Ayin#Hebrew ayin

The letter name is derived from Proto-Semitic {{transliteration|sem|*ʿayn-}} "eye", and the Phoenician letter had the shape of a circle or oval, clearly representing an eye, perhaps ultimately (via Proto-Sinaitic) derived from the ı͗r hieroglyph {{lang|egy|𓁹}} (Gardiner D4).[http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/issue_09/simons_alphabet.pdf Simons, F., "Proto-Sinaitic – Progenitor of the Alphabet" Rosetta 9 (2011), 16–40 (here: 38–40)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709070804/http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/issue_09/simons_alphabet.pdf |date=2022-07-09 }}.

See also: Goldwasser, Orly (Mar–Apr 2010). "How the Alphabet Was Born from Hieroglyphs". Biblical Archaeology Review. Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeology Society. 36 (1), following William F. Albright, The Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions and their Decipherment (1966), "Schematic Table of Proto-Sinaitic Characters" ([http://www.apocalypse2008-2015.com/images/Proto-Sinaitic_Table.gif fig. 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160703163923/http://apocalypse2008-2015.com/images/Proto-Sinaitic_Table.gif |date=2016-07-03 }}).

{{citation needed span|The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Ο, Latin O, and Cyrillic О, all representing vowels. It is also gave rise to the Greek letter omega as well as its Cyrillic counterpart. The sound represented by ayin is common to much of the Afroasiatic language family, such as in the Egyptian language, the Cushitic languages and the Semitic languages.|date=March 2025}}

{{hatnote|Not to be confused with {{lang|ar|ء|rtl=yes}} (hamzah) looking similar to, and derived from, initial {{lang|ar|عـ|rtl=yes}}}}

{{Infobox grapheme

| name = ʿayn عين

| letter = ع

| script = Arabic script

| type = Abjad

| language = Arabic language

| phonemes = {{IPA link|ʕ}} {{IPA link|ʁ}} (Kazakh.Kirghiz)

| alphanumber = 18

| number =

| fam1 = D4

| fam2 = File:Ghayn.svg

| fam3 = File:Protoghayn.svg

| fam4 = File:Phoenician_ayin.svg

| fam5 = File:Ayin.svg

| fam6 = File:16_ein.svg

| direction = Right-to-left

}}The Arabic letter {{lang|ar|ﻉ|rtl=yes}} {{lang|ar|ﻋَﻴْﻦْ|rtl=yes}} {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ʿayn}} {{IPA|/ʕajn/}} is the eighteenth letter of the alphabet. It is written in one of several ways depending on its position in the word:

{{Arabic alphabet shapes|ع}}

Arabic ʿayn is one of the most common letters in Arabic.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} Depending on the region, it ranges from a pharyngeal {{IPA|[ʕ]}} to an epiglottal {{IPA|[ʢ]}}. It is voiced, its voiceless counterpart being {{lang|ar|ح}}. Due to its position as the innermost letter to emerge from the throat, al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi, who wrote the first Arabic dictionary, actually started writing his Kitab al-'Ayn ('The Book of ʿAyn') with {{transliteration|ar|ʿayn}} as the first letter instead of the eighteenth; he viewed its origins deep down in the throat as a sign that it was the first sound, the essential sound, the voice and a representation of the self.Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych, The Mute Immortals Speak: Pre-Islamic Poetry and the Poetics of Ritual, pg. 178. Cornell Studies in Political Economy. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1993. {{ISBN|9780801427640}}

{{Citation needed span|text=In the Persian language and other languages using the Persian alphabet, this letter has a different function and is pronounced as /ʔ/ (glottal stop), and rarely as /ʁ/ in some languages. As in Hebrew, the letter originally stood for two sounds, /ʕ/ and /ʁ/. When pointing was developed, the sound /ʁ/ was distinguished with a dot on top (غ), to give the letter ghayn. In Maltese, which is written with the Latin alphabet, the digraph għ, called għajn, is used to write what was originally the same sound. Because the sound is difficult for most non-Arabs to pronounce, it is often used as a shibboleth by Arabic speakers; other sounds, such as Ḥā and Ḍād are also used. It is typically represented with a 3 in the Arabic chat alphabet.|date=March 2025}}

in Arabic scripts used to write Kazakh and Kirghiz . it represents the voiced uvular friactive (ʁ)

examples :саған / sağan / ساعان ('to you' in Kazakh) .жамгыр / camğır / جامعىر (rain in Kyrgyz )

