Sukun (سُكُون) in Arabic
Indicates the absence of any vowel sound after the letter.
Last updated: May 2026
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Sukun — sukūn
Silence — no vowel follows the letter. The letter is read as a bare consonant.
- Position
- above
- Family
- harakat
- Unicode
- U+0652
- Keyboard
- Shift + S
What does Sukun mean?
Sukun (literally "stillness" in Arabic) marks a consonant that carries no vowel. Where fatha, kasra and damma each add a short vowel after the consonant, sukun signals "stop here, just the consonant". It is drawn as a small circle above the letter.
Sukun is essential for marking consonant clusters and word-final consonants. Without it, you cannot tell whether a letter at the end of a syllable has a vowel after it or not. Every vocalised Arabic text uses sukun heavily.
How to type Sukun on Arabic keyboard
Shortcut on Arabic 101: Shift + S
Typing order: type the base letter first, then hold Shift and press the diacritic key. Most Arabic input requires this letter-then-diacritic sequence — typing the diacritic first will produce nothing or a disconnected mark.
Example: to type بْ, press the base letter key, then Shift + S.
Example words with Sukun
Practice typing Sukun
Knowing the shortcut is one thing — building the muscle memory is another. Our diacritics drills weave fatha, kasra, damma, shadda, sukun, and the tanween marks into real words and full sentences.
Frequently asked questions
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How do I type sukun on the Arabic keyboard?
On the Arabic 101 keyboard layout, hold Shift and press S. Type the base letter first, then add the sukun — for example, type ب, then Shift+S to produce بْ.
What's the difference between sukun and not writing any diacritic at all?
In unvocalised modern Arabic (newspapers, novels, social media), no diacritics are written at all and the reader infers vowels from context. In vocalised Arabic (Quran, learner texts, dictionaries), every consonant must carry either a haraka (fatha/kasra/damma) or sukun. Sukun is the explicit "no vowel" mark — leaving a letter bare in vocalised text would be incomplete.
Can sukun appear on the first letter of a word?
No. Arabic syllables always start with a consonant + vowel; the first letter of a word cannot be a bare consonant. Sukun therefore never appears on the first letter — it can only appear on letters that close a syllable.
Related diacritics
Or see the full Arabic diacritics guide.