Yodh (also spelled yud, yod, jod, or jodh) is the tenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Y?d 
, Hebrew Y?d ?, Aramaic Yodh 
, Syriac Y?? ?, and Arabic Y?? ? (in abjadi order, 28th in modern order). Its sound value is /j/ in all languages for which it is used; in many languages, it also serves as a long vowel, representing /i?/.
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| Phonemic representation | j, i, e | |||||||||
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| Position in alphabet | 10 | |||||||||
| Numerical value | 10 | |||||||||
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The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Iota (?), Latin I, J, Cyrillic ?, Coptic iauda (?) and Gothic eis 
.
Contents
Origins
Yodh is originated from a pictograph of a “hand” that ultimately derives from Proto-Semitic *yad-. It may be related to the Egyptian hieroglyph of an “arm” or “hand”
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Arabic y??
The letter ? is named y?? (????). It is written in several ways depending on its position in the word:
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: | ?? | ??? | ???? | ??? |
It is pronounced in four ways:
- As a consonant, it is pronounced as a palatal approximant /j/, typically at the beginnings of words in front of short or long vowels.
- A long /i?/ usually in the middle or end of words. In this case it has no diacritic, but could be marked with a kasra in the preceding letter in some traditions.
- A long /e?/ In many dialects, as a result of the monophthongization that underwent the diphthong /aj/ in most of the words.
- A part of a diphthong, /aj/. Then, it has no diacritic but could be marked with a sukun in some traditions. The preceding consonant could have no diacritic or have fat?a sign, hinting to the first vowel in the diphthong, i.e. /a/.
As a vowel, y?? can serve as the "seat" of the hamza: ?
Y?? serves several functions in the Arabic language. Y?? as a prefix is the marker for a singular imperfective verb, as in ??????? yaktub "he writes" from the root ?-?-? K-T-B ("write, writing"). Y?? with a shadda is particularly used to turn a noun into an adjective, called a nisbah (???????). For instance, ????? Mi?r (Egypt) ? ???????? Mi?riyy (Egyptian). The transformation can be more abstract; for instance, ???????? maw??? (matter, object) ? ??????????? maw???iyy (objective). Still other uses of this function can be a bit further from the root: ?????????? ishtir?k (cooperation) ? ????????????? ishtir?kiyy (socialist). The common pronunciation of the final /-ijj/ is most often pronounced as or .
A form similar to but distinguished from y?? is the ?alif maq??rah (????? ??????????) "broken alif", with the form ?. It indicates a final long /a?/.
In Egypt, Sudan and sometimes the Maghreb, the final form is always ? (without dots), both in handwriting and in print, representing both final /-i?/ and /-a?/. ? representing final /-a?/ (DIN 31635 transliteration: ?) is less likely to occur in Modern Standard Arabic. In this case, it is commonly known as, especially in Egypt, ????? ???????? ?alif layyinah . In Egypt, it is always short if used in Egyptian Arabic and most commonly short in Modern Standard Arabic, as well.
Perso-Arabic ye
In the Persian alphabet, the letter is generally called ye following Persian-language custom. In its final form, the letter does not have dots (?), much like the Arabic ?alif maq??rah or, more to the point, much like the custom in Egypt, Sudan and sometimes Maghreb. On account of this difference, Perso-Arabic ye is located at a different Unicode code point than both of the standard Arabic letters.
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: | ?? | ??? | ???? | ??? |
In computers, the Persian version of the letter automatically appears with two dots initially and medially: (?? ??? ??). The Arabic version without dots ? is not used initially or medially, and it is not joinable initially or medially in all fonts. However, it is used in the Uyghur Arabic alphabet and the Arabic-based Kyrgyz alphabet: (?? ????).
