# Ayin

Ayin (also ayn or ain; transliterated ⟨ʿ⟩) is the sixteenth letter of the Semitic scripts, including Phoenician ʿayin 𐤏, Hebrew ʿayin ע‎, Aramaic ʿē 𐡏, Syriac ʿē ܥ, and Arabic ʿayn ع‎ (where it is sixteenth in abjadi order only).
The letter represents a voiced pharyngeal fricative (/ʕ/) or a similarly articulated consonant. In some Semitic languages and dialects, the phonetic value of the letter has changed, or the phoneme has been lost altogether. In the revived Modern Hebrew it is reduced to a glottal stop or is omitted entirely, in part due to Ashkenazi European influence and their difficulty in pronouncing the consonant.
The Phoenician letter is the origin of the Greek, Latin and Cyrillic letters O, O and O. It is also the origin of the Armenian letters Ո and Օ.
The Arabic character is the origin of the Latin-script letter Ƹ.

## Origins

The letter name is derived from Proto-Semitic *ʿayn- "eye", and the Phoenician letter had the shape of a circle or oval, clearly representing an eye, perhaps ultimately (via Proto-Sinaitic) derived from the ı͗r hieroglyph 𓁹 (Gardiner D4).
The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Ο, Latin O, and Cyrillic О, all representing vowels. It is also gave rise to the Greek letter omega as well as its Cyrillic counterpart.
The sound represented by ayin is common to much of the Afroasiatic language family, such as in the Egyptian language, the Cushitic languages and the Semitic languages.

## Arabic ʿayn

The Arabic letter ﻉ ﻋَﻴْﻦْ ʿayn /ʕajn/ is the eighteenth letter of the alphabet. It is written in one of several ways depending on its position in the word:
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ع‎ | ـع‎ | ـعـ‎ | عـ‎ |

### Pronunciation

Arabic ʿayn is one of the most common letters in Arabic. Depending on the region, it ranges from a pharyngeal [ʕ] to an epiglottal [ʢ]. It is voiced, its voiceless counterpart being ح. Due to its position as the innermost letter to emerge from the throat, al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi, who wrote the first Arabic dictionary, actually started writing his Kitab al-'Ayn ('The Book of ʿAyn') with ʿayn as the first letter instead of the eighteenth; he viewed its origins deep down in the throat as a sign that it was the first sound, the essential sound, the voice and a representation of the self.
In the Persian language and other languages using the Persian alphabet, this letter has a different function and is pronounced as /ʔ/ (glottal stop), and rarely as /ʁ/ in some languages.
As in Hebrew, the letter originally stood for two sounds, /ʕ/ and /ʁ/. When pointing was developed, the sound /ʁ/ was distinguished with a dot on top (غ), to give the letter ghayn. In Maltese, which is written with the Latin alphabet, the digraph għ, called għajn, is used to write what was originally the same sound.
Because the sound is difficult for most non-Arabs to pronounce, it is often used as a shibboleth by Arabic speakers; other sounds, such as Ḥā and Ḍād are also used. It is typically represented with a 3 in the Arabic chat alphabet.

### Southeast Asian nga

In some languages of Southeast Asia, the letter nga is used. The letter is derived from the letter ʿayn, which latter is derived from the letter ghayn, and it is thus written as:
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ڠ‎ | ـڠ‎ | ـڠـ‎ | ڠـ‎ |
This letter, derived from ghayn (غ‎), is used to represent /ŋ/ in:
* the Jawi script, for
** Acehnese
** Banjarese
** Kerinci
** Maguindanaon
** Malay
** Minangkabau
** Tausūg
** Ternate
* the Pegon script, for
** Javanese
** Sundanese
* Arabic Afrikaans, for Afrikaans historically, called ngīn

### Wolof ngōn

In the Wolofal alphabet, for writing Wolof in Arabic script, the letter ngōn is used, and it is thus written as:
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ݝ‎ | ـݝ‎ | ـݝـ‎ | ݝـ‎ |
This letter also derived from the letter ʿayn, which latter is derived from the letter ghayn. This leter is to represent /ŋ/ in the Wolof language, a Niger-Congo language.

### Tamil nga

| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ࢳ‎ | ـࢳ‎ | ـࢳـ‎ | ࢳـ‎ |
This letter also derived from the letter ʿayn, which latter is derived from the letter ghayn, with three dots inside the descender, to represent /ŋ/ in the Arwi script used for Tamil.

