﻥ‎ || هـ‎ || ﻭ‎ || ی‎

History · Transliteration Diacritics · hamza ء‎ Numerals · Numeration

Persian language
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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. A slightly further modified form of the script is used for Urdu/Hindustani. The Persian alphabet is commonly written in a calligraphic style known as Nasta'liq. Below are the 32 letters of Persian.

Solo	Initial	Medial	Final	Name	Translit.	IPA
ﺍ	آ‎ / ا‎	ﺎ‎	ﺎ‎	alef	ā / aa / ʼ / ʾ / ’	various, including [ɒ]
ﺏ‎	ﺑ‎	ﺒ‎	ﺐ‎	be	b	[b]
پ‎	ﭙ‎	ﭙ‎	پ‎	pe	p	[p]
ﺕ‎	ﺗ‎	ﺘ‎	ﺖ‎	te	t	[t]
ﺙ‎	ﺛ‎	ﺜ‎	ﺚ‎	se	s	[s]
ﺝ‎	ﺟ‎	ﺠ‎	ﺞ‎	jim	j	[ʤ]
چ‎	چ‍ ‎	‍چ‍ ‎	‍چ‎	che	c / č / ch	[ʧ]
ﺡ‎	ﺣ‎	ﺤ‎	ﺢ‎	he	h	[h]
ﺥ‎	ﺧ‎	ﺨ‎	ﺦ‎	khe	x / kh	[x]
ﺩ‎	—	—	ﺪ‎	dāl	d	[d]
ﺫ‎	—	—	ﺬ‎	zāl	z	[z]
ﺭ‎	—	—	ﺮ‎	re	r	[ɾ]
ﺯ‎	—	—	ﺰ‎	ze	z	[z]
ژ‎	—	—	ﮋ‎	zhe	ž / zh	[ʒ]
ﺱ‎	ﺳ‎	ﺴ‎	ﺲ‎	sin	s	[s]
ﺵ‎	ﺷ‎	ﺸ‎	ﺶ‎	šin	š / sh	[ʃ]
ﺹ‎	ﺻ‎	ﺼ‎	ﺺ‎	sād	s	[s]
ﺽ‎	ﺿ‎	ﻀ‎	ﺾ‎	zād	z	[z]
ﻁ‎	ﻃ‎	ﻄ‎	ﻂ‎	tā	t	[t]
ﻅ‎	ﻇ‎	ﻈ‎	ﻆ‎	zā	z	[z]
ﻉ‎	ﻋ‎	ﻌ‎	ﻊ‎	eyn	ʻ / ‘	[ʔ]
ﻍ‎	ﻏ‎	ﻐ‎	ﻎ‎	qeyn	q / gh	[ɣ] / [ɢ]
ﻑ‎	ﻓ‎	ﻔ‎	ﻒ‎	fe	f	[f]
ﻕ‎	ﻗ‎	ﻘ‎	ﻖ‎	qāf	q / gh	[ɣ] / [ɢ]
ک‎	ﮐ‎	ﮑ‎	ﮏ‎	kāf	k	[k]
گ‎	ﮔ‎	ﮕ‎	ﮓ‎	gāf	g	[g]
ﻝ‎	ﻟ‎	ﻠ‎	ﻞ‎	lām	l	[l]
ﻡ‎	ﻣ‎	ﻤ‎	ﻢ‎	mim	m	[m]
ﻥ‎	ﻧ‎	ﻨ‎	ﻦ‎	nun	n	[n]
و‎	—	—	ﻮ‎	vāv	v / u	[v] / [u]
ﻩ‎	ﻫ‎	ﻬ‎	ﻪ‎	he	h	[h]
ﻯ‎	ﻳ‎	ﻴ‎	ﯽ‎	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 ﺀ‎ 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.

Contents 1 Other characters 1.1 Word boundaries 2 See also 3 External links

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
ﺁ‎	—	—	ﺂ‎	alef madde	ā	[ɒ]
ۀ‎	—	—	ﮥ‎	he ye	-eye or -eyeh	[eje]
ﻻ‎	—	—	ﻼ‎	lām alef	lā	[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

In written text, words are usually separated by a space. Compounds and detachable morphemes (i.e., morphemes following a word ending in final form character), however, are written without a space separating them. In other words, the two parts of a compound appear next to each other but the first element in the compound will usually end in a final form character, hence it would be possible to recognize the two parts of the compound. This format is not very consistent, however, and sometimes words can appear without a space between them. If the first word ends in a character that has a final form, then we can easily distinguish the word boundary. But if the first word ends in one of the characters that have only one form, the end of the word is not clear. Although this latter case is usually avoided in written text, it is not rare. Furthermore, a space is sometimes inserted between a word and the morpheme. In such cases, the morpheme needs to be reattached (or the space eliminated) before proceeding to the morphological analysis of the text.

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

• Persian Alphabet