Hans Wehr transliteration
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The Hans Wehr transliteration system is used in the Hans Wehr dictionary. There was a change in the transliteration system between two editions of the dictionary. The transliteration system uses no digraphs. It is always displayed in the italic style of Latin-alphabet font. It uses two types of diacritics. It uses a dot underneath or upside for some letters. It also uses a line underneath for other letters. For long vowels a macron is used (a line on top of the letter). No capital letters are used (they were in previous editions).
- . dot underneath the letter
- _ line underneath the letter
- - line on top of the letter
The transliteration of the Arabic alphabet.
| Letter | Name | Transliteration | 4th English Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| ا | Alif | ā or ʾ | |
| ب | Bāʾ | b | |
| ت | Tāʾ | t | |
| ث | Ṯāʾ | ṯ | |
| ج | Ğīm | ğ | j |
| ح | Ḥāʾ | ḥ | |
| خ | Ḫāʾ | ḫ | ḵ |
| د | Dāl | d | |
| ذ | Ḏāl | ḏ | |
| ر | Rāʾ | r | |
| ز | Zāy | z | |
| س | Sīn | s | |
| ش | Šīn | š | |
| ص | Ṣād | ṣ | |
| ض | Ḍād | ḍ | |
| ط | Ṭāʾ | ṭ | |
| ظ | Ẓāʾ | ẓ | |
| ع | ʿAin | ʿ | |
| غ | Ġain | ġ | ḡ |
| ف | Fāʾ | f | |
| ق | Qāf | q | |
| ك | Kāf | k | |
| ل | Lām | l | |
| م | Mīm | m | |
| ن | Nūn | n | |
| ه | Hāʾ | h | |
| و | Wāw | w or ū | |
| ي | Yāʾ | y or ī |
- Hamza (ء): Transliterated as ʾ. Never transliterated at the beginning of a word.
- No special letter for the tāʾ marbūṭa (ة). Either the letter "t" or the letter "h" depending on context. When a word with a tāʾ marbūṭa is written alone a normal letter "h" (or just as an "a") is used to transcribe it. This depends on pronunciation.
- Native Arabic long vowels: ā ī ū
- Long vowels in borrowed words: ē ō
- Diphthongs: ai, au
- Short vowels: Fatḥa should be transcribed as "a", kasra as "i" and ḍamma as "u".
- Non-Standard Arabic consonants: p (پ), ž (ژ), g (گ)
- Alif maqsūra (ى): ā
- Madda (آ): ʾā
- Words that end in a letter yāʾ (يّ) that could be written with a šadda (consonant gemination symbol): This nisba ending is transliterated as īy.
- Capitalization: in the current Hans Wehr transliteration system (the fourth edition) no capital letters are used whatsoever, even in proper nouns; the reason given for this is that the upper-case /lower-case contrast does not exist in Arabic writing, so deciding whether a word should begin with a capital letter would be pointless guess work (it is pointless because the definition of the word given beside the word in the dictionary).
- Arabic definite Article: The Arabic definite article ال is always rendered as "al-" except where assimilation occurs (al + šams BECOMES aš-šams). Never does the "a" in "al-" change.
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