hamza
nounEtymology Borrowed from Arabic هَمْزَة (hamza).
1
A sign used in the written Arabic language representing a glottal stop. Hamza may appear as a stand-alone letter (ء (ʔ)) or most commonly diacritically over or under other letters, e.g. أ (ʔ) (over an alif [ا]), إ (ʔ) (under an alif), ؤ (ʔ) (over a wāw [و]) or ئ (ʔ) (over a dotless yāʾ [ى]). The exact seat of hamza is governed by an orthographic rule – the "seat of hamza rule".
- Written words such as Qurʼan (which in written Arabic uses a symbol know as hamza to indicate the glottal stop) are rendered with an apostrophe.2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags, Bodleian Library, page 33:
- Derived terms
- hamzated, unhamzated