Wikipedia / Help:IPA/Arabic
Wikipedia / Help:IPA/Arabic
The chart below explains how Wikipedia represents Modern Standard Arabic pronunciations with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Wikipedia also has specific charts for Egyptian Arabic, Hejazi Arabic, Lebanese Arabic, and Tunisian Arabic. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and .
See Arabic phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Modern Standard Arabic, and varieties of Arabic for regional variation.
IPA | Englishapproximation | Arabicletter/symbol | Usualromanization | Lettername |
A–B | ||||
cat in British English, only approx. in American English, could also be realised as [æ] | a, á, e | فَتْحَة (fatḥah) | ||
not exact, longer far, could also be realised as [æː] | ( at word end) | ā, â, aa, a | أَلِف (ʾalif) الف مقصورة (ʾalif maqṣūrah) | |
+, my or night | ay, ai, ey, ei | يَاء (yāʾ) | ||
+, noun | aw, au | وَاو (wāw) | ||
bee | b | بَاء (bāʾ) | ||
D | ||||
dash | d | دَال (dāl) | ||
emphatic and pharyngealized , no equivalent, can be approximated to RP dawn | ḍ, dh | ضَاد (ḍād) | ||
jam | j, ǧ, dj, g | جِيم (jīm) | ||
these | dh, ḏ | ذَال (dhāl) | ||
emphatic and pharyngealized | ẓ | ظَاء (ẓāʾ) | ||
F–H | ||||
father | f | فَاء (fāʾ) | ||
hi | h | هَاء (hāʾ) | ||
hello, but pronounced in the back of the throat (pharyngeal) | ḥ | حَاء (ḥāʾ) | ||
I–K | ||||
happy | i, e | كَسْرَة (kasrah) | ||
machine | ī, ee, i | يَاء (yāʾ) | ||
yes | y | يَاء (yāʾ) | ||
scape | k | كَاف (kāf) | ||
L–S | ||||
lease (Received Pronunciation) | l | لَام (lām) | ||
tool | ||||
me | m | مِيم (mīm) | ||
no | n | نُون (nūn) | ||
like skit, but further back in the mouth (uvular) | q, g, ' | قَاف (qāf) | ||
r | رَاء (rāʾ) | |||
snake | s | سِين (sīn) | ||
close to saw, emphatic and pharyngealized | ṣ | صَاد (ṣād) | ||
sheep | sh, š, ch | شِين (shīn) | ||
T–W | ||||
stop | (sometimes ) | t | تَاء (tāʾ) تاء مربوطة (tāʾ marbūṭah) | |
emphatic and pharyngealized , no equivalent | ṭ | طَاء (ṭāʾ) | ||
think | th, ṯ | ثَاء (thāʾ) | ||
fruition | u, o, ou | ضَمَّة (ḍammah) | ||
cool | ū, oo, ou, u | وَاو (wāw) | ||
we | w | وَاو (wāw) | ||
X–Z | ||||
~ χ | Scottish loch | kh, ḫ, ḵ | خَاء (khāʾ) | |
~ ʁ | like gallon, but with a guttural sound further back in the mouth (uvular). Alternatively like French paris | gh, ġ, ḡ | غَيْن (ghayn) | |
zoo | z | زَاي (zāy) | ||
Other | ||||
The pause in uh-oh!; The 'tt' in kitten in Standard American English; Cockney butter; glottal stop | هَمْزة (hamzah) | |||
no equivalent in English(voiced pharyngeal fricative or voiced creaky-voiced pharyngeal approximant) | عَيْن (ʿayn) | |||
see under T—W | ||||
('kiwi') | Means that the following syllable is stressed: ('Arab'). | |||
('sack') | Means that the preceding vowel is long | |||
('[he] sacrificed'), ('teacher'), ('paintress'), ('liar [m.]') | A geminated consonant never belongs to one syllable and is often broken with a stress. |