# He (letter)

He is the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician hē 𐤄, Hebrew hē ה‎, Aramaic hē 𐡄, Syriac hē ܗ, and Arabic hāʾ ه‎. It is also related to the Ancient North Arabian 𐪀‎‎‎, South Arabian 𐩠, and Ge'ez ሀ. Its sound value is the voiceless glottal fricative ([h]).
The proto-Canaanite letter gave rise to the Greek Epsilon Ε ε, Etruscan 𐌄, Latin E, Ë and Ɛ, and Cyrillic Е, Ё, Є, Э, and Ҩ. He, like all Phoenician letters, represented a consonant, but the Latin, Greek and Cyrillic equivalents have all come to represent vowel sounds.

## Origins

In Proto-Northwest Semitic there were still three voiceless fricatives: uvular ḫ [χ], glottal h [h], and pharyngeal ḥ [ħ]. In the Wadi el-Hol script, these appear to be expressed by derivatives of the following Egyptian hieroglyphs
ḫayt "thread",
hillul "jubilation", compare South Arabian h, ḥ, ḫ, Ge'ez ሀ, ሐ, ኀ, and
ḥasir "court".
In the Phoenician alphabet, ḫayt and ḥasir are merged into Heth "fence", while hillul is replaced by He "window".

## Arabic hāʾ

The letter is named hāʾ. It is written in several ways depending on its position in the word:
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ه‎ | ـه‎ | ـهـ‎ | هـ‎ |
Hāʾ is used as a suffix (with the harakat dictated by ʾIʿrab) indicating possession, indicating that the noun marked with the suffix belongs to a specific masculine possessor; for example, كِتَاب kitāb ("book") becomes كِتَابُهُ kitābuhu ('his book') with the addition of final hāʾ; the possessor is implied in the suffix. A longer example, هُوَ يَقْرَأُ كِتَابَهُ, (huwa yaqraʼu kitābahu, "he reads his book") more clearly indicates the possessor. Hāʾ is also used as the Arabic abbreviation for dates following the Islamic era AH. The medial form of hāʾ resembles either the number 8 or the wings of a butterfly. The letter hāʾ, especially its isolated form is informally written as the initial form of the letter itself.
The hāʾ suffix appended to a verb represents a masculine object (e.g. يَقْرَأُهُ, yaqraʾuhu, 'he reads it').
The feminine form of this construction is in both cases ـهَا -hā.
In Nastaʿlīq the letter has a variant, gol he, with its own particular shapes. As Urdu and other languages of Pakistan are usually written in Nastaʿlīq, they normally employ this variant, which is given an independent code point (U+06C1) for compatibility:
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Naskh glyph form: (Help) | ہ‎ | ـہ‎ | ـہـ‎ | ہـ‎ |
| Nastaʿlīq glyph form: | ہ | ــــہ | ــــہــــ | ہــــ |
For aspiration and breathy voice Urdu and other languages of Pakistan use the medial (in Nastaliq script) or initial (in Naskh script) form of hāʾ, called in Urdu do cashmī he ('two-eyed he'):
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Naskh glyph form: (Help) | ھ‎ | ـھ‎ | ـھـ‎ | ھـ‎ |
| Nastaʿlīq glyph form: | ھ | ــــھ | ــــھــــ | ھــــ |
Several Turkic languages of Central Asia like Uyghur as well as Kurdish also use this letter for fricative /h/.

### Arabic ae

Many Turkic languages of Central Asia like Uyghur as well as Kurdish use the modification of the letter for front vowels /æ/ or /ɛ/. This has its own code point (U+06D5). To distinguish it from Arabic hāʾ /h/ the letter lacks its initial and medial forms:
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ە‎ | ـە‎ | ـە‎ | ە‎ |
By contrast, the letter used for /h/, appearing in loanwords, uses only the initial and medial forms of the Arabic hāʾ, even in isolated and final positions. In Unicode, U+06BE ھ ARABIC LETTER HEH DOACHASHMEE is used for this purpose.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ھ‎ | ـھ‎ | ـھـ‎ | ھـ‎ |
Example words in Uyghur include شاھ (shah), a loanword from Persian, and سۈلھ (sülh), a loanword from Arabic.

