← Zayin Heth Teth →
Phoenician
Hebrew	ח
Aramaic
Syriac	ܚ
Arabic	ح
Phonemic representation	χ, x, ħ
Position in alphabet	8
Numerical value	8
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician
Greek	Η
Latin	H
Cyrillic	И

Heth, sometimes written Chet or Ḥet, is the eighth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ḥēt 𐤇, Hebrew ḥēt ח, Aramaic ḥēṯ 𐡇, Syriac ḥēṯ ܚ, and Arabic ḥāʾ ح.

Heth originally represented a voiceless fricative, either pharyngeal /ħ/, or velar /x/. In Arabic, two corresponding letters were created for both phonemic sounds: unmodified ḥāʾ ح represents /ħ/, while ḫāʾ خ represents /x/.

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek eta Η, Etruscan , Latin H, and Cyrillic И. While H is a consonant in the Latin alphabet, the Greek and Cyrillic equivalents represent vowel sounds, though the letter was originally a consonant in Greek and this usage later evolved into the rough breathing character.^[1]

Origins

The shape of the letter Ḥet ultimately goes back either to the Egyptian hieroglyph for 'courtyard' (ḥwt):

(compare Hebrew חָצֵר ḥatser of identical meaning, which begins with Ḥet).
or to the one for 'thread, wick' representing a wick of twisted flax: (ḥ)^[2][3]

(compare Hebrew חוּט ḥut of identical meaning, which begins with Ḥet).

Possibly named ḥasir in the Proto-Sinaitic script.

The corresponding South Arabian letters are ḥ and ḫ, corresponding to the Ge'ez letters Ḥawṭ ሐ and Ḫarm ኀ.

This letter is usually transcribed as ḥ, h with a dot underneath. In some romanization systems, a (capital) Ch is also used. The latter method has the advantage of being easy to type on a computer.

Arabic ḥāʾ

The letter is named حَاءْ ḥāʾ and is the sixth letter of the alphabet. Its shape varies depending on its position in the word:

This form is used to denote two letters, the second being خ ḫāʾ.

Pronunciation

In Arabic, ḥāʾ is similar to the English [h], but it is much "raspier",^[4] IPA: [ħ]~[ʜ]. (Pharyngeal H)

In Persian, it is [h], like ⟨ه⟩ and the English h.

Hebrew chet

Orthographic variants
Various print fonts			Cursive Hebrew	Rashi script
Serif	Sans-serif	Monospaced
ח	ח	ח

Hebrew spelling: חֵית‎

Pronunciation

In Modern Israeli Hebrew (and Ashkenazi Hebrew, although not under strict pronunciation), the letter Ḥet (חֵית‎) usually has the sound value of a voiceless uvular fricative (/χ/), as the historical phonemes of the letters Ḥet ח (/ħ/) and Khaf כ (/x/) merged, both becoming the voiceless uvular fricative (/χ/). In more rare Ashkenazi phonologies, it is pronounced as a voiceless pharyngeal fricative (/ħ/).

The (/ħ/) pronunciation is still common among Israeli Arabs and Mizrahi Jews (particularly among the older generation and popular Mizrahi singers, especially Yemenites), in accordance with oriental Jewish traditions (see, e.g., Mizrahi Hebrew and Yemenite Hebrew).

The ability to pronounce the Arabic letter ḥāʾ (ح) correctly as a voiceless pharyngeal fricative /ħ/ is often used as a shibboleth to distinguish Arabic-speakers from non-Arabic-speakers; in particular, pronunciation of the letter as /x/ is seen as a hallmark of Ashkenazi and Greek Jews.^{[citation needed]}

Ḥet is one of the few Hebrew consonants that can take a vowel at the end of a word. This occurs when patach gnuva comes under the Ḥet at the end of the word. The combination is then pronounced /-aħ/ rather than /-ħa/. For example: פָּתוּחַ (/ˌpaˈtuaħ/), and תַּפּוּחַ (/ˌtaˈpuaħ/).

Variations

Ḥet, along with Aleph, Ayin, Resh, and He, cannot receive a dagesh. As pharyngeal fricatives are difficult for most English speakers to pronounce, loanwords are usually Anglicized to have /h/. Thus challah (חלה), pronounced by native Hebrew speakers as /χala/ or /ħala/ is pronounced /halə/ by most English speakers, who cannot often perceive the difference between [h] and [ħ].

Significance

In gematria, Ḥet represents the number eight.

In chat rooms, online forums, and social networking the letter Ḥet repeated (חחחחחחחחחח) denotes laughter, just as in English, in the saying 'Haha'.

Character encodings