00:04, 18 May 2020 (UTC)
The Nastaʿlīq form of Islamic calligraphy uses vertical arrangement to separate words. The beginning of each word is written higher than the end of the preceding word, so that a line of text takes on a sawtooth appearance. Nastaliq spread from Persia and today is used for Persian, Uyghur, Pashto, and Urdu.
The Urdu script is an abjad script derived from Perso-Arabic script, which is itself a derivative of the Arabic script. As an abjad, the Urdu script only shows consonants and long vowels; short vowels can only be inferred by the consonants' relation to each other. While this type of script is convenient in Semitic languages like Arabic and Hebrew, whose consonant roots are the key of the sentence, Urdu is an Indo-European language, which does not have the same luxury, hence necessitating more memorisation. The number of letters in the Urdu alphabet is somewhat ambiguous and debated.[7]
The Urdu script is an abjad script derived from Perso-Arabic script, which is itself a derivative of the Arabic script. The Urdu alphabet was standardized in 2004 by the National Language Authority, which is responsible for standardizing Urdu in Pakistan. According to the National Language Authority[citation needed], Urdu has 58[3] letters of which 39[3] are basic letters while 18[3] are digraphs to represent aspirated consonants made by attaching basic consonant letters with a variant of He called do chashmi he.[3][7][8][4] Tāʼ marbūṭah is also sometimes considered a letter though it is rarely used except for in certain loan words from Arabic.
The Urdu script is an abjad script derived from Perso-Arabic script, which is itself a derivative of the Arabic script.
The number of letters is somewhat ambiguous and debated.[7]
Urdu has 39[3] individual letters,
while 18[3] digraphs to represent aspirated consonants made by attaching basic consonant letters with a variant of He called do chashmi he, for a total of 58.
[8][4] Tāʼ marbūṭah is also sometimes considered a letter though it is rarely used except for in certain loan words from Arabic.
As an abjad, the Urdu script only shows consonants and long vowels; short vowels can only be inferred by the consonants' relation to each other. While this type of script is convenient in Semitic languages like Arabic and Hebrew, whose consonant roots are the key of the sentence, Urdu is an Indo-European language, which does not have the same luxury, hence necessitating more memorization.
As an abjad, the Urdu script only shows consonants and long vowels; short vowels can only be inferred by the consonants' relation to each other. While this type of script is convenient in Semitic languages like Arabic and Hebrew, whose consonant roots are the key of the sentence, Urdu is an Indo-European language, which does not have the same luxury, hence necessitating more memorization. Urdu uses the vowels represented as full letters ا و ی ے more often than Arabic; there are fewer short vowels to omit. Also, Hamza ئ and the mada on Alif Mada آ are not omitted. Words in Urdu that differ only by ommitted short vowels are rarer in Urdu than Arabic, but the meanings are often far more divergent than Arabic words with the same root.
It looks like i added حروف and "Urdu harūf tahajī" in this edit |
Word | examples of other uses | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Urdu | IPA | transliteration | translation | Urdu |
pronunciation | translation |
حروف تہجی | harūf tahajī | alphabet (letter sequence) | حروف تہجی [1] |
harūf tahajī | alphabet |
(see also: Encoding Urdu in Unicode below) See below for written vowels
((IPAslink)) ((IPAblink)) |
an IP changed three letters 12:02, 16 January 2020 [1] |
Reference from Hindustani orthography |
http://www.cle.org.pk/Downloads/ling_resources/phoneticinventory/UrduPhoneticInventory.pdf |
^ 1. This may display in a different style if you do not have a Nastaliq font installed. [endnote]. Footnote: where two styles are shown, the style on the right is a Naskh or modern Arabic style.
^Letters with similar sounds: Some sets of Urdu letters have matching sounds.[16][17]
^ 2. In Urdu, hamza ء is silent in all its forms except for when it is used as hamza-e-izafat. The main use of hamza ء in Urdu is to indicate a vowel cluster. Sometimes transliterated as "2" in informal Arabic but not in Urdu
In Urdu words, Hamza ء is always attached ئ to a form resembling the Arabic ى alef maksura[citation needed]. Some fonts convert an isolated Hamza in this form to Hamza on the line.
^ 3. Ayn ع in its initial عـ and final ـع position is usually silent in pronunciation and is replaced by the sound of its preceding or succeeding vowel. When it appears in the middle of a word there are a few different, similar looking, characters used to represent it in the Latin alphabet: (`) the grave accent, (‘) the left single quotation mark, (') the apostrophe, or the Pacific (ʻ) okina, or it can be pronounced like Arabic hamza (ʼ) and be transliterated as equivalent marks in the reverse direction such as (’) the right single quotation mark. [citation needed] Sometimes transliterated as "3" in informal Arabic but not in Urdu.
^see also: see also: #Confusable glyphs in Urdu and Arabic script below.
^5. Gol He and do-cashmi-he diverged from the Arabic letter Hā, sometimes choti hey is used too refer to gol hey, while sometimes choti he refers to the Arabic version. The distinction is somewhat artificial, since gol he is an equivalent letter to the Arabic letter, but they have separate unicode characters. Some fonts make the Arabic hé look the same as gol hey or do-cashmi hé. (see also)
^V/W: The consonant pronunciation of و depends on the speaker's regional accent.[18]
Urdu alphabet اردو حروفتہجی Urdu hurūf-e-tahajjī اردو تہجی Urdu tahajjī | |
---|---|
Script type | Abjad
|
Languages | Urdu, Balti[citation needed], infrequent use in Burushaski [2], others |
Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Unicode | |
U+0600 to U+06FF U+0750 to U+077F | |
The Urdu alphabet (Urdu: اردو حروفتہجی simplified script: اردو حروف تہجی, pronunciation: Urdu harūf tahajī, or اردوتہجی Urdu tahajī) is the right-to-left alphabet used for the Urdu language. It is a modification of the Persian alphabet, which is itself a derivative of the Arabic alphabet. The Urdu alphabet has 39[3] or 40 letters[4] plus digraphs. The Urdu alphabet has no distinct letter cases, is typically written in the calligraphic Nastaliq script, whereas Arabic is more commonly in the Naskh style.
Usually, bare transliterations of Urdu into Roman letters (called Roman Urdu) omit many phonemic elements that have no equivalent in English or other languages commonly written in the Latin script. The National Language Authority of Pakistan has developed a number of systems with specific notations to signify non-English sounds, but these can only be properly read by someone already familiar with the loan letters.[citation needed]
The standard Urdu script is a modified version of the Perso-Arabic script and has its origins in 13th century Iran. It is closely related to the development of the Nastaʻliq style of Perso-Arabic script. Urdu script in its extended form is known as Shahmukhi script and is used for writing other Indo-Aryan languages of North Indian subcontinent like Punjabi and Saraiki as well.
Urdu and Hindi are mutually intelligible as spoken languages, or when written in the Latin alphabet. The most obvious distinction between Hindi and Urdu is the script. Both scripts have religious connotations.
,
In addition to Pakistan, the Urdu language is official in five states of India: Bihar, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh[citation needed].
Other than the Indian subcontinent, the Urdu script is also used by Pakistan's large diaspora, including in the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and other places.[4]
Many Urdu speakers living outside of Pakistan use the Latin alphabet to write Urdu do to limited availability of software for writing Urdu [citation needed].