### Related characters

For the related characters, see ng (Arabic letter) and ghayn.

## Hebrew ayin

Orthographic variants :
| Various print fonts | Various print fonts | Various print fonts | Cursive Hebrew | Rashi script |
| Serif | Sans-serif | Monospaced | Cursive Hebrew | Rashi script |
| ע | ע | ע | | |
Hebrew spelling: עַיִן‎

### Phonetic representation

ʿayin has traditionally been described as a voiced pharyngeal fricative ([ʕ]). However, this may be imprecise. Although a pharyngeal fricative has occasionally been observed for ʿayin in Arabic and so may occur in Hebrew as well, the sound is more commonly epiglottal ([ʢ]), and may also be a pharyngealized glottal stop ([ʔˤ]).
In some historical Sephardi and Ashkenazi pronunciations, ʿayin represented a velar nasal ([ŋ]). Remnants can be found in the Yiddish pronunciations of some words such as /ˈjaŋkəv/ and /ˈmansə/ from Hebrew יַעֲקֹב‎ (yaʿăqōḇ, "Jacob") and מַעֲשֶׂה‎ (maʿăse, "story"), but in other cases, the nasal has disappeared and been replaced by /j/, such as /ˈmajsə/ and /ˈmajrəv/ from Hebrew מַעֲשֶׂה‎ and מַעֲרָב‎ (maʿărāḇ, "west"). In Israeli Hebrew (except for Mizrahi pronunciations), it represents a glottal stop in certain cases but is usually silent (it behaves the same as aleph). However, changes in adjoining vowels often testify to the former presence of a pharyngeal or epiglottal articulation. Additionally, it may be used as a shibboleth to identify the ethnolinguistic background of a Hebrew-speaker, as most Israeli Arab and some of Israel's Mizrahi Jews (mainly Yemenite Jews) use the more traditional pronunciation, while other Hebrew-speakers pronounce it similar to Aleph.
Ayin is also one of the three letters that can take a furtive patach (patach ganuv).
In Hebrew loanwords in Greek and Latin, ʿayin is sometimes reflected as /g/, since the biblical phonemes /ʕ/ (or "ʿ") and /ʁ/ (represented by "g") were both represented in Hebrew writing by the letter ʿayin (see Ġain). Gomorrah is from the original /ʁamora/ (modern ʿAmora) and Gaza from the original /ʁazza/ (ʿaza) (cf. Arabic غزة Ġazzah, IPA: [ˈɣazza].)
In Yiddish, the ʿayin is used to write the vowel e when it is not part of the diphthong ey.

### Significance

In gematria, ʿayin represents the number 70.
ʿayin is also one of the seven letters which receive special crowns (called tagin) when written in a sefer Torah.

## Syriac e

| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ܥ‎‎ | ـܥ‎‎ | ـܥ‎ـ‎ | ܥ‎ـ‎ |

## Transliteration

In Semitic philology, there is a long-standing tradition of rendering Semitic ayin with the Greek rough breathing mark ⟨῾⟩ (e.g. ῾arab عَرَب Arabs). Depending on typography, this could look similar to either an articulate single opening quotation mark ⟨ʻ⟩ (e.g. ʻarab عَرَب). or as a raised semi-circle open to the right ⟨ʿ⟩ (e.g. ʿarab عَرَب).
This is by analogy to the transliteration of alef (glottal stop, hamza) by the Greek smooth breathing mark ⟨᾽⟩, rendered as single closing quotation mark or as raised semi-circle open to the left. This convention has been adopted by DIN in 1982 and by ISO in 1984 for Arabic (DIN 31635, ISO 233) and Hebrew (DIN 31636, ISO 259).
The shape of the "raised semi-circle" for ayin ⟨ʿ⟩ and alef ⟨ʾ⟩ was adopted by the Encyclopedia of Islam (edited 1913–1938, 1954–2005, and from 2007), and from there by the International Journal of Middle East Studies. This convention has since also been followed by ISO (ISO 233-2 and ISO 259-2, 1993/4) and by DIN. A notable exception remains, ALA-LC (1991), the system used by the Library of Congress, continues to recommend modifier letter turned comma ⟨ʻ⟩ (for Hebrew) or left single quotation mark ⟨‘⟩ (for Arabic).
The symbols for the corresponding phonemes in the International Phonetic Alphabet, ⟨ʕ⟩ for pharyngeal fricative (ayin) and ⟨ʔ⟩ for glottal stop (alef) were adopted in the 1928 revision.
In anglicized Arabic or Hebrew names or in loanwords, ayin is often omitted entirely: Iraq ʿirāq عراق, Arab ʿarab عرب, Saudi suʿūdī سعودي , etc.; Afula ʿăfūlā עֲפוּלָה, Arad ʿărād עֲרָד, etc.
Maltese, which uses a Latin alphabet, the only Semitic language to do so in its standard form, writes the ayin as ⟨għ⟩. It is usually unvocalized in speech. The Somali Latin alphabet and Cypriot Arabic alphabet represents the ayin with the letter ⟨c⟩. The informal way to represent it in Arabic chat alphabet uses the digit ⟨3⟩ as transliteration.

