noun
- A diacritical mark in Arabic script representing a glottal stop, written as a small sign above or below a letter.
Usage: linguistics; also spelled 'hamzah'
Examples
- The word 'ayn begins with a hamza in Arabic.
- Students learning Arabic must master the pronunciation and placement of the hamza.
- In transliteration, the hamza is often represented by an apostrophe.
- The hamza can appear at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.
- Without proper hamza marking, the text may be difficult for native speakers to read correctly.