Pashto alphabet

The Pashto alphabet (‫ )ﭘ ﺘﻮ اﻟﻔﺒﯥ‬is transliterated vis-à-vis Perso-Arabic scriptural denotation with additional glyphs added to accommodate
phonemes used in Pashto.

Contents
History
Roshani script
1958 congress in Kabul
Form
Letters
Notes
Historical letters now in disuse
Diacritic marks
Notes

"Ye" letters
Indications
See also
References
Bibliography
External links

History

Roshani script
In the 16th century, Bayazid Pir Roshan from Waziristan invented the Roshani script to write Pashto. It had
41 letters:

‫ا‬ ‫ث ټ ت پ ب‬ ‫ج‬ ‫چ‬ ‫څ‬ ‫ح‬ ‫خ‬

ā, ’ b p t ṭ s j č c h x
/ɑ, ʔ/ /b/ /p/ /t ̪/ /ʈ/ /s/ /d͡ʒ / /t͡ʃ/ /t͡s/ /h/ /x/

‫د‬ ‫ډ‬ ‫ڊ‬ ‫ﺫ‬ ·‫د‬ ‫ﺭ‬ ‫ړ‬ ‫ﺯ‬ ‫ږ‬

d ḍ ź z ẓ̌ r ṛ z ž
/d̪ / /ɖ/ /d͡z/ /z/ /ʐ/ /r/ /ɺ˞~ɻ/ /z/ /ʒ/

‫ظ ط ض ص ښ ش س ڛ‬ ‫ع‬ ‫غ‬
s s š ṣ̌ s z t z ’ ğ
/s/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʂ/ /s/ /z/ /t ̪/ /z/ /ʔ/ /ɣ/
Excerpt from Khayr al-Bayān,

‫م ل ګ ک ق ف‬ ‫ڼ ن‬ ‫و‬ ‫ه‬ ‫ي‬ written in Pashto in Nastaʿlīq

script in 1651. The book was
f q k g l m n ṇ w, ū, ō h, a, ə y, ī, ē originally written by Bayazid Pir
/f/ /q/ /k/ /ɡ/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /ɳ/ /w, u, o/ /h, a, ə/ /j, i, e/ Roshan in the 16th century

28 of his letters came from the Arabic alphabet. He introduced 13 new letters into the Pashto alphabet.
Most of the new letters he introduced i.e. ‫ټ‬, ‫څ‬, ‫ډ‬, ‫ړ‬, ‫ښ‬, ‫ ګ‬and ‫ ڼ‬are still written in the same form and are pronounced almost in the same
way in modern Pashto. The sound system of the southern dialect of modern Pashto preserves the distinction between all the consonant phonemes of his
orthography.

Pir Roshan also introduced the letter ‫( ږ‬rē with dot below and dot above) to represent /ʒ/, like the ⟨s⟩ in pleasure, for which modern Pashto uses ‫ژ‬
instead. Modern Pashto uses the letter ‫ ږ‬to represent the sound /ʐ/ (northern dialect: /g/), but for that sound, Pir Roshan used a letter looking like ·‫( د‬dāl
with central dot). His letter ‫( ڊ‬dāl with dot below) to represent /d͡z/ has been replaced by ‫ ځ‬in modern Pashto. He also used ‫( ڛ‬sīn with three dots
below), an obsolete letter from the medieval Nastaʿlīq script, to denote the letter ‫( س‬representing /s/) only in the isolated form. The Arabic ligature ‫ﻻ‬
(lām-alif) was also used. Two of his letters, ‫ پ‬and ‫چ‬, were borrowed from the Persian alphabet.