### Unicode

In Unicode, the recommended character for the transliteration of ayin is U+02BF ʿ MODIFIER LETTER LEFT HALF RING (a character in the Spacing Modifier Letters range, even though it is here not used as a modifier letter but as a full grapheme). This convention has been adopted by ISO 233-2 (1993) for Arabic and ISO 259-2 (1994) for Hebrew.
There are a number of alternative Unicode characters in use, some of which are easily confused or even considered equivalent in practice:
* U+1FFE ῾ GREEK DASIA, the character used to represent Greek rough breathing,
* U+02BD ʽ MODIFIER LETTER REVERSED COMMA,
* U+2018 ‘ LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK,
* U+02BB ʻ MODIFIER LETTER TURNED COMMA,
* U+0060 ` GRAVE ACCENT, from its use as single opening quotation mark in ASCII environments, used for ayin in ArabTeX.
Letters used to represent ayin:
* a superscript "c" (U+1D9C ᶜ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL C),
* the IPA symbol for pharyngealization (U+02C1 ˁ MODIFIER LETTER REVERSED GLOTTAL STOP or U+02E4 ˤ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL REVERSED GLOTTAL STOP) or $^ʕ$, a superscript U+0295 ʕ LATIN LETTER PHARYNGEAL VOICED FRICATIVE, the IPA symbol for voiced pharyngeal fricative,
The phonemes corresponding to alef and ayin in Ancient Egyptian are by convention transliterated by more distinctive signs: Egyptian alef is rendered by two semi-circles open to the left, stacked vertically, and Egyptian ayin is rendered by a single full-width semi-circle open to the right. These characters were introduced in Unicode in version 5.1 (2008, Latin Extended-D range), U+A723 ꜣ LATIN SMALL LETTER EGYPTOLOGICAL ALEF and U+A725 ꜥ LATIN SMALL LETTER EGYPTOLOGICAL AIN.