## Hebrew heh

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

### Pronunciation

In modern Hebrew, the letter represents a voiceless glottal fricative /h/, and may also be dropped, although this pronunciation is seen as substandard.
Also, in many variant Hebrew pronunciations the letter may represent a glottal stop. In word-final position, Hei is often used to indicate an a-vowel, usually that of qamatz ( ָ‎ ), and in this sense functions like Aleph, Vav, and Yud as a mater lectionis, indicating the presence of a long vowel. However, it may also be used to indicate the sounds /e/ or /o/, as in עוֹשֶׂה‎ (/ose/, 'makes') or פֹּה‎ (/po/, 'here').
Hei, along with Aleph, Ayin, Reish, and Khet, cannot receive a dagesh. Nonetheless, it does receive a marking identical to the dagesh, to form Hei-mappiq (הּ‎). Although indistinguishable for most modern speakers or readers of Hebrew, the mapiq is placed in a word-final Hei to indicate that the letter is not merely a mater lectionis but the consonant should be aspirated in that position. It is generally used in Hebrew to indicate the third-person feminine singular genitive marker. Today, such a pronunciation only occurs in religious contexts and even then often only by careful readers of the scriptures.

### Significance of He

In gematria, He symbolizes the number five, and when used at the beginning of Hebrew years, it means 5000 (i.e. התשנ״ד in numbers would be the date 5754).
Attached to words, He may have three possible meanings:
* A preposition meaning the definite article "the", or the relative pronouns 'that', or 'who' (as in 'a boy who reads'). For example, yeled, 'a boy'; hayeled, 'the boy'.
* A prefix indicating that the sentence is a question. (For example, yadata, 'You knew'; Hayadata?, 'Did you know?')
* A suffix after place names indicating movement towards the given noun. (For example, Yerushalayim, 'Jerusalem'; Yerushalaymah, 'towards Jerusalem'.)
In modern Hebrew the frequency of the usage of hei, out of all the letters, is 8.18%.
He, representing five in gematria, is often found on amulets, symbolizing the five fingers of a hand, a very common talismanic symbol.

#### In Judaism

He is often used to represent the name of God as an abbreviation for Hashem, which means The Name and is a way of saying God without actually saying the name of God (YHWH). In print, Hashem is usually written as Hei with a geresh: ה׳‎.

## Syriac heh

* Heh
* Madnḫaya Heh
* Serṭo Heh
* Esṭrangela Heh
In the Syriac alphabet, the fifth letter is ܗ — Heh (ܗܹܐ). It is pronounced as an [h]. At the end of a word with a point above it, it represents the third-person feminine singular suffix. Without the point, it stands for the masculine equivalent. Standing alone with a horizontal line above it, it is the abbreviation for either hānoh (ܗܵܢܘܿ), meaning 'this is' or 'that is', or halelûya (ܗܵܠܹܠܘܼܝܵܐ). As a numeral, he represents the letter 300000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

