# Geresh

Geresh :
| diacritic, punctuation mark | ׳‎ | וכו׳‎ |
| cantillation mark | ֜‎ or ֝‎ | הָאָ֜רֶץ‎ |
| compare with apostrophes |||
| 'וכו׳', 'הָאָ֜רֶץ'‎ |||
Geresh (׳‎ in Hebrew: גֶּרֶשׁ‎ or גֵּרֶשׁ‎, or medieval) is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.
* An apostrophe-like sign (also known colloquially as a chupchik) placed after a letter:
** as a diacritic that modifies the pronunciation of some letters (only in modern Hebrew),
** as a diacritic that signifies Yiddish origin of a word or suffix, (examples below)
** as a punctuation mark to denote initialisms or abbreviations,
** or to denote a single-digit Hebrew numeral
* A note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah and other Biblical books, taking the form of a curved diagonal stroke placed above a letter.

## Diacritic

As a diacritic, the Geresh is written immediately after (left of) the letter it modifies. It indicates three sounds native to speakers of modern Hebrew that are common in loan words and slang: [dʒ] as in judge, [ʒ] as in measure and [tʃ] as in church. In transliteration of Arabic, it indicates Arabic phonemes which are usually allophones in modern Hebrew: [ɣ] is distinguished from [r] and [ħ] is distinguished from [χ]. Finally, it indicates other sounds foreign to the phonology of modern Hebrew speakers and used exclusively for the transliteration of foreign words: [ð] as in then, [θ] as in thin, [sˤ]; and, in some transliteration systems, also [tˤ], [dˤ] and [ðˤ]. It may be compared to the usage of a following h in various Latin digraphs to form other consonant sounds not supported by the basic Latin alphabet, such as "sh", "th", etc.

### Loanwords, slang, foreign names and transliterations

Loanwords, slang, foreign names, and transliteration of foreign languages :
| Without Geresh | Without Geresh | Without Geresh | Without Geresh | Without Geresh | With Geresh | With Geresh | With Geresh | With Geresh | With Geresh |
| Symbol | Name | Translit. | IPA | Example | Symbol | Name | Translit. | IPA | Examples |
| ג‎ | gimel | g | [ɡ] | gap | ג׳‎ | gimel with a geresh | j (or g) | [dʒ] | Jupiter, George |
| ז‎ | zayin | z | [z] | zoo | ז׳‎ | zayin with a geresh | g, j | [ʒ] | Jacques, beige, vision |
| צ‎ | tsadi | ts | [ts] | tsunami, cats | צ׳‎ | tsadi with a geresh | ch | [tʃ] | chip |