## Character encodings

Character information :
| Preview | ע | ע | ﬠ | ﬠ | ܥ | ܥ | ࠏ | ࠏ |
| Unicode name | HEBREW LETTER AYIN | HEBREW LETTER AYIN | HEBREW LETTER ALTERNATIVE AYIN | HEBREW LETTER ALTERNATIVE AYIN | SYRIAC LETTER E | SYRIAC LETTER E | SAMARITAN LETTER IN | SAMARITAN LETTER IN |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1506 | U+05E2 | 64288 | U+FB20 | 1829 | U+0725 | 2063 | U+080F |
| UTF-8 | 215 162 | D7 A2 | 239 172 160 | EF AC A0 | 220 165 | DC A5 | 224 160 143 | E0 A0 8F |
| Numeric character reference | &#1506; | &#x5E2; | &#64288; | &#xFB20; | &#1829; | &#x725; | &#2063; | &#x80F; |
Character information :
| Preview | ع | ع | ࣖ | ࣖ | ݝ | ݝ | ݟ | ݟ | ڠ | ڠ | ݞ | ݞ | ࢳ | ࢳ |
| Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER AIN | ARABIC LETTER AIN | ARABIC SMALL HIGH AIN | ARABIC SMALL HIGH AIN | ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH TWO DOTS ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH TWO DOTS ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH TWO DOTS VERTICALLY ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH TWO DOTS VERTICALLY ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS POINTING DOWNWARDS ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS POINTING DOWNWARDS ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS BELOW | ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS BELOW |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1593 | U+0639 | 2262 | U+08D6 | 1885 | U+075D | 1887 | U+075F | 1696 | U+06A0 | 1886 | U+075E | 2227 | U+08B3 |
| UTF-8 | 216 185 | D8 B9 | 224 163 150 | E0 A3 96 | 221 157 | DD 9D | 221 159 | DD 9F | 218 160 | DA A0 | 221 158 | DD 9E | 224 162 179 | E0 A2 B3 |
| Numeric character reference | &#1593; | &#x639; | &#2262; | &#x8D6; | &#1885; | &#x75D; | &#1887; | &#x75F; | &#1696; | &#x6A0; | &#1886; | &#x75E; | &#2227; | &#x8B3; |
Character information :
| Preview | ᴥ | ᴥ | ᵜ | ᵜ | Ꜥ | Ꜥ | ꜥ | ꜥ |
| Unicode name | LATIN LETTER AIN | LATIN LETTER AIN | MODIFIER LETTER SMALL AIN | MODIFIER LETTER SMALL AIN | LATIN CAPITAL LETTER EGYPTOLOGICAL AIN | LATIN CAPITAL LETTER EGYPTOLOGICAL AIN | LATIN SMALL LETTER EGYPTOLOGICAL AIN | LATIN SMALL LETTER EGYPTOLOGICAL AIN |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 7461 | U+1D25 | 7516 | U+1D5C | 42788 | U+A724 | 42789 | U+A725 |
| UTF-8 | 225 180 165 | E1 B4 A5 | 225 181 156 | E1 B5 9C | 234 156 164 | EA 9C A4 | 234 156 165 | EA 9C A5 |
| Numeric character reference | &#7461; | &#x1D25; | &#7516; | &#x1D5C; | &#42788; | &#xA724; | &#42789; | &#xA725; |
Character information :
| Preview | 𐎓 | 𐎓 | 𐡏 | 𐡏 | 𐤏 | 𐤏 | Ⲵ | Ⲵ | ⲵ | ⲵ |
| Unicode name | UGARITIC LETTER AIN | UGARITIC LETTER AIN | IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER AYIN | IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER AYIN | PHOENICIAN LETTER AIN | PHOENICIAN LETTER AIN | COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER OLD COPTIC AIN | COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER OLD COPTIC AIN | COPTIC SMALL LETTER OLD COPTIC AIN | COPTIC SMALL LETTER OLD COPTIC AIN |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 66451 | U+10393 | 67663 | U+1084F | 67855 | U+1090F | 11444 | U+2CB4 | 11445 | U+2CB5 |
| UTF-8 | 240 144 142 147 | F0 90 8E 93 | 240 144 161 143 | F0 90 A1 8F | 240 144 164 143 | F0 90 A4 8F | 226 178 180 | E2 B2 B4 | 226 178 181 | E2 B2 B5 |
| UTF-16 | 55296 57235 | D800 DF93 | 55298 56399 | D802 DC4F | 55298 56591 | D802 DD0F | 11444 | 2CB4 | 11445 | 2CB5 |