## Character encodings

Character information :
| Preview | ה | ה | ه | ه | ھ | ھ | ہ | ہ | ە | ە | ܗ | ܗ | ࠄ | ࠄ | ࡄ | ࡄ | ሀ | ሀ |
| Unicode name | HEBREW LETTER HE | HEBREW LETTER HE | ARABIC LETTER HEH | ARABIC LETTER HEH | ARABIC LETTER HEH DOCHASMEE | ARABIC LETTER HEH DOCHASMEE | ARABIC LETTER HEH GOAL | ARABIC LETTER HEH GOAL | ARABIC LETTER AE | ARABIC LETTER AE | SYRIAC LETTER HE | SYRIAC LETTER HE | SAMARITAN LETTER IY | SAMARITAN LETTER IY | MANDAIC LETTER AH | MANDAIC LETTER AH | ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE HA | ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE HA |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1492 | U+05D4 | 1607 | U+0647 | 1726 | U+06BE | 1729 | U+06C1 | 1749 | U+06D5 | 1815 | U+0717 | 2052 | U+0804 | 2116 | U+0844 | 4608 | U+1200 |
| UTF-8 | 215 148 | D7 94 | 217 135 | D9 87 | 218 190 | DA BE | 219 129 | DB 81 | 219 149 | DB 95 | 220 151 | DC 97 | 224 160 132 | E0 A0 84 | 224 161 132 | E0 A1 84 | 225 136 128 | E1 88 80 |
| Numeric character reference | &#1492; | &#x5D4; | &#1607; | &#x647; | &#1726; | &#x6BE; | &#1729; | &#x6C1; | &#1749; | &#x6D5; | &#1815; | &#x717; | &#2052; | &#x804; | &#2116; | &#x844; | &#4608; | &#x1200; |
Character information :
| Preview | 𐎅 | 𐎅 | 𐡄 | 𐡄 | 𐡤 | 𐡤 | 𐢇 | 𐢇 | 𐣤 | 𐣤 | 𐤄 | 𐤄 | 𐩠 | 𐩠 | 𐪀 | 𐪀 | 𐿤 | 𐿤 |
| Unicode name | UGARITIC LETTER HO | UGARITIC LETTER HO | IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER HE | IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER HE | PALMYRENE LETTER HE | PALMYRENE LETTER HE | NABATAEAN LETTER HE | NABATAEAN LETTER HE | HATRAN LETTER HE | HATRAN LETTER HE | PHOENICIAN LETTER HE | PHOENICIAN LETTER HE | OLD SOUTH ARABIAN LETTER HE | OLD SOUTH ARABIAN LETTER HE | OLD NORTH ARABIAN LETTER HEH | OLD NORTH ARABIAN LETTER HEH | ELYMAIC LETTER HE | ELYMAIC LETTER HE |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 66437 | U+10385 | 67652 | U+10844 | 67684 | U+10864 | 67719 | U+10887 | 67812 | U+108E4 | 67844 | U+10904 | 68192 | U+10A60 | 68224 | U+10A80 | 69604 | U+10FE4 |
| UTF-8 | 240 144 142 133 | F0 90 8E 85 | 240 144 161 132 | F0 90 A1 84 | 240 144 161 164 | F0 90 A1 A4 | 240 144 162 135 | F0 90 A2 87 | 240 144 163 164 | F0 90 A3 A4 | 240 144 164 132 | F0 90 A4 84 | 240 144 169 160 | F0 90 A9 A0 | 240 144 170 128 | F0 90 AA 80 | 240 144 191 164 | F0 90 BF A4 |
| UTF-16 | 55296 57221 | D800 DF85 | 55298 56388 | D802 DC44 | 55298 56420 | D802 DC64 | 55298 56455 | D802 DC87 | 55298 56548 | D802 DCE4 | 55298 56580 | D802 DD04 | 55298 56928 | D802 DE60 | 55298 56960 | D802 DE80 | 55299 57316 | D803 DFE4 |
| Numeric character reference | &#66437; | &#x10385; | &#67652; | &#x10844; | &#67684; | &#x10864; | &#67719; | &#x10887; | &#67812; | &#x108E4; | &#67844; | &#x10904; | &#68192; | &#x10A60; | &#68224; | &#x10A80; | &#69604; | &#x10FE4; |
Character information :
| Preview | 𐫆 | 𐫆 | 𐭄 | 𐭄 | 𐭤 | 𐭤 | 𐮄 | 𐮄 | 𐼅 | 𐼅 | 𐼳 | 𐼳 | 𐾵 | 𐾵 |
| Unicode name | MANICHAEAN LETTER HE | MANICHAEAN LETTER HE | INSCRIPTIONAL PARTHIAN LETTER HE | INSCRIPTIONAL PARTHIAN LETTER HE | INSCRIPTIONAL PAHLAVI LETTER HE | INSCRIPTIONAL PAHLAVI LETTER HE | PSALTER PAHLAVI LETTER HE | PSALTER PAHLAVI LETTER HE | OLD SOGDIAN LETTER HE | OLD SOGDIAN LETTER HE | SOGDIAN LETTER HE | SOGDIAN LETTER HE | CHORASMIAN LETTER HE | CHORASMIAN LETTER HE |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 68294 | U+10AC6 | 68420 | U+10B44 | 68452 | U+10B64 | 68484 | U+10B84 | 69381 | U+10F05 | 69427 | U+10F33 | 69557 | U+10FB5 |
| UTF-8 | 240 144 171 134 | F0 90 AB 86 | 240 144 173 132 | F0 90 AD 84 | 240 144 173 164 | F0 90 AD A4 | 240 144 174 132 | F0 90 AE 84 | 240 144 188 133 | F0 90 BC 85 | 240 144 188 179 | F0 90 BC B3 | 240 144 190 181 | F0 90 BE B5 |
| UTF-16 | 55298 57030 | D802 DEC6 | 55298 57156 | D802 DF44 | 55298 57188 | D802 DF64 | 55298 57220 | D802 DF84 | 55299 57093 | D803 DF05 | 55299 57139 | D803 DF33 | 55299 57269 | D803 DFB5 |
| Numeric character reference | &#68294; | &#x10AC6; | &#68420; | &#x10B44; | &#68452; | &#x10B64; | &#68484; | &#x10B84; | &#69381; | &#x10F05; | &#69427; | &#x10F33; | &#69557; | &#x10FB5; |