Zaa (ظ) — Arabic Letter Guide
An emphatic, "heavy" version of the voiced "th" sound — like a dark "th" in "this" with the tongue pulled back.
Last updated: May 2026 · Letter 17 of 28
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Zaa — ẓāʾ (ظَاء)
- Transliteration
- ẓ
- IPA
- ðˤ
- Unicode
- U+0638
- Keyboard
- /
- Finger
- right pinky
- Connects?
- Yes — on both sides
What is the letter Zaa?
Zaa is the seventeenth letter of the Arabic alphabet and the last of the four emphatic letters. It shares the flat base + stroke shape with taa and adds a dot above. Zaa is the emphatic counterpart of dhal (ذ).
The four forms of Zaa
Arabic letters change shape depending on their position in a word. Zaa has four distinct forms:
| Position | Shape | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Isolated | ظ | Standing alone |
| Initial | ظـ | At the start of a word, connecting to the right |
| Medial | ـظـ | In the middle of a word, connecting on both sides |
| Final | ـظ | At the end of a word, connecting only on the right |
How to type Zaa on Arabic keyboard
Arabic 101 key: press /.
Finger: right pinky finger.
The key for Zaa is mapped via the standard Arabic 101 keyboard layout, which is the default Arabic input source on Windows, macOS (as “Arabic - PC”), and most Linux distributions.
How to pronounce Zaa
Start with dhal (ذ, voiced "th"), then pull your tongue back. The sound is heavy and darkens following vowels. Many spoken dialects merge zaa with dhal or with the emphatic dad (ض).
Example words with Zaa
Letters often confused with Zaa
taa
Same base, no dot — taa is "ṭ".
dhal
Dhal is the soft voiced "th"; zaa is the emphatic version.
dad
In some dialects (Egyptian, Levantine) zaa is pronounced identically to dad.
Build muscle memory for the whole alphabet
Knowing where Zaa sits on the keyboard is one thing — being able to touch-type it without thinking is another. Our drills work through every letter in the alphabet with structured progression.
Frequently asked questions
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How do I type zaa (ظ) on the Arabic 101 keyboard?
Press the / (forward slash) key — zaa is reached by your right pinky on the bottom row.
Is zaa pronounced like dad in modern Arabic?
In many spoken Arabic dialects (Egyptian, Levantine, Iraqi), yes — speakers pronounce zaa identically to dad. In Modern Standard Arabic and Quranic recitation, the two are kept distinct.
Is zaa a common letter?
No — zaa is one of the rarest letters in Arabic, appearing in only a small number of root words. You can read pages of Arabic text without encountering it.
Related Arabic letters
Or see the full Arabic 101 keyboard layout.