Main article: Nastaliq |
See also: User:Irtapil/Nastaliq |
Urdu is written in the Nastaliq style (Persian: نستعلیق Nastaʿlīq). The Nastaliq calligraphic writing style began as a Persian mixture of the Naskh and Ta'liq scripts. After the Mughal conquest, Nastaʻliq became the preferred writing style for Urdu. It is the dominant style in Pakistan, and many Urdu writers elsewhere in the world use it. Nastaʿlīq is more cursive and flowing than its Naskh counterpart.
In the Arabic alphabet, and many others derived from it, letters are regarded as having two or three general forms each, based on their position in the word (though obviously Arabic calligraphy can add a great deal of complexity). But the Nastaliq style in which Urdu is written uses more than three general forms for many letters, even for simple non-decorative documents.[5][6]
Letter [i] | Name [9] | IPA | Romanization | Closest Sound in European Languages | Unicode | No. [citation needed] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Urdu | Roman Urdu | ALA-LC [10] |
Hunterian [11] | |||||
ا | الف | alif | /ɑː/, /ʔ/, /∅/ | ā, – | ā, – | a as in Aunt. | U+0627 | 1 |
ب | بے | bē | /b/ | b | b | b as in Ball. | U+0628 | 2 |
پ | پے | pē | /p/ | p | p | p as in Pigeon. | U+067E | 3 |
ت | تے | tē | /t/ | t | t | No full English equivalent. Similar to a soft t in time. | U+062A | 4 |
ٹ | ٹے | ṭē | /ʈ/ | ṭ | t | T as in Train. | U+0679 | 5 |
ث | ثے | s̱ē | /s/ | s̱ | s | c as in cinema. | U+062B | 6 |
ج | جيم | jīm | /d͡ʒ/ | j | j | j in Jug. | U+062C | 7 |
چ | چے | cē | /t͡ʃ/ | c | ch | ch in Chimney. | U+0686 | 8 |
ح | بڑی حے | baṛī ḥē | /ɦ/ | ḥ | h | h as in Happy. | U+062D | 9 |
___ | hutti hay | |||||||
خ | خے | k͟hē | /x/ | k͟h | kh | No full equivalent in English. Similar to guttural kh in Khundak. | U+062E | 10 |
د | دال | dāl | /d/ | d | d | No full equivalent in English. Similar to soft d in dream. | U+062F | 11 |
ڈ | ڈال | ḍāl | /ɖ/ | ḍ | d | D as in Dream. | U+0688 | 12 |
ذ | ذال | ẕāl | /z/ | ẕ | z | Z as in zebra. | U+0630 | 13 |
ر | رے | rē | /r/ | r | r | r as in Razor. | U+0631 | 14 |
ڑ | ڑے | ṛē | /ɽ/ [ii] | ṛ | r | No full equivalent in English. Similar to hard dh in Raigadh. | U+0691 | 15 |
ز | زے | zē | /z/ | z | z | z as in Zebra. | U+0632 | 16 |
ژ | ژے | zhē | /ʒ/ [iii] | zh | zh | si as in version. | U+0698 | 17 |
س | سین | sīn | /s/ | s | s | s as in sea. | U+0633 | 18 |
ش | شین | shīn | /ʃ/ | sh | sh | sh as in shine. | U+0634 | 19 |
ص | صاد | ṣwād | /s/ | ṣ | s | s as in swear. | U+0635 | 20 |
ض | ضاد | ẓwād | /z/ | ẓ | z | z as in gazette. | U+0636 | 21 |
ط | طوے | t̤oʼē | /t/ | t̤ | t | No full equivalent in English. Similar to ta as in Talia. | U+0637 | 22 |
ظ | ظوے | z̤oʼē | /z/ | z̤ | z | No full equivalent in English. Similar to hard z in zoo. | U+0638 | 23 |
ع | عین | ʻain | /ɑː/, /oː/, /eː/, /ʔ/, /ʕ/, /∅/ |
ʻ | ʻ [citation needed] |
No full equivalent in English. Similar to harsh guttural a in apple. | U+0639 | 24 |
غ | غین | g͟hain | /ɣ/ | g͟h | gh | No full equivalent in English. Similar to guttural gh in Ghalib. | U+063A | 25 |
ف | فے | fē | /f/ | f | f | f as in flower. | U+0641 | 26 |
ق | قاف | qāf | /q/ | q | q | [example needed] | U+0642 | 27 |
ک | کاف | kāf | /k/ | k | k | k as in Kite. | U+06A9 | 28 |
گ | گاف | gāf | /ɡ/ | g | g | g as in grass. | U+06AF | 29 |
ل | لام | lām | /l/ | l | l | l as in lemon. | U+0644 | 30 |
م | میم | mīm | /m/ | m | m | m as in Mike. | U+0645 | 31 |
ن | نون | nūn | /n/, /ɲ/, /ɳ/, /ŋ/ |
n | n | n as in noon. | U+0646 | 32 |
ں | نون غنّہ | nūn g͟hunnā | / ◌̃ / [ii] | ṉ | n | n as in noon. | U+06BA U+0658 [iv] | 33 |
و | واؤ | wāʼo | ʋ, uː, ʊ, oː, ɔː |
v, ū, u, o, au |
w, ū, u, o, au |
w as in walet. | U+0648 | 34 |
ہ | گول ہے | gōl hē | /ɦ/, /ɑː/, /e:/ | h, ā, e | h, ā, e | h as in hot. | U+06C1 [v] | 35 |
چھوٹی ہے | choṭī hē | |||||||
ھ | دو چشمی ہے | do-cashmī hē | /ʰ/ or /ʱ/ [ii] | h | h | [example needed] | U+06BE | 36 |
ی | چھوٹی يے | choṭī yē | /j/, /iː/, /ɑː/ | y, ī, á | y, ī, á | y as in yellow or ee as in feel. | U+06CC | 38 |
ے | بڑی يے | baṛī yē | /ɛː/, /eː/ [ii] | ai, e | ai, e | a as in cat or ay as in day. | U+06D2 | 39 |
ء | ہمزہ | hamzā | /ʔ/ or /∅/ [vi] | ʼ, –, yi | ʼ, –, yi | [example needed] | U+0621 | 37 [citation needed] |
ئ | U+0626 |
Isolated Letter Form [N] |
Sound | Name [13][12] [glossary of key words below] |
Unicode [14][15] |
number in alphabet | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ALA‑LC [10] | Hunterian [11] | IPA | closest sound in English | Nastaliq [footnote 1] |
