Hamza

Hamza (ء) represents the glottal stop in Arabic — a sound made by briefly closing the throat. Unlike most Arabic letters, hamza does not have a fixed position on the baseline. Instead, it can appear independently or sit on a "carrier" letter: alef (أ / إ), waw (ؤ), or yāʾ (ئ), depending on the surrounding vowel context.

Typographic Complexity

The rules governing which carrier hamza sits on are among the most complex in Arabic orthography, based on the vowels before and after it. For type designers, hamza creates unique spacing and positioning challenges: it must be clearly visible as a distinct element while sitting comfortably on its carrier, and it must not collide with dots or diacritics. In some typefaces, hamza on yāʾ (ئ) can be especially tricky because the hamza, dots, and any vowel marks all compete for vertical space.

Hamza Forms