The Arabic alphabet is the alphabet (technically abjad) used to write Arabic, as well as Farsi, Urdu, Pashto, and several other languages. It is written right to left.

It is descended from a cursive form of the Aramaic alphabet, which was descended from the Phoenician alphabet.

The shape of the Arabic letters change depending on whether they are at the beginning, middle, or end of a word. The letters shown below are the stand-alone shapes. Short vowels are generally not written, but they can be indicated by diacritics if necessary.

Letter	Name	Approximate Sound	Notes
ا	'Alif	a, glottal stop
ب	Ba'	b
ت	Ta'	t
ث	Tha'	th (voiceless)
ج	Gim	g, j
ح	Ha'	h
خ	Kha'	kh, h
د	Dal	d
ذ	Dhal	th (voiced)
ر	Ra'	r
ز	Zay	z
س	Sin	s
ش	Shin	sh
ص	Sad	s
ض	Dad	d
ط	Ta'	t
ظ	Za'	z
ع	`Ayn	pharyngeal fricative
غ	Ghayn	g, gh
ف	Fa'	f
ق	Qaf	q
ك	Kaf	k
ل	Lam	l
م	Mim	m
ن	Nun	n
ه	Ha'	h
و	Waw	w, u
ي	Ya'	y, i
ء	Hamza	glottal stop	technically a diacritic not a letter