Arabic: The Arabizi Alphabet
Arabizi writes Arabic with Latin letters, using numbers for the sounds English doesn’t have. Each digit was chosen because it looks like the Arabic letter (3 looks like a mirrored ع). This page gathers my old one-letter cards. For the background, see Arabic: Start Here.
| Arabizi | Arabic letter | Name | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | ء | hamza | glottal stop, the catch in “uh-oh” | su2al (سؤال) question |
| 3 | ع | ʿayn | a voiced squeeze deep in the throat | 3arabi (عربي) Arabic |
| 3’ or gh | غ | ghayn | gargled gh, like a French r | ghali (غالي) expensive |
| 5 or kh | خ | khāʾ | ch of Scottish “loch” | 5alas (خلاص) enough, done |
| 6 | ط | ṭāʾ | emphatic, heavy t | 6ayyib (طيب) good, OK |
| 6' | ظ | ẓāʾ | emphatic dh / z | 6’uhr (ظهر) noon |
| 7 | ح | ḥāʾ | breathy h from the throat | 7abibi (حبيبي) my dear |
| 8 | ق | qāf | k pronounced far back | 8alb (قلب) heart |
| 9 | ص | ṣād | emphatic, heavy s | 9aba7 (صباح) morning |
Some regions use 9 for qāf and 8 for nothing at all, so expect variation. ma3a salama (مع السلامة) is “goodbye”.
The letters
2 – hamza (ء)
3 – ʿayn (ع)
3’ – ghayn (غ)
5 – khāʾ (خ)
6 – ṭāʾ (ط)
6’ – ẓāʾ (ظ)
7 – ḥāʾ (ح)
8 – qāf (ق)
9 – ṣād (ص)
