Key: Consonants



Our transcription is designed for the ease of Turkish readers. In the pop-up notes international standard transliteration is used to show the Arabic, Farsi, and Old Turkish etymologes of the Ottoman Turkish words.

Arabic / Osm. Letter Our Turkish Transcription International Transliteration                   Examples... Notes
elif - ﺍ      Transcribed as any vowel, commonly a or i in initial position, or long â in medial or final position
be - ﺐ  b - sometimes p       b        Written b except  in the Turkish ending -ip/-ıp 
pe – پ  p p  
te - ﺖ  t t  
se - ﺙ   s - rarely  
cim - ﺝ  c - sometimes ç         c          
çim - ﭺ  ç ç   
ha - ﺡ  h  
hı - ﺥ                   ḫ or kh    
dal - ﺪ       d d  
zel - ﺬ    
re - ﺭ   r r  
ze - ﺯ   z  
sin - ﺱ   s  
şın - ﺵ  ş ş  
sad - ﺹ                         s  
dad - ﺽ                           
tı ﻂ             or d    The Arabic letter "tı" is transcribed "d" in some words, e.g. Osm.Tü. ṭokuz = dokuz.
zı - ﻆ        
ayın - ﻉ               ʿ ʿ The Arabic hard glottal stop written as a reverse hook, e.g. sâʿat, ʿasker, katʿ 
gayın - ﻍ          ğ  or ġ ġ  Ör.: ağır, bağış, but ġayri, peyġamber 
fe - ﻑ  f f  
kaf - ﻕ      k     ḳ or q   Written k in words with Turkish back vowels: a - ı - o - u, and in Arabic and Farsi words
kef, gef - ﻙ   k, g, or Written k in words with Turkish front vowels: e - i - ö - ü, but also as g especially in Farsi words, or ḡ as in deḡil  
nef - ﯓ  (sağır kef) ŋ  ŋ or ñ  Turkic languages have two n sounds, e.g. onuŋ, baŋa, soŋra; the "hooked ŋ" is obscured in Modern Turkish spelling. 
lam - ﻝ  l l  
mim - ﻡ  m m  
nun - ﻦ  n n  
vav - ﻭ   v w Ar. waw (vav) may  also be transcribed with vowels o - ö - u  - ü 
he- ﻩ  h h Ar. he may be transcribed as the vowels a or e 
lam elif - ﻻ  or la or or le or la  
ye - ﻯ  y y May also represent the Arabic letter hemze, e.g. cāʾiz, fāʾide
hemze - ﺀ      ʾ ʾ This is the Arabic soft glottal stop transcribed as a forward hook, e.g. şeyʾi, risâleʾ-i sâniye, teʾsis, İsrâʾil