| Numeric character reference | &#66451; | &#x10393; | &#67663; | &#x1084F; | &#67855; | &#x1090F; | &#11444; | &#x2CB4; | &#11445; | &#x2CB5; |
Character information :
| Preview | 𐭏 | 𐭏 | 𐭥 | 𐭥 | 𐮅 | 𐮅 | ჺ | ჺ | Ჺ | Ჺ |
| Unicode name | INSCRIPTIONAL PARTHIAN LETTER AYIN | INSCRIPTIONAL PARTHIAN LETTER AYIN | INSCRIPTIONAL PAHLAVI LETTER WAW-AYIN-RESH | INSCRIPTIONAL PAHLAVI LETTER WAW-AYIN-RESH | PSALTER PAHLAVI LETTER WAW-AYIN-RESH | PSALTER PAHLAVI LETTER WAW-AYIN-RESH | GEORGIAN LETTER AIN | GEORGIAN LETTER AIN | GEORGIAN MTAVRULI CAPITAL LETTER AIN | GEORGIAN MTAVRULI CAPITAL LETTER AIN |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 68431 | U+10B4F | 68453 | U+10B65 | 68485 | U+10B85 | 4346 | U+10FA | 7354 | U+1CBA |
| UTF-8 | 240 144 173 143 | F0 90 AD 8F | 240 144 173 165 | F0 90 AD A5 | 240 144 174 133 | F0 90 AE 85 | 225 131 186 | E1 83 BA | 225 178 186 | E1 B2 BA |
| UTF-16 | 55298 57167 | D802 DF4F | 55298 57189 | D802 DF65 | 55298 57221 | D802 DF85 | 4346 | 10FA | 7354 | 1CBA |
| Numeric character reference | &#68431; | &#x10B4F; | &#68453; | &#x10B65; | &#68485; | &#x10B85; | &#4346; | &#x10FA; | &#7354; | &#x1CBA; |
Character information :
| Preview | 𐫙 | 𐫙 | ࡘ | ࡘ | 𐢗 | 𐢗 | 𐪒 | 𐪒 | 𐡰 | 𐡰 |
| Unicode name | MANICHAEAN LETTER AYIN | MANICHAEAN LETTER AYIN | MANDAIC LETTER AIN | MANDAIC LETTER AIN | NABATAEAN LETTER AYIN | NABATAEAN LETTER AYIN | OLD NORTH ARABIAN LETTER AIN | OLD NORTH ARABIAN LETTER AIN | PALMYRENE LETTER AYIN | PALMYRENE LETTER AYIN |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 68313 | U+10AD9 | 2136 | U+0858 | 67735 | U+10897 | 68242 | U+10A92 | 67696 | U+10870 |
| UTF-8 | 240 144 171 153 | F0 90 AB 99 | 224 161 152 | E0 A1 98 | 240 144 162 151 | F0 90 A2 97 | 240 144 170 146 | F0 90 AA 92 | 240 144 161 176 | F0 90 A1 B0 |
| UTF-16 | 55298 57049 | D802 DED9 | 2136 | 0858 | 55298 56471 | D802 DC97 | 55298 56978 | D802 DE92 | 55298 56432 | D802 DC70 |
| Numeric character reference | &#68313; | &#x10AD9; | &#2136; | &#x858; | &#67735; | &#x10897; | &#68242; | &#x10A92; | &#67696; | &#x10870; |
Character information :
| Preview | 𐼒 | 𐼒 | 𐼓 | 𐼓 | 𐼘 | 𐼘 | 𐼽 | 𐼽 | 𐽀 | 𐽀 |
| Unicode name | OLD SOGDIAN LETTER AYIN | OLD SOGDIAN LETTER AYIN | OLD SOGDIAN LETTER ALTERNATE AYIN | OLD SOGDIAN LETTER ALTERNATE AYIN | OLD SOGDIAN LETTER RESH-AYIN-DALETH | OLD SOGDIAN LETTER RESH-AYIN-DALETH | SOGDIAN LETTER AYIN | SOGDIAN LETTER AYIN | SOGDIAN LETTER RESH-AYIN | SOGDIAN LETTER RESH-AYIN |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 69394 | U+10F12 | 69395 | U+10F13 | 69400 | U+10F18 | 69437 | U+10F3D | 69440 | U+10F40 |
| UTF-8 | 240 144 188 146 | F0 90 BC 92 | 240 144 188 147 | F0 90 BC 93 | 240 144 188 152 | F0 90 BC 98 | 240 144 188 189 | F0 90 BC BD | 240 144 189 128 | F0 90 BD 80 |
| UTF-16 | 55299 57106 | D803 DF12 | 55299 57107 | D803 DF13 | 55299 57112 | D803 DF18 | 55299 57149 | D803 DF3D | 55299 57152 | D803 DF40 |
| Numeric character reference | &#69394; | &#x10F12; | &#69395; | &#x10F13; | &#69400; | &#x10F18; | &#69437; | &#x10F3D; | &#69440; | &#x10F40; |
Character information :
| Preview | 𐿯 | 𐿯 | 𐿀 | 𐿀 |
| Unicode name | ELYMAIC LETTER AYIN | ELYMAIC LETTER AYIN | CHORASMIAN LETTER AYIN | CHORASMIAN LETTER AYIN |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 69615 | U+10FEF | 69568 | U+10FC0 |
| UTF-8 | 240 144 191 175 | F0 90 BF AF | 240 144 191 128 | F0 90 BF 80 |
| UTF-16 | 55299 57327 | D803 DFEF | 55299 57280 | D803 DFC0 |
| Numeric character reference | &#69615; | &#x10FEF; | &#69568; | &#x10FC0; |