{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2025}}

In some languages of Southeast Asia, the letter nga is used. The letter is derived from the letter ʿayn, which latter is derived from the letter ghayn, and it is thus written as:

{{Arabic alphabet shapes|ڠ}}

This letter, derived from {{Transliteration|ar|ALA|ghayn}} ({{script/Arabic|غ}}), is used to represent {{IPAslink|ŋ}} in:

• the Jawi script,Daftar Kata Bahasa Melayu Rumi-Sebutan-Jawi, Dewan Bahasa Pustaka,

5th printing, 2006. for

• Acehnese
• Banjarese
• Kerinci
• Maguindanaon
• Malay
• Minangkabau
• Tausūg
• Ternate
• the Pegon script, for
• Javanese
• Sundanese
• Arabic Afrikaans, for Afrikaans historically, called ngīn ({{IPA|af|ŋiːn|}})

{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2025}}

In the Wolofal alphabet, for writing Wolof in Arabic script, the letter ngōn is used, and it is thus written as:

{{Arabic alphabet shapes|ݝ}}

This letter also derived from the letter ʿayn, which latter is derived from the letter ghayn. This leter is to represent {{IPAslink|ŋ}} in the Wolof language, a Niger-Congo language.

{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2025}}{{Arabic alphabet shapes|ࢳ}}

This letter also derived from the letter ʿayn, which latter is derived from the letter ghayn, with three dots inside the descender, to represent {{IPAslink|ŋ}} in the Arwi script used for Tamil.

For the related characters, see ng (Arabic letter) and ghayn.

Hebrew spelling: {{Script/Hebrew|עַיִן}}

File:Setham Ayin 2.jpgʿayin has traditionally been described{{By whom|date=March 2025}} as a voiced pharyngeal fricative ({{IPA|[ʕ]}}). However, this may be imprecise. Although a pharyngeal fricative has occasionally been observed for ʿayin in Arabic and so may occur in Hebrew as well, the sound is more commonly epiglottal ({{IPAblink|ʢ}}),Ladefoged, Peter & Ian Maddieson (1996). The sounds of the world's languages. Oxford: Blackwells. {{ISBN|0-631-19814-8}} and may also be a pharyngealized glottal stop ({{IPA|[ʔˤ]}}).{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

In some historical Sephardi and Ashkenazi pronunciations, ʿayin represented a velar nasal ({{IPA|[ŋ]}}).{{cite thesis |last1=Shabath |first1=Heskel |title=Romanization of the Hebrew alphabet |date=1973 |page=179 |id={{ProQuest|873832382}} |hdl=10393/22146 |doi=10.20381/ruor-17884 }} Remnants can be found in the Yiddish pronunciations of some words such as /ˈjaŋkəv/ and /ˈmansə/ from Hebrew {{Script/Hebrew|יַעֲקֹב}} (yaʿăqōḇ, "Jacob") and {{Script/Hebrew|מַעֲשֶׂה}} (maʿăse, "story"), but in other cases{{Which|date=March 2025}}, the nasal has disappeared and been replaced by /j/, such as /ˈmajsə/ and /ˈmajrəv/ from Hebrew {{Script/Hebrew|מַעֲשֶׂה}} and {{Script/Hebrew|מַעֲרָב}} (maʿărāḇ, "west"). In Israeli Hebrew (except for Mizrahi pronunciations), it represents a glottal stop in certain cases{{Which|date=March 2025}} but is usually silent (it behaves the same as aleph). {{Citation needed span|text=However, changes in adjoining vowels often testify to the former presence of a pharyngeal or epiglottal articulation. Additionally, it may be used as a shibboleth to identify the ethnolinguistic background of a Hebrew-speaker, as most Israeli Arab and some of Israel's Mizrahi Jews (mainly Yemenite Jews) use the more traditional pronunciation, while other Hebrew-speakers pronounce it similar to Aleph.|date=March 2025}}

