Gaf

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. There are four forms, each used in different alphabets:

  • گ‎ in the Persian alphabet
  • ݢ‎ in the Jawi script
  • ࢴ/ڮ‎ in the Pegon script
  • ګ‎ in Pashto
For other uses, see GAF.
One form of gaf
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 و ه ی
Perso-Arabic script
Arabic alphabet
Arabic script

Use in Arabic

The standard practice in Egypt (for Literary and Egyptian Arabic), as in coastal Yemen and southwestern and eastern Oman, is to use ǧīm (ج‎) for /g/, while in Arabic dialects like Algerian Arabic, Hejazi Arabic and Najdi Arabic it is qāf (ق‎), so the name gāf can be used for the letter when trying to explain a pronunciation or a spelling of a word, whether the word is foreign or dialectal.

Kāf (ك‎) has been traditionally used in the Levant and Iraq for /g/, if not gāf (گ‎), particularly in Iraq. In Morocco, gāf (ݣ‎) or kāf (ك‎) is used. In Tunisia and Algeria, qāf (ڨ‎ or ق‎) is used.

Ġayn (غ‎) is preferred in the Levant (nowadays) and by Al Jazeera TV channel to represent /ɡ/, e.g., هونغ كونغ (Hong Kong) and غاندالف (Gandalf). Foreign publications and TV channels in Arabic, e.g. Deutsche Welle[1] and Alhurra,[2] follow this practice.

Variant forms

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.

Position in word: Isolated Final Medial Initial
Naskh glyph form:
(Help)		 گ‎ ـگ‎ ـگـ‎ گـ‎
Nastaʿlīq glyph form: گ ــــگ ــــگــــ گــــ

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.[3]

Kaf with ring

In Pashto, this letter is used for /ɡ/.

Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help)		 ګ‎ ـګ‎ ـګـ‎ ګـ‎

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.[4]

Character information
Previewڬݢ
Unicode name ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH DOT ABOVE ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH DOT ABOVE
Encodingsdecimalhexdechex
Unicode1708U+06AC1890U+0762
UTF-8218 172DA AC221 162DD A2
Numeric character referenceڬڬݢݢ

Kaf with three dots below

This letter (ڮ‎) is derived from a form of kāf (ك‎), with the addition of three dots below. It is not used in the Arabic language itself, but is used in the Pegon script for Indonesian languages to represent /ɡ/.

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 to represent /ɡ/.[5]

Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help)		 ࢴ‎ ـࢴ‎ ـࢴـ‎ ࢴـ‎

Kaf with three dots
See also: Ng (Arabic letter)
The Arabic signage for the Argana cafe in Marrakesh's Jemaa el-Fnaa features a prominent gaf with three dots.

The letter ڭ‎/ݣ‎ was used in Ottoman Turkish for /ŋ/. Both forms are based on variant forms of kāf (ك‎/ک‎), with the addition of three dots.

Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help)		 ڭ‎ ـڭ‎ ـڭـ‎ ڭـ‎
Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help)		 ݣ‎ ـݣ‎ ـݣـ‎ ݣـ‎

It is used in Berber and Moroccan Arabic to represent /ɡ/.[6] Examples of its use include city names (e.g., Agadir: أݣادير‎) and family names (e.g., El Guerrouj: الݣروج‎). The preferred form is ڭ‎.

Character encoding
Character information
Previewګڬڮگࢰ
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
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode1707U+06AB1708U+06AC1710U+06AE1711U+06AF2224U+08B0
UTF-8218 171DA AB218 172DA AC218 174DA AE218 175DA AF224 162 176E0 A2 B0
Numeric character referenceګګڬڬڮڮگگࢰࢰ
Character information
Previewݢݣڭࢴ
Unicode name ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH
DOT ABOVE		 ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH
THREE DOTS ABOVE		 ARABIC LETTER NG ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH
DOT BELOW
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode1890U+07621891U+07631709U+06AD2228U+08B4
UTF-8221 162DD A2221 163DD A3218 173DA AD224 162 180E0 A2 B4
Numeric character referenceݢݢݣݣڭڭࢴࢴ

See also

References
  1. "Leningrad لينينغراد spelled with غ rather than ج". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  2. ""Blogger" بلوغر is spelled with غ, not ج about an article on Egypt quoting an Egyptian official Facebook post spelling it بلوجر with ج". Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  3. Alkalesi, Yasin M. (2001) "Modern iraqi arabic: A textbook". Georgetown University Press. ISBN 978-0878407880
  4. Jonatha Kew (2003). "Proposal to encode Jawi and Moroccan Arabic GAF characters" (PDF).
  5. Pournader, Roozbeh (June 24, 2013). "Proposal to encode three Arabic characters for Arwi" (PDF).
  6. "Learn Moroccan Arabic". Best Riad Marakkesh. 8 November 2009. واش كتهدر بالإنݣليزية
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