diacritics [12] |
Romanizations [12][3] | [12] | ||||
ا | /ɑː/ /ā/ /ʔ/ /–/ [citation needed] |
[example needed] | الف | الِف | alif[12] / alef[15] | U+0627 | 1 | 1 | |||
ب | b | /b/ | B in "bat" [PB] | بے | بے | bē[12] / beh[15] | U+0628 U+0628 | 2 | 2 | ||
پ | p | /p/ | [example needed] | پے | پے | pē[12] / peh[14] | U+067E | 3 | 3 | ||
ت | t | /t̪/ | [example needed] | تے | تے | tē[12] / teh[15] | U+062A | 4 | 4 | ||
ٹ | ṭ | t | /ʈ/ | [example needed] | ٹے | ٹے | ṭē[12] / tteh[14] | U+0679 | 5 | 5 | |
ث | s̱ | s | /s/ | [example needed] | ثے | ثے | sē[12] / s̱ē | U+062B | 6 | 6 | |
ج | j | /d͡ʒ/ | [example needed] | جيم | جِيم | jīm[12] / jeem[15] | U+062C U+062C | 7 | 7 | ||
چ | c | ch | /t͡ʃ/ | [example needed] | چے | چے | čē[12] / cē[12] / tcheh[14] | U+0686 | 8 | 8 | |
ح | ḥ | h | /ɦ/ | [example needed] | بڑی حے | بَڑی حے | baṛī ħē[12] / baṛī ḥē | U+062D | 9 | 9 | |
خ | k͟h | kh | /x/ | [example needed] | خے | خے | xē[12] / khē[12] / khah[15] / k͟hē | U+062E | 10 | 10 | |
د | d | /d/ | [example needed] | دال | دال | dāl[12] / dal[15] | U+062F | 11 | 11 | ||
ڈ | ḍ | d | /ɖ/ | [example needed] | ڈال | ڈال | ḍāl[12] / ddal[14] | U+0688 | 12 | 12 | |
ذ | ẕ | z | /z/ | [example needed] | ذال | ذال | zāl[12] / ẕāl | U+0630 | 13 | 13 | |
ر | r | /r/ | [example needed] | رے | رے | rē[12] / reh[15] | U+0631 | 14 | 14 | ||
ڑ | ṛ | r | /ɽ/ | [example needed] | ڑے | ڑے | ṛē[12] / rreh[14] | U+0691 | 15 | 15 | |
ز | z | /z/ | [example needed] | زے | زے | zē[12] / zey | U+0632 | 16 | 16 | ||
ژ | zh | zh | /ʒ/ | [example needed] | ژے | ژے | žē[12] / zhē[12] | U+0698 | 17 | 17 | |
س | s | /s/ | [example needed] | سین | سِين | sīn[12] / seen[15] | U+0633 | 18 | 18 | ||
ش | sh | sh | /ʃ/ | [example needed] | شین | شِين | šīn[12] / shīn[12] / sheen[15] | U+0634 | 19 | 19 | |
ص | ṣ | s | /s/ | [example needed] | صاد | صْواد | swād[12] / sad[15] / ṣwād | U+0635 | 20 | 20 | |
ض | ẓ | z | /z/ | [example needed] | ضاد | ضْواد | żwād[12] / ẓwād | U+0636 | 21 | 21 | |
ط | t̤ | t | /t/ | [example needed] | طوے | طوئے | tō’ē[12] / tah[15] / tōē / t̤o'ē / toy | U+0637 | 22 | 22 | |
ظ | z̤ [footnote] |
z | /z/ | [example needed] | ظوے | ظوئے | zō’ē[12] / zōē / z̤o'ē | U+0638 | 23 | 23 | |
ع | ʻ / ‘ / ` / ' / ’ / ʼ [footnote 3] |
/ɑː/ /oː/ /eː/ /ʔ/ /ʕ/ /∅/ |
[example needed] | عین | عَيْن | ‘ain[12] / ain[15] ayn | U+0639 | 24 | 24 | ||
غ | g͟h | gh | /ɣ/ | [example needed] | غین | غَيْن | ğain[12] / ghain[15] / g͟hain | U+063A | 25 | 25 | |
ف | f | /f/ | [example needed] | فے | فے | fē[12] / feh[15] | U+0641 | 26 | 26 | ||
ق | q | /q/ | [example needed] | قاف | قاف | qāf[12] / qaf[15] | U+0642 | 27 | 27 | ||
ک | k | /k/ | [example needed] | کاف | کاف | kāf[12] / kāf | U+06A9 | 28 | 28 | ||
گ | g | /ɡ/ | [example needed] | گاف | گاف | gāf[12] / gaf[14] | U+06AF | 29 | 29 | ||
ل | l | /l/ | [example needed] | لام | لام | lām[12] / lam[15] | U+0644 | 30 | 30 | ||
م | m | /m/ | [example needed] | میم | مِيم | mīm[12] / meem[15] | U+0645 | 31 | 31 | ||
ن | n | /n/ /ɲ/ /ɳ/ /ŋ/ |
[example needed] | نون | نُون | nūn[12] / noon[15] | U+0646 | 32 | 32 | ||
ں | ṉ | n | / ◌̃ / | [example needed] | نون غنہ | نُونِ غُنّہ | nūn-e ğunnah[12] noon ghunna[14] nūn g͟hunnah |
U+06BA | 33 | ||
◌٘ ٘ ــ٘ـ | U+0658 | ||||||||||
و | v or ū/u/o/au [V/W] |
w or ū/u/o/au [V/W] |
/ʋ/ /ʊ/ /uː/ /oː/ /ɔː/ [V/W] | [example needed] | واؤ | واؤ | vāō[12] / wāō[12] / waw[15] / wā'o | U+0648 | 34 | 33 | |
ہ | h / ā / e | /ɦ/ /ɑː/ /e:/ | [example needed] | گول ہے | گول ہے | gōl hē[12] / heh goal[14] / gol hē | U+06C1 | 35 | 34 | ||
ه | چهوٹی هے | چهوٹی هے | čhōṭī hē [12] | U+0647 [12] | Arabic [footnote] | ||||||
ھ | h | /ʰ/ or /ʱ/ | [example needed] | دو چشمی ہے | دوچَشْمی ہے | dō-čašmī hē[12] / heh doachashmee[14] / do-cashmī hē |
U+06BE | 36 | |||
ی | y / ī / á | /j/ /iː/ /ɑː/ | [example needed] | چھوٹی يے | چھوٹی يے | čhōṭī yē[12] / choṭī yē | U+06CC | 38 | 35 | ||
ے | ai / e | /ɛː/ /eː/ | [example needed] | بڑی يے | بَڑی يے | baṛī yē[12] / yeh barree[14] | U+06D2 | 39 | |||
ء | ء | ʼ / – / yi |
/ʔ/ /∅/ | [footnote 2] | ہمزہ | ہَمْزه | hamzah[12] / hamza[15] | U+0621 | 37 | 0 or 35 | |
ئ | ئ | U+0626 |
Tāʼ marbūṭah is also sometimes considered the 40th letter of the Urdu alphabet, though it is rarely used except for in certain loan words from Arabic. Tāʼ marbūṭah is regarded as a form of tā, the Arabic version of Urdu tē, But it is not pronounced as such, and when replaced with an Urdu letter in naturalised loan words it is usually replaced with Gol hē.
