Arabic

Letter

ٱ / ‍ٱ • ‎(hamzatu l-waṣli)

1. alif carrying the waṣla sign (ٱ) indicates liaison with the preceding word and means that the hamza is suppressed. It is more commonly indicated by a regular alif without a hamza (ا). It occurs, for example, in the definite article ٱل ‎(l-), ٱسْم ‎(sm-), ٱبْن ‎(bn-), imperative verbs, and the perfective aspect of verb forms VII to X, but is not pronounced following a vowel: (e.g., البيت ٱلكبير is read al-baytu l-kabīru). It occurs only at the beginning of a word that is not initial in a word group, or the beginning of a word following a prefixed preposition or conjunction.

   هُوَ ٱبْنُ ٱلمُدَرِّسِ ‎(huwa bnu l-mudarrisi, “He is the teacher’s son.”)

   وَ‌ٱسْمُ ٱلبِنْتِ أَنْهَارٌ ‎(wa-smu l-binti ʾanhārun, “And the girl’s name is Anhar.”)

See also

• هَمْزَةُ ٱلوَصْلِ ‎(hamzatu l-waṣli)