{{Citation needed span|text=Ayin is also one of the three letters that can take a furtive patach (patach ganuv). In Hebrew loanwords in Greek and Latin, ʿayin is sometimes reflected as /g/, since the biblical phonemes /ʕ/ (or "ʿ") and /ʁ/ (represented by "g") were both represented in Hebrew writing by the letter ʿayin (see Ġain). Gomorrah is from the original /ʁamora/ (modern ʿAmora) and Gaza from the original /ʁazza/ (ʿaza) (cf. Arabic غزة Ġazzah, IPA: [ˈɣazza].) In Yiddish, the ʿayin is used to write the vowel e when it is not part of the diphthong ey.|date=March 2025}}

{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2025}}

In gematria, ʿayin represents the number 70.

ʿayin is also one of the seven letters which receive special crowns (called tagin) when written in a sefer Torah.

{{Arabic alphabet shapes|ܥ‎}}

{{further|Semitic romanization}}

In Semitic philology, there is a long-standing tradition of rendering Semitic ayin with the Greek rough breathing mark {{angle bracket|῾}} (e.g. {{lang|ar-Latn|῾arab}} {{lang|ar|عَرَب|rtl=yes}} Arabs).

Depending on typography, this could look similar to either an articulate single opening quotation mark {{angle bracket|ʻ}} (e.g. {{lang|ar-Latn|ʻarab}} {{lang|ar|عَرَب|rtl=yes}}).

or as a raised semi-circle open to the right {{angle bracket|ʿ}} (e.g. {{lang|ar-Latn|ʿarab}} {{lang|ar|عَرَب|rtl=yes}}).{{NoteTag|Sometimes rendered as the Greek diacritic in a serif font (as {{angle bracket| ̔ }}), e.g. Carl Brockelmann's Grundriss Der Vergleichenden Grammatik der semitischen Sprachen, 1908;

Friedrich Delitzsch, Paul Haupt (eds.), Beiträge zur assyriologie und semitischen sprachwissenschaft (1890) ([https://archive.org/details/beitrgezurassyr02univgoog 1968 reprint]);

sometimes rendered as a semi-circle open to the right with constant line thickness (as {{angle bracket|ʿ}}), e.g. Theodor Nöldeke, Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft (1904).}}

This is by analogy to the transliteration of alef (glottal stop, hamza) by the Greek smooth breathing mark {{angle bracket|᾽}}, rendered as single closing quotation mark or as raised semi-circle open to the left. This convention has been adopted by DIN in 1982 and by ISO in 1984 for Arabic (DIN 31635, ISO 233) and Hebrew (DIN 31636, ISO 259).

The shape of the "raised semi-circle" for ayin {{angbr|ʿ}} and alef {{angbr|ʾ}} was adopted by the Encyclopedia of Islam (edited 1913–1938, 1954–2005, and from 2007), and from there by the International Journal of Middle East Studies.{{cite web |title=IJMES Translation and Transliteration guide |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/information/author-resources/ijmes-translation-and-transliteration-guide |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208180440/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/information/author-resources/ijmes-translation-and-transliteration-guide |archive-date=8 February 2022 |website=Cambridge University Press}}

This convention has since also been followed by ISO (ISO 233-2 and ISO 259-2, 1993/4) and by DIN{{year needed|date=November 2017}}.

A notable exception remains, ALA-LC (1991), the system used by the Library of Congress, continues to recommend modifier letter turned comma {{angle bracket|ʻ}} (for Hebrew) or left single quotation mark {{angle bracket|‘}} (for Arabic).{{cite web |title=ALA-LC Romanization Tables |url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106232607/https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.html |archive-date=6 November 2020 |access-date=15 October 2022 |website=Library of Congress}}

The symbols for the corresponding phonemes in the International Phonetic Alphabet, {{angle bracket|ʕ}} for pharyngeal fricative (ayin) and {{angle bracket|ʔ}} for glottal stop (alef) were adopted in the 1928 revision.

