# Gaf

Gaf (Persian: گاف; gāf), is the name of different Perso-Arabic letters, all representing /ɡ/. They are all derived from the letter kāf, with additional diacritics, such as dots and lines. It is also one of the ten letters the Persian alphabet added from the twenty-two inherited from the Phoenician alphabet (the others being s̱e, xe, ẕâl, zâd, ẓâ, ġayn, pe, che, and že). In name and shape, it is a variant of kaf. Its numerical value is 5000 (see Abjad numerals). There are four forms, each used in different alphabets:
* گ‎ in the Persian alphabet, Tausug written in Arabic Script
* ݢ‎ in the Jawi script
* ࢴ/ڮ‎ in the Pegon script
* ګ‎ in Pashto

## Use in Arabic

The standard practice in Egypt (for Literary and Egyptian Arabic), as in coastal Yemen and southwestern and eastern Oman, is to use ǧīm (ج‎) for /g/.
If not gāf (گ‎), kāf (ك‎) has been traditionally used in Iraq and parts of the Levant for /g/. In Iraq, gāf (گ‎) is more used. In Morocco, gāf (ݣ‎) or kāf (ك‎) is used. In Tunisia and Algeria, gāf ڨ‎ or qāf ق‎ is used. In Saudi Arabia, qāf ق‎ is used.
Ġayn (غ‎) is preferred in the Levant (nowadays) and by Al Jazeera TV channel to represent /ɡ/, e.g., هونغ كونغ (Hong Kong) and غاندالف (Gandalf). Foreign publications and TV channels in Arabic, e.g. Deutsche Welle and Alhurra, follow this practice.

## Variant forms
### Kaf with line

The most common form of gāf (گ‎) is based on kāf with an additional line. It is rarely used in Standard Arabic itself but is used to represent the sound /ɡ/ when writing other languages.
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Naskh glyph form: (Help) | گ‎ | ـگ‎ | ـگـ‎ | گـ‎ |
| Nastaʿlīq glyph form: | گ | ــــگ | ــــگــــ | گــــ |
When representing this sound in transliteration of Persian into Hebrew, it is written as כ׳ kaph and a geresh.
It is frequently used in Persian, Pashto, Uyghur, Urdu and Kurdish, and is one of four Perso-Arabic letters not found in Arabic. It is also commonly used in Mesopotamian Arabic.

### Kaf with ring

In Pashto, this letter is used for /ɡ/.
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Naskh glyph form: (Help) | ګ‎ | ـګ‎ | ـګـ‎ | ګـ‎ |
| Nastaʿlīq glyph form: | ګ | ــــګ | ــــګــــ | ګــــ |

### Kaf with single dot above

This gāf (ݢ‎) is derived from a variant form of kāf (ک‎), with the addition of a dot. It is not used in the Arabic language itself, but is used in the Jawi script to represent /ɡ/.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ݢ‎ | ـݢ‎ | ـݢـ‎ | ݢـ‎ |
Unicode includes two forms on this letter: one based on the standard Arabic kāf (ك‎), and one based on the variant form (ک‎). The latter is the preferred form.
Character information :
| Preview | ڬ | ڬ | ݢ | ݢ |
| Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH DOT ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH DOT ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH DOT ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH DOT ABOVE |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1708 | U+06AC | 1890 | U+0762 |
| UTF-8 | 218 172 | DA AC | 221 162 | DD A2 |
| Numeric character reference | &#1708; | &#x6AC; | &#1890; | &#x762; |

### Kaf with three dots below

This letter (ڮ‎) is derived from a form of kāf (ك‎), with the addition of three dots below.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ڮ‎ | ـڮ‎ | ـڮـ‎ | ڮـ‎ |

### Gaf with inverted stroke

In Chechen, Kabardian, and Adyghe, the Arabic character ࢰ‎ is used to spell /kʼ/ or /t͡ʃʼ/. In Chechen, ⟨گ‎⟩ is alternatively used as well.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ࢰ‎ | ـࢰ‎ | ـࢰـ‎ | ࢰـ‎ |

### Kaf with a dot below

This letter (ࢴ‎) is derived from a form of kāf (ك‎), with the addition of three a dot below. It is not used in the Arabic language itself, but is used in the Arwi alphabet for the Tamil language and the Pegon script for Indonesian languages to represent /ɡ/.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ࢴ‎ | ـࢴ‎ | ـࢴـ‎ | ࢴـ‎ |

### Kaf with three dots

The letter ڭ‎ is used in Berber and Moroccan Arabic to represent /ɡ/. Examples of its use include city names (e.g., Agadir: أݣادير‎) and family names (e.g., El Guerrouj: الݣروج‎). The preferred form is ڭ‎.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ڭ‎ | ـڭ‎ | ـڭـ‎ | ڭـ‎ |
It was also used in Ottoman Turkish for /ŋ/. Both forms are based on variant forms of kāf (ك‎/ک‎), with the addition of three dots. The preferred form is ݣ‎.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ݣ‎ | ـݣ‎ | ـݣـ‎ | ݣـ‎ |

## Character encoding

Character information :
| Preview | ګ | ګ | ڬ | ڬ | ڮ | ڮ | گ | گ | ࢰ | ࢰ |
| Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH RING | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH RING | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH DOT ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH DOT ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH THREE DOTS BELOW | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH THREE DOTS BELOW | ARABIC LETTER GAF | ARABIC LETTER GAF | ARABIC LETTER GAF WITH INVERTED STROKE | ARABIC LETTER GAF WITH INVERTED STROKE |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1707 | U+06AB | 1708 | U+06AC | 1710 | U+06AE | 1711 | U+06AF | 2224 | U+08B0 |
| UTF-8 | 218 171 | DA AB | 218 172 | DA AC | 218 174 | DA AE | 218 175 | DA AF | 224 162 176 | E0 A2 B0 |
| Numeric character reference | &#1707; | &#x6AB; | &#1708; | &#x6AC; | &#1710; | &#x6AE; | &#1711; | &#x6AF; | &#2224; | &#x8B0; |
Character information :
| Preview | ݢ | ݢ | ݣ | ݣ | ڭ | ڭ | ࢴ | ࢴ |
| Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH DOT ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH DOT ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH THREE DOTS ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH THREE DOTS ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER NG | ARABIC LETTER NG | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH DOT BELOW | ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH DOT BELOW |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1890 | U+0762 | 1891 | U+0763 | 1709 | U+06AD | 2228 | U+08B4 |
| UTF-8 | 221 162 | DD A2 | 221 163 | DD A3 | 218 173 | DA AD | 224 162 180 | E0 A2 B4 |
| Numeric character reference | &#1890; | &#x762; | &#1891; | &#x763; | &#1709; | &#x6AD; | &#2228; | &#x8B4; |