Word.ws English Dictionary

hamza in Arabic

هَمْزَة hamza

hamza in Arabic: هَمْزَة (hamza). In English, hamza means 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".

Arabic words for hamza

Arabic sign representing a glottal stop
هَمْزَة hamza

English meaning of hamza

  1. noun 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".

Full definition of hamza

hamza in other languages

Questions about hamza in Arabic

What is the meaning of hamza in Arabic?
Hamza in Arabic is هَمْزَة (hamza).
ما معنى كلمة hamza؟
Hamza: هَمْزَة (hamza).
What does hamza mean in English?
Hamza means 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".

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hamza (page history and authors), its translation table and English meanings. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the Arabic words and English meanings and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hamza.wav.

Cite this page: “hamza meaning in Arabic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/arabic/hamza. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.