1958 congress in Kabul

In August 1958, Pashtun intellectuals held a congress in Kabul, Afghanistan, with the goal of standardizing the Pashto alphabet. During the congress, a
number of standardizations were proposed in the use of the modern Pashto alphabet.[1]

Form
Pashto is written in the Arabic Naskh. It has several letters which do not appear in any other Arabic
script. The letters representing the retroflex consonants /ʈ /, /ɖ /, / / and /ɳ / are written like the
standard Arabic te, dāl, re and nun with a small circle attached underneath (known as a "panḍak",
"ğaṛwanday" or "skəṇay"): ‫ ټ‬,‫ ډ‬,‫ړ‬, and ‫ڼ‬, respectively. The letters ‫ ښ‬and ‫( ږ‬x̌ īn/ṣ̌īn and ǵe/ẓ̌e)
look like sīn (‫ )س‬and re (‫ )ﺭ‬respectively with a dot above and beneath.

The letters representing t͡s and d͡z look like a ‫ ح‬with three dots above and an hamza (‫ )ء‬above; ‫ څ‬and
‫ځ‬.
Pashto has ‫ ۀ‬,‫ ې‬,‫ی‬, and ‫ ۍ‬for additional vowels and diphthongs as well.

Pashto uses all 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet, and shares 3 letters (‫ پ‬,‫چ‬, and ‫ )ژ‬with Persian and
Urdu in the additional letters.

Letters
Pashto has 45 letters and 4 diacritic marks. The Southern (S), Central (C) and Northern (N) dialects of
Pashto are included.

The Pashto alphabet

The Pashto Alphabet

Two of the special Pashto letters:
x̌in/ṣ̌in and γ̌ ē/ẓ̌e
 IPA Contextual forms ALA-LC Unicode
Name Transliteration Isolated Latin
Symbol Examples Final Medial Initial Romaniz. (Hex)

