Ḥ

Latin H with dot below

Ḥ (minuscule: ḥ) is a letter of the Latin alphabet, formed from H with the addition of a dot diacritic.

Usage

Ḥ is used to represent the voiceless pharyngeal fricative (/ħ/) in Arabic, some Syriac languages (such as Turoyo and Chaldean Neo-Aramaic), Ancient Egyptian, and traditional Hebrew (whereas Hebrew-speaking Israelis and Ashkenazi Jews (though not strictly) have usually replaced the pronunciation of Ḥ in the respective eighth letter of the Semitic abjads, Ḥet with a voiceless uvular fricative (/χ/)). This sound also exists in the Tigrinya and Somali languages, in Modern South Arabian languages and in smaller North East African languages.

Asturian

Ḥ is used in Asturian to represent a voiceless glottal fricative (/h/) sound in Asturian words such as ḥou and ḥue, as well as some place names in the eastern part of Asturias (such as Ḥontoria and Villaḥormes).

Sanskrit

Ḥ represents visarga, the phone [h] in Sanskrit phonology in the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration. Other transliteration systems use different symbols.

See also

• Dot (diacritic)
• H (disambiguation)
• Heth