Gāf (Persian letter)

Gāf (; ), is the name of different Perso-Arabic letters, all representing . They are all derived from the letter Kāf (), with additional diacritics, such as dots and lines. In name and shape, it is a variant of Kāf ().

It is also one of the five letters the Persian alphabet added to the Arabic alphabet, which are; Že (), Če (), and Gaf (), in addition to the obsolete Ve (). Its numerical value is 5000 (see Abjad numerals), except for the Jawi variant () which instead has a value of 6000. There are four forms, each used in different alphabets:

Gāf () in the Persian alphabet, Tausug written in the Arabic script Gāf () in the Jawi script Gāf () in the Pegon script Gāf () in Pashto

Use in Arabic A non-standard letter to the Arabic alphabet; Gāf () has been traditionally used in Iraq and parts of the Levant for . In Morocco, a similar letter () is used. While in other Arabic-speaking countries other letters are used, such as a varitation of Qāf () known as Gāf () in Tunisia and Algeria, and any of the standard letters Jīm (), Ghayn (), or Qāf () elsewhere. Variant forms

Kāf with line

The most common form of Gāf () is based on Kāf () with an additional line. It is rarely used in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) itself but is used to represent the sound when writing other languages.

When representing this sound in transliteration of Persian into Hebrew, it is written as Kaf () with a geresh.

It is frequently used in Persian, Urdu, Balochi, Sindhi, Kurdish, and is one of four Perso-Arabic letters not found in Arabic. It is also commonly used in Mesopotamian Arabic.Alkalesi, Yasin M. (2001) "Modern iraqi arabic: A textbook". Georgetown University Press.

Kāf with ring

In Pashto, this letter () is used for .

Kāf with single dot above

This Gāf () is derived from a variant form of Kāf (), with the addition of a dot. It's used in the Jawi script to represent .

Unicode includes two forms on this letter: one based on the standard Arabic Kāf (), and one based on the variant form (). The latter is the preferred form.

Kāf with three dots below

This letter () is derived from a form of Kāf (), with the addition of three dots below.

Gāf with inverted stroke

In Chechen, Kabardian, and Adyghe, the character () is used to spell or .

Kāf with a dot below

This letter () is derived from a form of Kāf (), with the addition of three a dot below. It's used in the Arwi alphabet for the Tamil language and the Pegon script for Indonesian languages to represent .

Kāf with three dots

This letter () is used in Moroccan Arabic and Arabic-script Berber to represent . Examples of its use include city names (e.g., Agadir: ) and family names (e.g., El Guerrouj: ). The preferred form is (). It was also used in Ottoman Turkish for . Both forms are based on variant forms of Kāf (/), with the addition of three dots. The preferred form is ().

Character encoding

Gāf (Persian letter)

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