ٰ
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Arabic
Letter
ـٰ • (-ā)
- superscript alif, dagger alif (أَلِف خَنْجَرِيَّة (ʾalif ḵanjariyya)), indicates a long /aː/ where ا (ʾalif) is normally not written.
Usage notes
- ʾalif ḵanjariyya is a rare diacritic, is missing on standard keyboards and is sometimes replaced with a fatḥa ـَ (-a) in a vocalised Arabic text or omitted altogether, except the Qur'an.
- ʾalif ḵanjariyya can be written with or without a fatḥa, e.g. with a fatḥa رَحْمَٰن (raḥmān) in the Middle East or without a fatḥa رَحْمٰن (raḥmān) in South Asia (Pakistan, India and Bangladesh)
- The word اللّٰه (allāh, “Allah”) is usually produced automatically by entering "alif + lām + lām + hāʾ" - ا ل ل ه (read from right to left). The word consists of ا (ʾalif) + ligature of doubled ل (lām) with a shadda ـّ and an ʾalif ḵanjariyya above ل (lām).
- In Wiktionary we use ʾalif ḵanjariyya to generate a correct transliteration ("ā") and to indicate a long /aː/. A fatḥa alone, without ʾalif ḵanjariyya or a long alif ا (ʾalif) would be transliterated as a short /a/.
See also
| ـَ (-a) | ـُ (-u) | ـِ (-i) | ـّ (--) | ـْ (-) | ـً (-an) | ـٌ (-un) | ـٍ (-in) | ـٰ (-ā) | ـۡ |