Group | Letter [A][B] | Name (see: Glossary of key words) | Unicode [14][15] | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nastaliq [C] | with diacritics |
Romanization or name in English [12][3] | ||||
Alif | آ | آ | الف مدہ | الِف مَدّه [12] | alif maddah [12] [D] | U+0622 alef with madda above [15] |
Hamza [B] | ء | ء | ہمزہ | ہَمْزه [12] | hamzah | U+0621 hamza [15] |
___ | ___ | hamza on the line | ||||
ٔ | ٔ | ___ | ___ | hamza diacritic [D][B] | U+0654 Hamza Above | |
ئ | ئ | ہمزہ | ہَمْزه [12] | hamzah | U+0626 yeh with hamza above [15] | |
___ | ___ | yē hamza / alif hamza | ||||
ۓ | ۓ | ___ | ___ | baṛī yē hamza | U+06D3 yeh barree with hamza above [14] | |
ؤ | ؤ | واوِ مَہْمُوز | واوِ مَہْمُوز [12] | vāv-e mahmūz [12] | U+0624 waw with hamza above [15] | |
ۂ ۂ | ۂ ـۂ | ___ | ___ | U+06C2 heh goal with hamza above [14] or U+06C1 + U+0654 | ||
Arabic [E] | ۃ ۃ | ۃ ـۃ | Arabic: تاء مربوطة |
Arabic: تَاء مَرْبُوطَة |
tāʼ marbūṭah "bound ta" |
U+06C3 teh marbuta goal [14] |
ة ة | ة ـة | U+0629 teh marbuta [15] | ||||
ت | ت | Arabic: تاء مفتوحة |
Arabic: تَاء مَفْتُوحَة |
tāʼ maftūḥah "open ta" |
U+062A Teh |
Hamza can be difficult to recognise in Urdu handwriting and fonts designed to replicate it, closely resembling two dots above as featured in ت Té and ق Qaf, whereas in Arabic and Geometric fonts it is more distinct and closely resembles the western form of the numeral 2 two.
References to add: |
---|
from Hindustani orthography http://www.cle.org.pk/Downloads/ling_resources/phoneticinventory/UrduPhoneticInventory.pdf |
Urdu does not have standalone vowel letters as a characteristic of abjads called mater lectionis. Short vowels (a, i, u), which do not occur word-finally, are represented by optional diacritics (zabar, zer, pesh) upon the preceding consonant or a placeholder consonant (alif, ain, or hamza) if the syllable begins with the vowel, and long vowels by consonants alif, ain, ye, and wa'o, with disambiguating diacritics, some of which are optional (zabar, zer, pesh), whereas some are not (madd, hamza). This is a table of Urdu vowels:
Romanization | IPA | Final | Middle | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
a | /ə/ | N/A | ـَ | اَ |
ā | /aː/ | ـَا ؛ ـَی ؛ ـَہ | ـَا | آ |
i | /ɪ/ | N/A | ــِـ | اِ |
ī | /iː/ | ـِى | ـِيـ | اِی |
e | /eː/ | ـے | ـيـ | اے |
ai | /ɛː/ | ـَے | ـَيـ | اَے |
u | /ʊ/ | N/A | ـُ | اُ |
ū | /uː/ | ـُو | اُو | |
o | /oː/ | ـو | او | |
au | /ɔː/ | ـَو | اَو |
Group | Letter | Name | Unicode | why it's junk | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
hamza | ۂ ۂ | ۂ ـۂ | ہ + ـــٔــ U+06C1 + U+0654 |
given i had to resort to the Persian keyboard to find diacritic hamza, i think it's non-standard to build it this way, maybe mention the unicode characters, but no need to show it on the left. | |||
hamzah | ٔ | ٔ | ___ | ___ | hamza diacritic [A] | U+0654 Hamza Above | |
hamzah | ٴ | ٴ | U+0674 "High Hamza" | high hamzah fits better in similar unicode characters table |
Position | Urdu | Transcription / Transliteration | IPA | spelling for Hindi equivalent | Translation | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasta'lyq | Arial font [A] | |||||
Orthography | ں | ں | ṉ | / ◌̃ / (diacritic on a vowel) e.g. /ɛ̃ː/ /æ̃:/ | ँ ं | |
End form |
مَیں | مَیں | maiṉ ma͠i | /mæ̃:/ [19] /mɛ̃ː/ | मैं | I (first person singular pronoun) or egotism [19] |
میں | میں | mẽ | /mẽ:/ | में | in / within / among / between / at [19] | |
ہَیں | ہَیں | ha͠i | /ɦɛ̃ː/ /hæ̃:/ | "are" (auxiliary verb) [19] | ||
Middle form [M] |
کن٘ول | کن٘ول | kaṉwal [citation needed] | /kə̃vəl/ [19] | Lotus flower [20] | |
گھن٘ٹہ | گھن٘ٹہ | ghaṇṭā | ɡʱəɳʈɑː | घंटा | ghanta ritual bell[19], hour[19], clock[19], slang for penis[19], or vague non-specific expletive[21] | |
ٹان٘گ | ٹان٘گ | ṭāṅg | /ʈɑːŋɡ/ | टांग | the leg [19] | |
پن٘جابی | پن٘جابی | Punjabi |
Urdu: [pəndʒɑ:bi] [19]
|
Punjabi: ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Hindi: पंजाबी |
Punjabi / Panjabi | |
Footnotes: | ||||||
^[A] Arial is a popular font for writing Arabic, it is included for readers who are not familiar with the letters in the Nasta'liq style. | ||||||
^[M] For the medial form, the maghnoona or ulta jazm is often ignored unless disambiguation is necessary. |
Letter name and unicode |
Isolated Form | Final Form | Middle Form | Initial Form | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N | A | T | N | A | T | N | A | T | N | A | T | |
گول ہے Gol he U+06C1[23] |
ہ | ہ | ہ | ہ | ـہ | ـہ | ہ | ـہـ | ـہـ | ہ | ہـ | ہـ |
دو چشمی ہے Do-cashmī he U+06BE[24] |
ھ | ھ | ہ | ھ | ـھ | ـہ | ھ | ـھـ | ـہـ | ھ | ھـ | ہـ |
Arabic Letter Heh U+0647[25] |
ه | ه | ه | ه | ـه | ـه | ه | ـهـ | ـهـ | ه | هـ | هـ |
Footnotes: ^
"Aspirated sonorants may be represented as conjuncts/ligatures with ह ha ... |
म्ह mha, न्ह nha, ण्ह ṇha, व्ह vha, ल्ह lha, ळ्ह ḷha, र्ह rha." |
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagari |
References to add: |
---|
from Hindustani orthography http://www.cle.org.pk/Downloads/ling_resources/phoneticinventory/UrduPhoneticInventory.pdf |
contribution by User:Ash_wki |
19:53, 25 February 2020 (thanked) Ash wki Aspirated consonants: "Digraphs don't have to include everything single letter in the alphabet. Aspirated consonants are strictly Indic." [2] |
19:54, 25 February 2020: added "(not used)" to لھ [lʱ] [3] |
an annon contributer said a lot of the digraphs are not used |
18:26, 3 February 2020 220.247.131.218 [4] |
The Urdu language has a total of 10 vowels: 3 short, 5 long and 2 diphthongal. Like in its parent Arabic alphabet, Urdu vowels are represented using a combination of digraphs and diacritics. Alif, Wāʾo, Ye, He and their variants are used to represent vowels.
Alif, the first letter of the Urdu alphabet, is a glottal stop consonant but is exclusively used as a vowel except in the syllable-initial position where it alone rather functions as a placeholder for syllable-initial short vowels, for example, اب ab, اسم ism, اڑ uṛ. As a vowel, it represents the long "a" (/ɑː/), for example, بھاگنا bhāgnā but when it follows another alif it takes the form of a tilde-like diacritic called madd on top of that alif, for example, آپ āp.
Wāʾo is used, as a consonant/semivowel, for "w" (/w/) and its allophonic development, the labiodental approximant (/ʋ/), and, as a vowel, for long "u" (/uː/), long "o" (/oː/) and the monophthongized diphthong "au" (/ɔː/). However, when preceded by a k͟he (خ), wāʾo sometimes renders the short "u" (/ʊ/), for example, in خود k͟hud.