In anglicized Arabic or Hebrew names or in loanwords, ayin is often omitted entirely: Iraq {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ʿirāq}} {{lang|ar|عراق|rtl=yes}}, Arab {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ʿarab}} {{lang|ar|عرب|rtl=yes}}, Saudi {{transliteration|ar|DIN|suʿūdī}} {{lang|ar|سعودي|rtl=yes}} , etc.;

Afula {{transliteration|he|DIN|ʿăfūlā}} {{lang|he|עֲפוּלָה|rtl=yes}}, Arad {{transliteration|he|DIN|ʿărād}} {{lang|he| עֲרָד|rtl=yes}}, etc.

{{Citation needed span|text=Maltese, which uses a Latin alphabet, the only Semitic language to do so in its standard form, writes the ayin as ⟨għ⟩. It is usually unvocalized in speech. The Somali Latin alphabet and Cypriot Arabic alphabet represents the ayin with the letter ⟨c⟩. The informal way to represent it in Arabic chat alphabet uses the digit ⟨3⟩ as transliteration.|date=March 2025}}

{{see also|Transliteration of Ancient Egyptian#Unicode}}

In Unicode, the recommended character for the transliteration of ayin is {{unichar|02BF|MODIFIER LETTER LEFT HALF RING|nlink=Modifier letter left half ring}} (a character in the Spacing Modifier Letters range, even though it is here not used as a modifier letter but as a full grapheme).{{NoteTag|Both characters {{unichar|02BE|modifier letter right half ring}} and {{unichar|02BF|modifier letter left half ring}} have been present since Unicode version 1.0.0 (1991).

The relevant [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U02B0.pdf code chart] specifies the purpose of U+02BF as "transliteration of Arabic ain (voiced pharyngeal fricative); transliteration of Hebrew ayin".}}{{clarify|date=October 2022|reason=This sentence could be misconstrued as claiming that the Unicode recommends the use of one transcription scheme or another rather than just supporting those that use a half-circle with the character given.}} This convention has been adopted by ISO 233-2 (1993) for Arabic and ISO 259-2 (1994) for Hebrew.

There are a number of alternative Unicode characters in use, some of which are easily confused or even considered equivalent in practice:"Various small, raised hook- or comma-shaped characters are often substituted for a glottal stop—for instance, {{unichar|02BC|modifier letter apostrophe}}, {{unichar|02BB|modifier letter turned comma}}, {{unichar|02C0|modifier letter glottal stop}}, or {{unichar|02BE|modifier letter right half ring}}. U+02BB, in particular, is used in Hawaiian orthography as the ʻokina."

[https://web.archive.org/web/20171116185015/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ec3a/f5a195ca71cd24761e9f486f3de0c79c60a8.pdf The Unicode Standard Version 7.0: chapter 7.1 "Latin", p. 294].

• {{unichar|1FFE|GREEK DASIA}}, the character used to represent Greek rough breathing,
• {{unichar|02BD|Modifier letter reversed comma}},
• {{unichar|2018|left single quotation mark}},{{NoteTag|1= recommended by the Library of Congress ([https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/arabic.pdf loc.gov]); deprecated by [http://www.eromm.org/project/doku.php?id=transliteration:arabisch:listea The European Register of Microform Masters]}}
• {{unichar|02BB|Modifier letter turned comma}},
• {{unichar|0060|GRAVE ACCENT|nlink=Grave accent}}, from its use as single opening quotation mark in ASCII environments, used for ayin in ArabTeX.

