Ḥ (

minuscule Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally '' minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing system ...

: ḥ) is a letter of the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...

, formed from H with the addition of a dot diacritic.

Usage

Ḥ is used to represent the

voiceless pharyngeal fricative The voiceless pharyngeal fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some Speech communication, spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is an h with stroke, h-bar, , and the equivalent ...

() in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, some Syriac languages (such as

Turoyo Turoyo (), also referred to as Surayt (), or modern Suryoyo (), is a Central Neo-Aramaic language traditionally spoken by the Syriac Christian community in the Tur Abdin region located in southeastern Turkey and in northeastern Syria. Turoyo ...

and Sureth),

Ancient Egyptian Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

, and traditional

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

(whereas Hebrew-speaking Israelis and

Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...

(though not strictly) have usually replaced the pronunciation of Ḥ in the respective eighth letter of the

Semitic abjads An abjad ( or abgad) is a writing system in which only consonants are represented, leaving the vowel sounds to be inferred by the reader. This contrasts with alphabets, which provide graphemes for both consonants and vowels. The term was introd ...

Ḥet Heth, sometimes written Chet or Ḥet, is the eighth Letter (alphabet), letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician ''ḥēt'' 𐤇, Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew ''ḥēt'' , Aramaic alphabet, Aramaic ''ḥēṯ'' 𐡇, ...

with a

voiceless uvular fricative The voiceless uvular fricative is a type of consonantal sound that is used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , the Greek chi. The sound is represented by (ex with underdo ...

()). This sound also exists in the Tigrinya and

Somali language Somali is an Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic languages, Cushitic branch, primarily spoken by the Somalis, Somali people, native to Greater Somalia. It is an official language in Somalia, Somaliland, and Ethio ...

s, in

Modern South Arabian languages The Modern South Arabian languages, also known as Eastern South Semitic languages, are a group of endangered languages spoken by small populations inhabiting the Arabian Peninsula, in Yemen and Oman, and Socotra Island. Together with the Ethiose ...

and in smaller North East African languages.

Asturian

Ḥ is used in Asturian to represent a

voiceless glottal fricative The voiceless glottal fricative, sometimes called voiceless glottal transition or the aspirate, is a type of sound used in some spoken languages that patterns like a fricative or approximant consonant '' phonologically'', but often lacks the ...

(/h/) sound in Asturian words such as ḥou and ḥue, as well as some place names in the eastern part of

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

(such as

Ḥontoria Ḥontoria () is one of 28 parishes (administrative divisions) in Llanes, a municipality within the province and autonomous community of Asturias, in northern Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, South ...

and

Villaḥormes Villaḥormes () (formerly, Villahormes, in Spanish language, until 2005 when it changed its name to the Asturian one) is a village in the parish of Ḥontoria in Llanes municipality, in eastern Asturias, Spain. Its railway station has linked t ...

).''Normes Ortográfiques''
Academia de la Llingua Asturiana, Oviedo/Uviéu (Spain), 2012.

Sanskrit

Ḥ represents

visarga In Sanskrit phonology, Visarga () is the name of the voiceless glottal fricative, written in Devanagari as '' . It was also called, equivalently, ' by earlier grammarians. The word ''visarga'' () literally means "sending forth, discharge". Visa ...

, the phone in Sanskrit phonology in the

International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

. Other transliteration systems use different symbols.

Usage

Asturian

Sanskrit

References

See also