Ye has a variant called baṛī ye ("greater ye") for which the regular Perso-Arabic ye (ی) is called choṭī ye ("lesser ye"), which is used, as a consonant/semivowel, for "y" (/j/) and, as a vowel, for long "i" (/iː/), long "e" (/eː/) and the monophthongized diphthong "ai" (/ɛː/).
Baṛī ye (ے) is however used to render the word-final long "e" and "ai" especially to distinguish prepositions and other single syllable words. Baṛī ye is never used as a consonant.
Letter's name | Nastaliq | Naskh | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Final Form |
Middle Form |
Initial Form |
Isolated Form |
Final Form |
Middle Form |
Initial Form |
Isolated Form | |
بڑی يے Baṛī yē |
ے | [none] | ے | ے | [none] | ے | ||
چھوٹی يے Chotī yē |
ی | ی | ی | ی | ی | ی | ی | ی |
يَاء Arabic Yāʾ |
ي | ي | ي | ي | ي | ي | ي | ي |
Vowel nasalization is indicated by placing a nūn (ن) after the vowel and removing the supralinear dot ( ں , always in word-final position) or placing a V-shaped or U-shaped diacritic called maghnoona or ulta jazm on top (ن٘). This is known as nūn g͟hunnā or nūn-e-g͟hunnā ("nūn of nasalization"). For example, the nasalized form of the word ہَے (hai, /ɦɛː/) is written ہَیں (ha͠i, /ɦɛ̃ː/). Word-medially it is also present for the homorganic nasalization in digraphs with velar and retroflex consonants, such as in ٹان٘گ (ṭāṅg, /ʈɑːŋɡ/) or گھن٘ٹہ (ghaṇṭā, /ɡʱəɳʈɑː/), where the maghnoona or ulta jazm is often ignored unless disambiguation is necessary (as with Arabic-script diacritics in general).
Urdu uses the same subset of diacritics used in Arabic based on Persian conventions. Urdu also uses Persian names of the diacritics instead of Arabic names. Commonly used diacritics are zabar (Arabic fatḥah), zer (Arabic kasrah), pesh (Arabic dammah) which are used to clarify the pronunciation of vowels, as shown above. Jazam (ـْـ , Arabic sukun) is used to indicate a consonant cluster and tashdid (ـّـ, Arabic shaddah) is used to indicate a gemination, although it is never used for verbs, which require double consonants to be spelled out separately. Other diacritics include khari zabar (Arabic dagger alif), do zabar (Arabic fathatan) which are found in some common Arabic loan words. Other Arabic diacritics are also sometimes used though very rarely in loan words from Arabic. Zer-e-izafat and hamzah-e-izafat are described in the next section.
Other than common diacritics, Urdu also has special diacritics, which are often found only in dictionaries for the clarification of irregular pronunciation. These diacritics include kasrah-e-majhool, fathah-e-majhool, dammah-e-majhool, maghnoona, ulta jazam, alif-e-wavi and some other very rare diacritics. Among these, only maghnoona is used commonly in dictionaries and has a Unicode representation at U+0658. Other diacritics are only rarely written in printed form, mainly in some advanced dictionaries.[22]
Hindi has a very similar phonology to Urdu and they share a lot of vocabulary. Hindi is traditionally written in the Devanagari script. This script is also used to Urdu, particularly when seeking a wider audience for Urdu writing.[28][29]
Devanagari has a very different way of Representing the aspirated consonants.
corresponding single-letters | Urdu digraphs [4][10][12][30][31][32][16] | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Urdu Letter |
Devanagari | IPA[ə] | Urdu Digraphs |
Urdu Name(s) [12][31] |
Romanised name(s) |
Devanagari [30][12][16] |
ALA‑LC [10] |
IPA[ə] | Type [33] | Usage Examples | ||||||
ھ | ह | [H] | ʱ / ʰ | (below) | دوچَشْمی ہے | [12] | dō‑čašmī hē | (none) | [H] | h | ʱ / ʰ | [example needed] | ||||
ب | ब | [[ | ]] | بھ | [12] [32] | بھے | [12] | bhē[12] | भ | bh | bʱ | [32] | [example needed] | ||||
پ | प | [[ | ]] | پھ | پھے | [12] | phē[12] | फ | ph | pʰ | [32] | [example needed] | |||||
ت | त | [[ | ]] | تھ | [12] | تھے | [12] | thē[12] | थ | th | t̪ʰ | [32] | [example needed] | ||||
ٹ | ट | [[ | ]] | ٹھ | ٹھے | [12] | ṭhē[12] | ठ | ṭh | ʈʰ | [example needed] | ||||||
ج | ज | [[ | ]] | جھ | [12] [32] |
جھے | [12] | jhē [12] | झ | jh | d͡ʒʱ | [example needed] | |||||
چ | च | [[ | ]] | چھ | [12] | چھے | [12] | čhē[12] / chhē | छ | ch | t͡ʃʰ | [32] | [example needed] | ||||
د | द | [[ | ]] | دھ | [32] | دھے | [12] [32] |
dhē[12] | ध | dh | d̪ʱ | [32] | [example needed] | ||||
ڈ | ड | [[ | ]] | ڈھ | [12] [32] |
ڈھے | [12] | ḍhē[12] | ढ | ḍh | ɖʱ | [32] | [example needed] | ||||
ک | क | [[ | ]] | کھ | کھے | khē | ख | [16] | kh | kʰ | [example needed] | ||||||
گ | ग | [[ | ]] | گھ | [12] | گھے | [12] | ghē [12] | घ | gh | ɡʱ | [32] | [example needed] | ||||
ڑ | ड़ | [[ | ]] | ڑھ | [12] [32] |
ڑھے | [12] | ṛhē [12] | ढ़ | ṛh | ɽʱ | [32] | [example needed] | ||||
ر | र | [[ | ]] | رھ | [32] | [[ ]] | ṛh [32] | rʱ | [32] | [example needed] | |||||||
ن | न | [[ | ]] | نھ | [32] | न्ह | nh | nʱ | [32] | [example needed] | |||||||
م | म | [[ | ]] | مھ | [32] | म्ह | mh | mʱ | [32] | [example needed] | |||||||
ل | ल ळ | [[ | ]] | لھ | [32] | ऴ ल्ह | lʱ | [32] | [example needed] | ||||||||
س | [[ ]] | [[ | ]] | سھ | [[ ]] | [[ | ]] | [example needed] | ||||||||||
ٮ | [[ ]] | [[ | ]] | ٮھ | [[ ]] | [[ | ]] | [example needed] | ||||||||||
ی | य | [[ | ]] | یھ | [32] | य्ह | yh [32] | jʱ | [32] | [example needed] | |||||||
و | व | [[ | ]] | وھ | व्ह | wh [32] | ʋʱ | [32] | [example needed] | ||||||||
ل ا | ल आ | [[ | ]] | لا | لام الِف | [12] | lām alif | ला | [12] | la | [example needed] |
single-letter | digraphs | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Urdu Letter |
Devanagari | IPA[ə] | Urdu Digraphs | Urdu Name(s) | Romanised name(s) |
Devanagari | ALA‑LC | IPA[ə] |
ه | ह | hʱ |
^ə . The Devanagari equivalents all add a schwa ə vowel to the IPA.
^h . In most cases aspirated digraphs have a single devanagari character in Hindi, but on rare occasions ह is used.