Letters used to represent ayin:

• a superscript "c" ({{unichar|1D9C|Modifier letter small C}}),
• the IPA symbol for pharyngealization ({{unichar|02C1|Modifier letter reversed glottal stop|use=IPA}} or {{unichar|02E4|Modifier letter small reversed glottal stop}}){{NoteTag|1=deprecated by [http://www.eromm.org/project/doku.php?id=transliteration:arabisch:listea The European Register of Microform Masters].}} or ^ʕ, a superscript {{unichar|0295|Latin letter pharyngeal voiced fricative|use=IPA}}, the IPA symbol for voiced pharyngeal fricative,

The phonemes corresponding to alef and ayin in Ancient Egyptian are by convention transliterated by more distinctive signs: Egyptian alef is rendered by two semi-circles open to the left, stacked vertically,

and Egyptian ayin is rendered by a single full-width semi-circle open to the right. These characters were introduced in Unicode in version 5.1 (2008, Latin Extended-D range), {{unichar|A723|Latin small letter Egyptological Alef}} and {{unichar|A725|Latin small letter Egyptological Ain}}.

{{charmap

|05E2|name1=Hebrew Letter Ayin

|FB20|name2=Hebrew Letter
Alternative Ayin

|0725|name3=Syriac Letter E

|080F|name4=Samaritan Letter In

}}

{{charmap

|0639|name1=ARABIC LETTER AIN

|08D6|name2=ARABIC SMALL HIGH AIN

|075D|name3=ARABIC LETTER AIN
WITH TWO DOTS
ABOVE

|075F|name4=ARABIC LETTER AIN
WITH TWO DOTS
VERTICALLY ABOVE

|06A0|name5=ARABIC LETTER AIN
WITH THREE DOTS
ABOVE

|075E|name6=ARABIC LETTER AIN
WITH THREE DOTS
POINTING DOWNWARDS ABOVE

|08B3|name7=ARABIC LETTER AIN
WITH THREE DOTS
BELOW

}}

{{charmap

|1D25|name1=LATIN LETTER AIN

|1D5C|name2=MODIFIER LETTER SMALL AIN

|A724|name3=LATIN CAPITAL LETTER
EGYPTOLOGICAL AIN

|A725|name4=LATIN SMALL LETTER
EGYPTOLOGICAL AIN

}}

{{charmap

|10393|name1=Ugaritic
Letter Ain

|1084F|name2=Imperial Aramaic
Letter Ayin

|1090F|name3=Phoenician
Letter Ain

|2CB4|name4=COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER
OLD COPTIC AIN

|2CB5|name5=COPTIC SMALL LETTER
OLD COPTIC AIN

}}

{{charmap

|10B4F|name1=INSCRIPTIONAL PARTHIAN
LETTER AYIN

|10B65|name2=INSCRIPTIONAL PAHLAVI
LETTER WAW-AYIN-RESH

|10B85|name3=PSALTER PAHLAVI LETTER
WAW-AYIN-RESH

|10FA|name4=GEORGIAN LETTER AIN

|1CBA|name5=GEORGIAN MTAVRULI
CAPITAL LETTER AIN

}}

{{charmap

|10AD9|name1=MANICHAEAN LETTER AYIN

|0858|name2=MANDAIC LETTER AIN

|10897|name3=NABATAEAN LETTER AYIN

|10A92|name4=OLD NORTH ARABIAN LETTER AIN

|10870|name5=PALMYRENE LETTER AYIN

}}

{{charmap

|10F12|name1=OLD SOGDIAN LETTER AYIN

|10F13|name2=OLD SOGDIAN LETTER
ALTERNATE AYIN

|10F18|name3=OLD SOGDIAN LETTER
RESH-AYIN-DALETH

|10F3D|name4=SOGDIAN LETTER AYIN

|10F40|name5=SOGDIAN LETTER RESH-AYIN

}}

{{charmap

|10FEF|name1=ELYMAIC LETTER AYIN

|10FC0|name2=CHORASMIAN LETTER AYIN

}}

• Transliteration of Ancient Egyptian
• Ng (Arabic letter)
• Ghayn
• Gaf
• Għ
• Cyrillic Ghayn, used for several Central Asian languages

{{NoteFoot}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Ayin (letter)}}

{{Clear}}

{{Arabic language}}

{{Hebrew language}}

{{Northwest Semitic abjad}}

Category:Phoenician alphabet

Category:Arabic letters

Category:Hebrew letters

Category:Urdu letters