Geresh

For the Torah cantillation mark of the same name, see Geresh (trope).

Geresh
diacritic, punctuation mark	׳	וכו׳
cantillation mark	֜ or ֝	הָאָ֜רֶץ
compare with apostrophes
'וכו׳', 'הָאָ֜רֶץ'

Hebrew punctuation
Hebrew-specific marks orthographically similar marks maqaf ־‎ -‎ hyphen geresh ֜‎ ֝‎ ׳‎ ' apostrophe gershayim ֞‎ ״‎ " quotation mark meteg ֽ‎   , comma inverted nun ׆ [ bracket cantillation cantillation Sof passuk ׃   paseq ׀ etnachta ֑   segol ֒ shalshelet ֓   zaqef qatan ֔ zaqef gadol ֕   tifcha ֖ revia ֗   zarqa ֘ pashta ֙   yetiv ֚ tevir ֛   geresh ֜ geresh muqdam ֝   gershayim ֞ qarney para ֟   telisha gedola ֠ pazer ֡   atnah hafukh ֢ munach ֣   mahapakh ֤ merkha ֥   merkha kefula ֦ darga ֧   qadma ֨ telisha qetana ֩   yerah ben yomo ֪ ole ֫   iluy ֬ dehi ֭   zinor ֮

Geresh (׳ in Hebrew: גֶּרֶשׁ‎‎ or גֵּרֶשׁ‎‎ [ˈɡeʁeʃ], or medieval [ˈɡeːɾeːʃ]) is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.

1. An apostrophe-like sign (also known colloquially as a chupchik) placed after a letter:
   • as a diacritic that modifies the pronunciation of some letters (in modern Hebrew),
   • as a diacritic that signifies Yiddish origin of a word or suffix, (examples below)
   • as a punctuation mark to denote initialisms or abbreviations,
   • or to denote a Hebrew numeral.
2. A note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah and other Biblical books, taking the form of a curved diagonal stroke placed above a letter.

Diacritic

As a diacritic, the Geresh is written immediately after (left of) the letter it modifies. It indicates three sounds native to speakers of modern Hebrew that are common in loan words and slang: [dʒ] as in judge, [ʒ] as in measure and [tʃ] as in church. In transliteration of Arabic, it indicates Arabic phonemes which are usually allophones in modern Hebrew: [ɣ] is distinguished from [r] and [ħ] is distinguished from [χ]. Finally, it indicates other sounds foreign to the phonology modern Hebrew speakers and used exclusively for the transliteration of foreign words: [ð] as in then, [θ] as in thin, [sˤ]; and, in some transliteration systems, also [tˤ], [dˤ] and [ðˤ].

Loanwords, slang, foreign names and transliterations

Loanwords, slang, foreign names, and transliteration of foreign languages
Without Geresh					With Geresh
Symbol	Name	Translit.	IPA	Example	Symbol	Name	Translit.	IPA	Examples
ג‎	gimel	g	[ɡ]	gap	ג׳‎	gimel with a geresh	j (or g)	[dʒ]	Jupiter, George
ז‎	zayin	z	[z]	zoo	ז׳‎	zayin with a geresh	g, j	[ʒ]	Jacques, beige, vision
צ‎	tsadi	ts	[ts]	tsunami, cats	צ׳‎	tsadi with a geresh	ch	[tʃ]	chip

Transcriptions of Arabic

There are six additional letters in the Arabic alphabet. They are Ṯāʾ, Ḫāʾ, Ḏāl, Ḍād, Ẓāʾ, and Ġayn. Also, some letters have different sounds in Arabic phonology and modern Hebrew phonology, such as Ǧīm.