^Lam Alif: This ligature is much mote prominent in Arabic styles than it is in Urdu's usual Nastaliq.
بھ | پھ | تھ | ٹھ | جھ | چھ | دھ | ڈھ | ڑھ | کھ | گھ | لھ | مھ۔ | نھ | ھ |
بھ | پھ | تھ | ٹھ | جھ | چھ | دھ | ڈھ | ڑھ | کھ | گھ | لھ | مھ۔ | نھ | ھ |
بھ | پھ | تھ | ٹھ | جھ | چھ | دھ | ڈھ | ڑھ | کھ | گھ | لھ | مھ۔ | نھ | ھ |
ا | ب | بھ | پ | پھ | ت | تھ | ٹ | ٹھ | ث | ج | جھ | چ | چھ | ح | خ | د | دھ | ڈ | ڈھ | ذ | ر | ڑ | ڑھ | ز | ژ | س | ش | ص | ض | ط | ظ | ع | غ | ف | ق | ک | کھ | گ | گھ | ل | لھ | م | مھ۔ | ن۔ | نھ | و | ہ | ھ | ء | ی | ے |
https://www.omniglot.com/writing/urdu.htm [4]
bʰ بھ [bʱ] [4] pʰ پھ [pʰ] [4] tʰ تھ [tʰ] [4] ṭʰ ٹھ [ʈʰ] [4] jʰ جھ [dʒʱ] [4] cʰ چھ [tʃʰ] [4] dʰ دھ [dʱ] [4] ḍʰ ڈھ [ɖʱ] [4] rʰ رھ [rʱ] [4] ṛʰe ڑھ [ɽʱ] [4] kʰ کھ [kʰ] [4] gʰ گھ [gʱ] [4] lʰ لھ [lʱ] [4] mʰ مھ [mʱ] [4] nʰ نھ [nʱ] [4]
[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC
d̪ʱ dʰ dh
[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC
ʈʰ ʈʰ ṭh
[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC
ɖʱ ɖʰ ḍh
[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC
kʰ kʰ kh
[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC
ɡʱ gʰ gh
[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC
t͡ʃʰ čʰ ch
[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC
hʱ ـه ʰ hh
[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC
mʱ mʰ mh
[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC
nʱ nʰ nh
ɽʱ ɽʰ ṛh
[16] ख KHA Kaaf-Hay
[16] घ GHA Gaaf-Hay
[16] छ CHA Chay-Hay
[16] झ JHA Jeem-Hay
[16] ठ TTHA Ttay-Hay
[16] ढ DDHA Ddaal-Hay
[16] थ THA Tay-Hay
[16] ध DHA Daal-Hay
[16] फ PHA Pay-Hay
[16] भ BHA Bay-Hay
corresponding single-letters |
digraphs | Example | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Urdu Letter |
IPA | Urdu Digraphs [10][4][31] |
IPA | Urdu | with diacritics |
IPA | Latin Alphabet | translation | ||
ب | بھ | bʱ | بھارت | /bʰɑ:rət̪/ [19] |
India [20] | |||||
بھالو | // | bhalo [31] |
[[]] | |||||||
بھاری | bʰɑ:ri | heavy / fat / bulky / loud / difficult / important / wealthy [19] | ||||||||
پ | پھ | pʰ | پھول | [31] | / / | phul [31] |
[[ ]] | |||
پھول | / / | [[ ]] | ||||||||
ت | تھ | tʰ [footnote] | تھم | / / | [[ ]] | |||||
تھال | [31] | / / | thal [31] |
[[ ]] | ||||||
[34] | / / | Lithium | Lithium (need a better example, spelling of lithium too variable in the vowels) | |||||||
ٹ | ٹھ | ʈʰ | ٹھوس | /ʈʰo:s/ [19] |
solid / compact / firm / true / dull [20] | |||||
ٹھیلا | [31] | / / | thela [31] |
[[ ]] | ||||||
ٹھیس | / / | [[ ]] | ||||||||
ج | جھ | d͡ʒʱ | جھاڑی | / / | [[ ]] | |||||
/ / | [[ ]] | |||||||||
چ | چھ | t͡ʃʰ | چھری | [31] | / / | chhuri [31] |
[[ ]] | |||
چھوکرا | / / | [[ ]] | ||||||||
د | دھ | dʱ | دھم | [31] | / / | dham [31] |
[[ ]] | |||
گندھک | /gənd̪ʰək/ [19] |
sulphur / brimstone [20] | ||||||||
دھوبی | / / | [[ ]] | ||||||||
ڈ | ڈھ | ɖʱ | ڈھال | [31] | / / | dhal [31] |
[[ ]] | |||
ڈھول | / / | [[ ]] | ||||||||
ر | رھ | [[ | ]][[ | ]] | / / | [[ ]] | ||||||
/ / | [[ ]] | |||||||||
ڑ | ڑھ | ɽʱ | گڑھ | [31] | / / | garh [31] |
[[ ]] | |||
کڑھنا | / / | [[ ]] | ||||||||
ک | کھ | kʰ | کھولنا | / / | [[ ]] | |||||
کھانا | [31] | /kʰɑ:nɑ:/ [19] |
khana [31] |
food / meal / banquet [20] | ||||||
دکھائی | [35] | /d̪ɪkʰɑ:i:/ [19] |
inspection / appearance / showing / show [20] | |||||||
گ | گھ | ɡʱ | گھر | [31] | / / | ghar [31] |
[[ ]] | |||
گھبراہٹ | / / | [[ ]] | ||||||||
ن | نھ | nʱ | ننّھا | /nənnʰɑ:/ [19] |
small / tiny [19] | |||||
___ | / / | [[ ]] | ||||||||
م | مھ | mʱ | تمھیں | [19] | / / | [[ ]] (alternative of تُمہیں) | ||||
___ | / / | [[ ]] | ||||||||
و | وھ | [[ | ]] | / / | [[ ]] | ||||||
/ / | [[ ]] | |||||||||
ل | لھ [31] |
lʰ [19] |
lʱ [32] |
دولھا | [31] | دُولھا [19] |
/d̪u:lʰɑ:/ [19] |
bridegroom [20] | ||
/ / | [[ ]] | |||||||||
ل ا | لا [footnote] |
خلا | [35] | /xəlɑ:/ [19] |
outer space, vacuum, vacant place, absence [20] | |||||
ملاعین | [19] | /məlɑ:ʔi:n/ [19] |
accursed persons [20] | |||||||
علاج | عِلاج | /ɪlɑ:dʒ/ [19] | cure / remedy / antidote / relief [20] |
U+06BB | ڻ | rnoon [14] |
U+0690 | ڐ | dal with four dots above [14] |
U+0699 | ڙ | reh with four dots above [14] |
U+067F | ٿ | teheh [14] |
He has two variants: gol he ("round he") and do-cashmī he ("two-eyed he").
Gol he (ہ) is the primary letter for the "h" (/ɦ/) sound but word-finally is pronounced as a long "a" or "e" (/ɑː/ or /e:/).
Do-cashmī he (ھ), which is written as a looped medial or initial hāʾ, is used to orthographically produce aspiration and breathy voice and sometimes to write Arabic words.
Gol He and do-cashmi-he diverged from the Arabic letter he, sometimes choti hey is used too refer to gol hey, while sometimes choti he refers to the Arabic version. The distinction is somewhat artificial, since gol he is an equivalent letter to the Arabic letter, but they have separate unicode characters. Some fonts make the Arabic he look the same as gol hey or do-cashmi he.
