Ve (Arabic letter)
Perso-Arabic letter used to represent the /v/ sound
Ve (ڤ) is a letter of the Arabic-based Comoro, Kurdish, Luri, Swahili, Wakhi and Malay alphabets. It is derived from the Arabic letter Fāʾ (ف) with two additional dots. It represents the sound /v/ in the aforementioned uses. On the other hand, the letter Pa (ڤ) represents the sound /p/ in the Jawi (used for Malay) and Pegon (used for Javanese) alphabets.
Ve originated as one of the new letters added for the Perso-Arabic alphabet to write New Persian, and it was used for the sound /β/. This letter is no longer used in Persian, as the [β]-sound changed to [b], e.g. archaic زڤان /zaβɑn/ > زبان /zæbɒn/ 'language'
The letter Ve is sometimes used in various Arabic dialects to write names and loanwords with the phoneme /v/, such as Volvo (ڤولڤو),Vietnam (ڤيتنام), November (نوڤمبر) and Vienna (ڤيينا), but rather described, for example, in Egyptian Arabic, it is called Fāʾ with three dots (Arabic: فه بتلات نقط, lit. 'Fā' be talat noʾaṭ').
The character ڤ is mapped in Unicode under position U+06A4.
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ڤ | ـڤ | ـڤـ | ڤـ |
01Ve (ڥ)
The character Ve (ڥ) is mapped in Unicode under position U+06A5. In Tunisia and Algeria the variant (ڥ) /v/ with three dots below is used instead to differentiate it from the letter /ɡ/ (ڨ). This usage might have been influenced by the Maghrebi archaic variant of Fāʾ (ڢ) with a dot below.
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ڥ | ـڥ | ـڥـ | ڥـ |
02Gāf (ڨ)
In Tunisian and in Algerian, Gāf (ڨ), similar look to Qāf (ق) but with three dots, is used for /ɡ/, such as in names of places or persons containing a voiced velar stop, as in Gafsa (ڨفصة) or Guelma (ڨالمة). If the usage of that letter is not possible for technical restrictions, Qāf (ق) is often used instead. In Arabic script representations of the Chechen language, Gāf (ڨ) is used to represent the uvular ejective /qʼ/, and /v/ in Hindko language (within Pakistan), called Vāf.
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ڨ | ـڨ | ـڨـ | ڨـ |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Ve (Arabic letter)”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- سڤن أپ.jpg by عبد المؤمن, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Cavafy entrance.jpg by Nableezy, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Méridien de Greenwich à Stidia (Algérie).jpg by Yelles, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Tunisian Cookie Packaging.jpg by Peripatesy, CC BY-SA 4.0
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.
