noun
- Plural of hamza; a diacritical mark in Arabic script representing a glottal stop.
Usage: linguistics; Arabic language
Examples
- The word 'ayn contains a hamza at the beginning.
- Arabic students must learn to recognize and write hamzas correctly.
- Hamzas can appear at the start, middle, or end of a word in Arabic.
- The placement of hamzas affects the pronunciation of Arabic words.
- In modern Arabic orthography, hamzas are marked with a special diacritical sign.