Iẓāfat is a syntactical construction of two nouns, where the first component is a determined noun, and the second is a determiner. This construction was borrowed from Persian. A short vowel "i" is used to connect these two words, and when pronouncing the newly-formed word the short vowel is connected to the first word. If the first word ends in a consonant or an ʿain (ع), it may be written as zer ( ِ) at the end of the first word, but usually is not written at all. If the first word ends in choṭī he (ہ) or ye (ی or ے) then hamzā (ء) is used above the last letter (ۂ or ئ or ۓ). If the first word ends in a long vowel (ا or و), then baṛī ye (ے) with hamzā on top (ئے) is added at the end of the first word.[36]
Forms | Example | Transliteration | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
ــِ | شیرِ پنجاب | sher-e Punjāb | the lion of Punjab |
ئ | ولئ کامل | walī-ye kāmil | perfect saint |
ئے | روئے زمین | rū-ye zamīn | the surface of the Earth |
صدائے بلند | sadā-ye buland | a high voice |
Main article: Roman Urdu |
There are several romanization standards for writing Urdu with the Latin alphabet, though they are not very popular because most fall short of representing the Urdu language properly. Instead of standard romanization schemes, people on Internet, mobile phones and media often use a non-standard form of romanization which tries to mimic English orthography. The problem with this kind of romanization is that it can only be read by native speakers, and even for them with great difficulty. Among standardized romanization schemes, the most accurate is ALA-LC romanization, which is also supported by National Language Authority. Other romanization schemes are often rejected because either they are unable to represent sounds in Urdu properly, or they often do not take regard of Urdu orthography, and favor pronunciation over orthography.[45]
Roman Urdu also holds significance among the Christians of Pakistan and North India. Urdu was the dominant native language among Christians of Karachi and Lahore in present-day Pakistan and Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh Rajasthan in India, during the early part of the 19th and 20th century, and is still used by Christians in these places. Pakistani and Indian Christians often used the Roman script for writing Urdu. Thus Roman Urdu was a common way of writing among Pakistani and Indian Christians in these areas up to the 1960s. The Bible Society of India publishes Roman Urdū Bibles that enjoyed sale late into the 1960s (though they are still published today). Church songbooks are also common in Roman Urdu. However, the usage of Roman Urdu is declining with the wider use of Hindi and English in these states.
In the early days of computers, Urdu was not properly represented on any code page. One of the earliest code pages to represent Urdu was IBM Code Page 868 which dates back to 1990.[46] Other early code pages which represented Urdu alphabets were Windows-1256 and MacArabic encoding both of which date back to the mid 1990s. In Unicode, Urdu is represented inside the Arabic block. Another code page for Urdu, which is used in India, is Perso-Arabic Script Code for Information Interchange. In Pakistan, the 8-bit code page which is developed by National Language Authority is called Urdu Zabta Takhti (اردو ضابطہ تختی) (UZT) [47] which represents Urdu in its most complete form including some of its specialized diacritics, though UZT is not designed to coexist with the Latin alphabet.
Like other writing systems derived from the Arabic script, Urdu uses the 0600–06FF Unicode range.[48] Certain glyphs in this range appear visually similar (or identical when presented using particular fonts) even though the underlying encoding is different. This presents problems for information storage and retrieval. For example, the University of Chicago's electronic copy of John Shakespear's "A Dictionary, Hindustani, and English"[49] includes the word 'بهارت' (India). Searching for the string "بھارت" returns no results, whereas querying with the (identical-looking in many fonts) string "بهارت" returns the correct entry.[50] This is because the medial form of the Urdu letter do chashmi he (U+06BE)—used to form aspirate digraphs in Urdu—is visually identical in its medial form to the Arabic letter hāʾ (U+0647; phonetic value /h/). In Urdu, the /h/ phoneme is represented by the character U+06C1, called gol he - round he, or chhoti he - small he (see also: "#Stylistic variants between Arabic and Urdu" above).
In 2003, the Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing (CRULP)[51]—a research organisation affiliated with Pakistan's National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences—produced a proposal for mapping from the 1-byte UZT encoding of Urdu characters to the Unicode standard.[52] This proposal suggests a preferred Unicode glyph for each character in the Urdu alphabet.
The Daily Jang was the first Urdu newspaper to be typeset digitally in Nastaʻliq by computer. There are efforts underway to develop more sophisticated and user-friendly Urdu support on computers and on the Internet. Nowadays, nearly all Urdu newspapers, magazines, journals and periodicals are composed on computers via various Urdu software programmes, the most widespread of which is InPage Desktop Publishing package. Microsoft has included Urdu language support in all new versions of Windows and both Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 are available in Urdu through Language Interface Pack[54] support. Most Linux Desktop distributions allow the easy installation of Urdu support and translations as well.[55] Apple implemented the Urdu language keyboard across Mobile devices in its iOS 8 update in September 2014.[56]
Despite the invention of the Urdu typewriter in 1911[citation needed], Urdu newspapers continued to publish prints of handwritten scripts by calligraphers known as katibs or khush-navees until the late 1980s [citation needed]. The Pakistani national newspaper Daily Jang was the first Urdu newspaper to use Nastaliq computer-based composition. There are efforts under way to develop more sophisticated and user-friendly Urdu support on computers and the internet. Nowadays, nearly all Urdu newspapers, magazines, journals, and periodicals are composed on computers with Urdu software programs.
Main article: Urdu keyboard |
Windows 10 uses the Urdu keyboard for the Arabic script versions of Punjabi and Sindhi languages, despite the Urdu keyboard missing several Sindhi letters - ڪ ڳ ڱ ڦ ٺ ٻ ڀ ڊ ڍ ڌ ڏ ڇ ڄ ڃ ي ڻ ۽ ۾ - and the Urdu versions of - ٹ ڑ - which written as ٿ ڙ in Sindhi (see below). [citation needed]
idea: instead of colours, just cut this up into slices and put a long skinny image next to each font name.
The Urdu alphabet isolated forms in 3 styles | |||
Nastaliq [footnote 1] | ے ی و ھ ہ ن ں م ل گ ک ق ف غ ع ظ ط ض ص ش س ژ ز ڑ ر ذ ڈ د خ ح چ ج ث ٹ ت پ ب آ ا ئ ء | ||
simplified [footnote 2] | ء ئ ا آ ب پ ت ٹ ث ج چ ح خ د ڈ ذ ر ڑ ز ژ س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ک گ ل م ن ں ہ ھ و ی ے | ||
Naskh [footnote 3] | ء ئ ا آ ب پ ت ٹ ث ج چ ح خ د ڈ ذ ر ڑ ز ژ س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ک گ ل م ن ں ہ ھ و ی ے | ||
The Urdu alphabet isolated forms in 17 fonts | |||
• | Noto Nastaliq Urdu | ||
• | Urdu Typesetting | ||
• | Scheherazade | ||
• | Lateef | ||
• | Noto Naskh Arabic | ||
• | Markazi Text | ||
• | Noto Sans Arabic | ||
• | Baloo Bhaijaan | ||
• | El Messiri | ||
• | Lemonada | ||
• | Changa | ||
• | Mada | ||
• | Noto Kufi Arabic | ||
• | Reem Kufi | ||
• | Lalezar | ||
• | Jomhuria | ||
• | Rakkas |
Footnotes:
^Footnote 1. These styles may display in different styles, depending on which fonts you have installed on your device. Compare to the image, the first two lines of the image are in Nastaliq fonts: "Noto Nastaliq Urdu" from Google's Noto fonts collection and "Urdu Typesetting" from Microsoft.