### Transcriptions of Arabic

There are six additional letters in the Arabic alphabet. They are Ṯāʾ, Ḫāʾ, Ḏāl, Ḍād, Ẓāʾ, and Ghayn. Also, some letters have different sounds in Arabic phonology and modern Hebrew phonology, such as Jīm.
Distinction when transcribing Arabic :
| Without Geresh | Without Geresh | Without Geresh | Without Geresh | Without Geresh | Without Geresh | With Geresh | With Geresh | With Geresh | With Geresh | With Geresh | With Geresh |
| Symbol | Name | Translit. | Arabic letter | IPA | Example | Symbol | Name | Arabic letter | IPA | Example | Comments |
| ג‎ | gimel | g | Egyptian / Yemeni Jīm (ج) | [ɡ] | good | ג׳‎ | gimel with a geresh | Jīm (ج) | [dʒ] | Al-Jazeera (الجزيرة) | Also used with other loan words and transliterations for /dʒ/ |
| ד‎ | dalet | d | Dāl (د) | [d] | door | ד׳‎ | dalet with a geresh | Ḏāl (ذ) | [ð] | Dhu [a]l-Hijjah (ذو الحجة) | Also used for English voiced th Often a simple Dalet (ד) is written |
| ח‎ | heth | ẖ / h, ḥ, or h | Ḥaʾ (ح) | [ħ] | Non existent in English, pronounced like an "h" while contracting the pharynx | ח׳‎ | heth with a geresh | Ḫāʾ (ﺥ) | [χ] | Sheikh (شيخ) | |
| ת‎ | tav | t | Tāʾ (ت) | [t] | tail | ת׳‎ | tav with a geresh | ṯāʾ (ث) | [θ] | ʿuthman (عثمان) | Also used for English voiceless th |
| ס‎ | samekh | s | Sīn (س) | [s] | sun | ס׳‎ | samekh with a geresh | Ṣad (ص) | [sˤ] pharyngealized [s]; approximate pronunciation by pronouncing a voiceless "s" while constricting the pharynx or the larynx | | May also be transcribed with the corresponding Hebrew letter צ |
| ר‎ | resh | r | Rāʾ (ر) | [r] | french r | ר׳‎ | reish with a geresh | Ghayn (غ) | [ɣ] | Abu Ghosh (أَبُو غوش) | Standard simplified: ר׳‎ and ע׳‎; however, ר׳‎ is proscribed by the Academy of the Hebrew Language. Another precise proscribed transcription is גֿ‎; in some cases of established usage, a ג‎ with no diacritics is used. |
| Standard simplified: ר׳‎ and ע׳‎; however, ר׳‎ is proscribed by the Academy of the Hebrew Language. Another precise proscribed transcription is גֿ‎; in some cases of established usage, a ג‎ with no diacritics is used. ||||||
| ע‎ | ayin | ’ | ʿAyn (ع) | [ʕ] ←→ [ʢ], sometimes [ʡ] or [ʔˤ] Ranges from pharyngeal fricative [ʕ] to epiglottal fricative [ʢ], sometimes an epiglottal stop [ʡ] or a pharyngealized glottal stop [ʔˤ]; approximate pronunciation by constricting the pharynx or the larynx | | ע׳‎ | ayin with a geresh | Ghayn (غ) | [ɣ] | Abu Ghosh (أَبُو غوش) | Standard simplified: ר׳‎ and ע׳‎; however, ר׳‎ is proscribed by the Academy of the Hebrew Language. Another precise proscribed transcription is גֿ‎; in some cases of established usage, a ג‎ with no diacritics is used. |

### Transliteration of foreign names

Distinction when transcribing foreign names :
| Without Geresh | Without Geresh | Without Geresh | Without Geresh | Without Geresh | With Geresh | With Geresh | With Geresh | With Geresh | With Geresh |
| Symbol | Name | Translit. | IPA | Example | Symbol | Name | Translit. | IPA | Example |
| ד‎ | dalet | d | [d] | door | ד׳‎ | dalet with a geresh | English voiced th | [ð] | then |
| ת‎ | tav | t | [t] | tail | ת׳‎ | tav with a geresh | English voiceless th | [θ] | thing |
| ו‎ | vav | v | [v] | vote | וו‎ or ו׳‎ (non-standard) | vav with a geresh or double vav | w | [w] | William |

#### Note

    * ^ Both double-vav and vav with geresh are non-standard and inconsistently used.

### Yiddish origin

Some words or suffixes of Yiddish origin or pronunciation are marked with a geresh, e.g. the diminutive suffix לֶ׳ה – -le, e.g. יענקל׳ה – Yankale (as in Yankale Bodo), or the words חבר׳ה – [ˈχevre], 'guys' (which is the Yiddish pronunciation of Hebrew חברה [χevˈra] 'company'), or תכל׳ס – [ˈtaχles], 'bottom-line'.

## Punctuation mark

The geresh is used as a punctuation mark in initialisms and to denote numerals.

### Indicating initialisms

In initialisms, the Geresh is written after the last letter of the initialism. For example: the title גְּבֶרֶת (literally "lady") is abbreviated גב׳, equivalent to English "Mrs" and "Ms".

### Denoting a numeral

A Geresh can be appended after (left of) a single letter to indicate that the letter represents a Hebrew numeral. For example: ק׳ represents 100. A multi-digit Hebrew numeral is indicated by the Gershayim ⟨״⟩.

## Cantillation mark

As a note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, the Geresh is printed above the accented letter: ב֜‎. The Geresh Muqdam (lit. 'a Geresh made earlier'), a variant cantillation mark, is also printed above the accented letter, but slightly before (i.e. more to the right of) the position of the normal Geresh: ב֝‎. As a cantillation mark it is also called Ṭères (טֶרֶס)‎.

## Computer encoding

Most keyboards do not have a key for the geresh. As a result, an apostrophe ( ', Unicode U+0027) is often substituted for it.
| Appearance | Code Points | Name |
| ׳ | U+05F3 | HEBREW PUNCTUATION GERESH |
| ֜ | U+059C | HEBREW ACCENT GERESH |
| ֝ | U+059D | HEBREW ACCENT GERESH MUQDAM |