Distinction when transcribing Arabic
Without Geresh						With Geresh
Symbol	Name	Translit.	Arabic letter	IPA	Example	Symbol	Name	Arabic letter	IPA	Example	Comments
ג‎	gimel	g	Egyptian / Yemeni Ǧīm (ج)	[ɡ]	good	ג׳‎	gimel with a geresh	Ǧīm (ج)	[dʒ]	Al-Jazeera (الجزيرة)	Also used with other loan words and transliterations for /dʒ/
ד‎	dalet	d	Dāl (د)	[d]	door	ד׳‎	dalet with a geresh	Ḏāl (ذ)	[ð]	Dhu [a]l-Hijjah (ذو الحجة)	Also used for English voiced th Often a simple Dalet (ד) is written
ח‎	heth	ẖ / h, ḥ, or h	Ḥaʾ (ح)	[ħ]	Non existent in English, pronounced like an "h" while contracting the pharynx	ח׳‎	heth with a geresh	Ḫāʾ (ﺥ)	[χ]	Sheikh (شيخ)
ת‎	tav	t	Tāʾ (ت)	[t]	tail	ת׳‎	tav with a geresh	ṯāʾ (ث)	[θ]	ʿuthman (عثمان)	Also used for English voiceless th
ס‎	samekh	s	Sīn (س)	[s]	sun	ס׳‎	samech with a geresh	Ṣad (ص)	[ˤ] pharyngealized [s]; approximate pronunciation by pronouncing a voiceless "s" while constricting the pharynx or the larynx		May also be transcribed with the corresponding Hebrew letter צ
ר‎	resh	r	Rāʾ (ر)	[r]		ר׳‎	reish with a geresh	Ghain (غ)	[ɣ]	Abu Ghosh (أَبُو غوش)	Both ר׳ and ע׳ are alternatingly used to transcribe ġayn (غ), however ר׳ is the standard prescribed by the Academy of the Hebrew Language for simplified transcription (the standard prescribed for precise transcription is גֿ; in some cases of established usage a ג with no diacritics is used)
Comment to the pronunciation: When transcribing Arabic, a "ר" with no geresh designates only the "rolled r" as in Scottish English (alveolar trill or tap), in distinction to the voiced velar [ɣ] or uvular [ʁ] fricatives, whereas in normal Hebrew writing "ר" can be pronounced [r], [ɾ] [ɣ] or [ʁ]: all are allophones of the phoneme /r/
ע‎	ayin	’	ʿAyn (ع)	[ʕ] ←→ [ʢ], sometimes [ʡ] or [ˤ] Ranges from pharyngeal fricative [ʕ] to epiglottal fricative [ʢ], sometimes an epiglottal stop [ʡ] or a pharyngealized glottal stop [ʔˤ]; approximate pronunciation by constricting the pharynx or the larynx		ע׳‎	ayin with a geresh

Transliteration of foreign names

Distinction when transcribing foreign names
Without Geresh					With Geresh
Symbol	Name	Translit.	IPA	Example	Symbol	Name	Translit.	IPA	Example
ד‎	dalet	d	[d]	door	ד׳‎	dalet with a geresh	English voiced th	[ð]	then
ת‎	tav	t	[t]	tail	ת׳‎	tav with a geresh	English voiceless th	[θ]	thing
ו‎	vav	v	[v]	vote	וו‎ or ו׳‎ (non-standard)	vav with a geresh or double vav	w	[w]	William

Note

* ^ Both double-vav and vav with geresh are non-standard and so inconsistently used.

Yiddish origin

Some words or suffixes with Yiddish origin or pronunciation are marked with a geresh, e.g. the diminutive suffix "לֶ׳ה" – "le", e.g. "יענקל׳ה" – "Yankale" (as in Yankale Bodo), or the words "חבר׳ה" – [ˈχevre], "guys" (which is the Yiddish pronunciation of Hebrew "חברה" [χevˈra] "company"), or "תכל׳ס" – [ˈtaχles], "down-to-earth".

Punctuation mark

The geresh is used as a punctuation mark in initialisms and to denote numerals.

Indicating initialisms

In initialisms, the Geresh is written after the last letter of the initialism. For example: the title גְּבֶרֶת (literally "lady") is abbreviated גב׳, equivalent to English "Mrs" and "Ms".

Denoting a numeral

A Geresh can be appended after (left of) a single letter to indicate that the letter represents a Hebrew numeral. For example: ק׳‎ represents 100. A multi-digit Hebrew numeral is indicated by the Gershayim ⟨״⟩.

Cantillation mark

Main article: Geresh (trope)

As a note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, the Geresh is printed above the accented letter: ב֜. The Geresh Muqdam (lit. "a Geresh made earlier"), a variant cantillation mark, is also printed above the accented letter, but slightly before (i.e. more to the right of) the position of the normal Geresh: ב֝. As a cantillation mark it is also called Ṭères (טֶרֶס)‎.

Computer encoding

Appearance	Code Points	Name
׳	U+05F3	HEBREW PUNCTUATION GERESH
֜	U+059C	HEBREW ACCENT GERESH
֝	U+059D	HEBREW ACCENT GERESH MUQDAM

Since most keyboards do not have a Geresh key, often an apostrophe ( ', Unicode U+0027) is used to denote a Geresh.

See also

• Gershayim
• Hebraization of English
• Hebrew alphabet
• Hebrew numerals