^Footnote 2. Simplified geometric font styles are rarely used for Urdu, they are more commonly used for other languages such as Arabic and Farsi, but many of these fonts support the full Urdu alphabet, such as "Baloo Bhaijaan" (yellow font in the image) which was specifically designed for Urdu by the India-based typeface foundry Ek Type, and Microsoft's "Tahoma".
^[Footnote 3. Naskh styles are usually not a first choice for Urdu publishing, but Naskh fonts are often used where a more characteristic Urdu font is unavailable. Naskh fonts have been available much longer than Nastaliq fonts, and Naskh fonts than work better than Nastaliq fonts where display sized or processing power are limited, such as on mobile phones or older computers.[citation needed]
Letter Name(s) | Urdu Word | Examples of other uses | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Isolated form |
Urdu name |
Roman Urdu | Urdu | IPA | Roman Urdu name |
English Translation | Urdu | Roman Urdu or IPA | Translation |
ح | بَڑی حے | baṛī ħē | بَڑی | bəɽi [1] | baṛī / bari |
big / elder [1] | بڑی آنت | large intestine | |
ے | بَڑی يـے | baṛī yē | آنت | intestine | |||||
ی | چھوٹی یے | čhōṭī yē | چھوٹی | tʃʰoːʈi [1] | choti | small / minor / junior [1] | |||
ہ | چھوٹی ہے | čhōṭī hē | چھوٹی آنت | small intestine | |||||
گول ہـے | gōl hē | گول | goːl [1] | gōl | round / spherical / vague / silly / obese [2] | گول گپے | gol gappay | panipuri | |
ھ | دوچَشْمی ہے | dō-čašmī hē | دوچَشْمی | do-cashmī | two-eyed [citation needed] | دو چشمی دوربین | binoculars | ||
دوربین | telescope | ||||||||
دو | do | 2 / two | دو ایوانیت | bicameralism | |||||
چشم | /tʃəʃm/ [1] | the eye / hope / expectation [2] | چشم | eye | |||||
ں | نُونِ غُنّہ | nūn-e ğunnah | غُنّہ | ɣʊnnɑ [1] | ğunnah / g͟hunnah | nasal sound or twang [1] | [example needed] | [[ ]] | |
آ | الِف مَدّه | alif maddah | مَدّه | maddah | [example needed] | [[ ]] | |||
ؤ | واوِ مَہْمُوز | vāv-e mahmūz | مَہْمُوز | mæhmuːz [1] | mahmūz | defective / improper [1] | [example needed] | [[ ]] | |
ء ا آ ب پ ت ٹ ث ب ج چ خ ح د ڈ ذ ر ڑ ز ژ س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ک گ ل م ن ں و ہ ھ ی ے | حروف تہجی [3] |
harūf tahajī (alphabet) | تہجی | tahajī | sequence [citation needed] | [example needed] | [[ ]] | ||
حُرُوف | /hʊruːf/ [1] | harūf | letters (plural) [1] (often referred to as "alphabets" in informal Pakistani English) |
[example needed] | [[ ]] | ||||
حَرْف | /hərf/ [1] | "letter of the alphabet" / handwriting / statement / blame / stigma [1] | [example needed] | [[ ]] |
diacritics and modifications (i) |
base shapes (ii) | types of diacritics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ء | ا | ے | ى | ں | ٮ | ح | س | ص | ط | ع | ڡ | ٯ | ک | ل | م | د | ر | و | ـھ | ـہ | ـه | |||||
‾ | ‾ | line above |
گ | extra line | ||||||||||||||||||||||
﯀ | ﯀ | tōē above |
ٹ | ڈ | ڑ | i'jam | ||||||||||||||||||||
﮲ | ﮲ | 1 dot above |
ن | خ | ض | ظ | غ | ف | ذ | ز | ||||||||||||||||
﮳ | ﮳ | 1 dot below |
ب | ج | ||||||||||||||||||||||
﮶ | ﮶ | 3 dots above |
ث | ش | ژ | |||||||||||||||||||||
﮹ | ﮹ | 3 dots below |
پ | چ | ||||||||||||||||||||||
﮴ | ﮴ | 2 dots above |
ت | ق | ـۃ ۃ | ـة ة | ||||||||||||||||||||
﮵ | ﮵ | 2 dots below (iv) |
یـ ـیـ ـی ی |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
٘ | ــ٘ـ | nūn ghūnna (vi) |
٘ | vowels | ||||||||||||||||||||||
none | ء | ا | ے | ـں ں |
ح | س | ص | ط | ع | ک | ل | م | د | ر | و | ھ | ہ | none | ||||||||
ٴ | ــٔـ | Hamza (v) | ۓ | ئ | ؤ | ـۂ ۂ | vowels | |||||||||||||||||||
ۤ | ۤ | madda (v) | آ | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Rasm forms (iii) |
start | ء | ا | none | ىـ | ٮـ | حـ | سـ | صـ | طـ | عـ | ڡـ | ٯـ | کـ | لـ | مـ | د | ر | و | ھـ | ہـ | هـ | none shown | |||
middle | ـا | none | ـىـ | ـٮـ | ـحـ | ـسـ | ـصـ | ـطـ | ـعـ | ـڡـ | ـٯـ | ـکـ | ـلـ | ـمـ | ـد | ـر | ـو | ـھـ | ـہـ | ـهـ | ||||||
end | ـا | ـے | ـى | ـں | ـٮ | ـح | ـس | ـص | ـط | ـع | ـڡ | ـٯ | ـک | ـل | ـم | ـد | ـر | ـو | ـھ | ـہ | ـه | |||||
isolated | ء | ا | ے | ى | ں | ٮ | ح | س | ص | ط | ع | ڡ | ٯ | ک | ل | م | د | ر | و | ھ | ہ | ه |
^i. The i'jam diacritic characters are illustrative only, in most typesetting the combined characters in the middle of the table are used. The characters used to illustrate the consonant diacritics are from Unicode set "Arabic pedagogical symbols"[57].
^ii. Skeleton characters that do not appear in the alphabet are "DOTLESS BEH" U+066E, "DOTLESS QAF" U+066F, and "DOTLESS FEH" U+06A1. These are not used in Urdu but we're used historically in very early versions of Arabic writing[citation needed].
^iii. The "Arabic Tatweel Modifier Letter" U+0640 character used to show the positional forms doesn't work in some Nastaliq fonts.
^iv. Urdu Choti Yē has 2 dots
below in the initial and middle positions only. The standard Arabic version ي يـ ـيـ ـي ]] always has 2 dots
below.
^v. The short vowel diacritics (see below) are usually omitted in Urdu writing, but hamza and madda are usually included.
^vi. Nūn Ghūnna in the middle of a word is often an omitted diacritic.
^Note: Some of the Nastaliq text on this page will probably show in a different style if you do not have a Nastaliq font installed. If this نستعلیق and this نستعلیق looks like these four نستعلیق نستعلیق نستعلیق نستعلیق then you are probably seeing it written in a modern Arabic style.