U+0627,
alep or alif [ɑ] bark ā ‫ـﺎ‬ ‫ـﺎ‬ ‫آ‬, ‫ا‬ ‫آ‬, ‫ا‬ ā Āā
U+0622

be [b] born b ‫ـﺐ‬ ‫ـﺒـ‬ ‫ﺑـ‬ ‫ب‬ b Bb U+0628

pe [p] peel p ‫ـﭗ‬ ‫ـﭙـ‬ ‫ﭘـ‬ ‫پ‬ p Pp U+067E

te [t ̪] think t ‫ـﺖ‬ ‫ـﺘـ‬ ‫ﺗـ‬ ‫ت‬ t Tt U+062A

ṭe [ʈ] total ṭ ‫ـ‬ ‫ــ‬ ‫ـ‬ ‫ټ‬ ṭ Ṭṭ U+067C

se2 [s] biscuit s ‫ـﺚ‬ ‫ـﺜـ‬ ‫ﺛـ‬ ‫ث‬ s̱ Ss U+062B

jīm [d͡ʒ ] jug j (or ǰ) ‫ـﺞ‬ ‫ـﺠـ‬ ‫ﺟـ‬ ‫ج‬ j Jj U+062C

če [t͡ʃ] cheese č ‫ـﭻ‬ ‫ـﭽـ‬ ‫ﭼـ‬ ‫چ‬ ch Čč U+0686

he2 [h] / [x]3 house h ‫ـﺢ‬ ‫ـﺤـ‬ ‫ﺣـ‬ ‫ح‬ ḥ Hh U+062D

xe [x] loch (Scottish) x ‫ـﺦ‬ ‫ـﺨـ‬ ‫ﺧـ‬ ‫خ‬ kh Xx U+062E

ce [t͡s] / [s] cats ts (or c) ‫ـ‬ ‫ـ ـ‬ ‫ـ‬ ‫څ‬ ṡ Cc U+0685

źim [d͡z] / [z] adze dz (or j) ‫ـ‬ ‫ـ ـ‬ ‫ـ‬ ‫ځ‬ ż Źź U+0681

dāl [d̪ ] dull d ‫ـﺪ‬ ‫ـﺪ‬ ‫د‬ ‫د‬ d Dd U+062F

ḍāl [ɖ] ḍ (or dd) ‫ـ‬ ‫ـ‬ ‫ډ‬ ‫ډ‬ ḍ Ḍḍ U+0689

zāl2 [z] zoo z ‫ـﺬ‬ ‫ـﺬ‬ ‫ذ‬ ‫ذ‬ ẕ Zz U+0630

re [r] rain r ‫ـﺮ‬ ‫ـﺮ‬ ‫ر‬ ‫ر‬ r Rr U+0631

ṛe4 [ɺ̢] ( , ɭ),̆ ṛ (or rr) ṛ Ṛṛ U+0693

[ɻ]
‫ـ‬ ‫ـ‬ ‫ړ‬ ‫ړ‬
 ze [z] zoo z ‫ـﺰ‬ ‫ـﺰ‬ ‫ز‬ ‫ز‬ z Zz U+0632

[ʒ] /
že
[d͡z]
vision, delusion ž ‫ـﮋ‬ ‫ـﮋ‬ ‫ژ‬ ‫ژ‬ zh Žž U+0698

[ʐ] (S) ẓ̌ (S) ẓh (S)

ẓ̌e (S) Ǵ ǵ (or
ǵe (C, N)
[ʝ] (C)
[ɣ] (N)
γ̌/ǵ (C)
ğ (N)
‫ـ‬ ‫ـ‬ ‫ږ‬ ‫ږ‬ g'h (C)
gh (N)
Ẓ̌ ẓ̌)
U+0696

sīn [s] biscuit s ‫ﺳـ ـﺴـ ـﺲ‬ ‫س‬ s Ss U+0633

šīn [ʃ] shoot š ‫ﺷـ ـﺸـ ـﺶ‬ ‫ش‬ sh Šš U+0634

[ʂ] (S) ṣ̌ (S) ṣh (S)

ṣ̌īn (S) X x̌ (or
x̌īn (C, N)
[ç] (C)
[x] (N)
x̌ (C)
x (N)
‫ـ ـ ـ ـ‬ ‫ښ‬ k'h (C)
kh (N)
Ṣ̌ ṣ̌)
U+069A

swād2 [s] surf s ‫ﺻـ ـﺼـ ـﺺ‬ ‫ص‬ s Ss U+0635

zwād2 [z] z ‫ﺿـ ـﻀـ ـﺾ‬ ‫ض‬ z Zz U+0636

twe2 [t] t ‫ـﻂ‬ ‫ﻃـ ـﻄـ‬ ‫ط‬ t Tt U+0637

zwe2 [z] z ‫ـﻆ‬ ‫ﻇـ ـﻈـ‬ ‫ظ‬ z Zz U+0638

ayn2 [ɑ] bark a ‫ـﻊ‬ ‫ـﻌـ‬ ‫ﻋـ‬ ‫ع‬ ʻ nothing U+0639

ğayn [ɣ] gh (or γ) ‫ـﻎ‬ ‫ـﻐـ‬ ‫ﻏـ‬ ‫غ‬ gh Ğğ U+063A

pe or fe2 [f] / [p]5 peel f ‫ـﻒ‬ ‫ـﻔـ‬ ‫ﻓـ‬ ‫ف‬ f Ff U+0641

kap or qāf [q] / [k]6 keep q ‫ـﻖ‬ ‫ـﻘـ‬ ‫ﻗـ‬ ‫ق‬ q Qq U+0642

kāf [k] keep k ‫ـﮏ‬ ‫ـﮑـ‬ ‫ﮐـ‬ ‫ک‬7 k Kk U+06A9

gāf [ɡ] get g ‫ـ‬ ‫ـ ـ‬ ‫ـ‬ ‫ګ‬8 g Gg U+06AB

lām [l] lamb l ‫ـﻞ‬ ‫ـﻠـ‬ ‫ﻟـ‬ ‫ل‬ l Ll U+0644

mīm [m] minute m m Mm U+0645

 ‫ـﻢ‬ ‫ـﻤـ‬ ‫ﻣـ‬ ‫م‬

nūn [n] near n ‫ـﻦ‬ ‫ـﻨـ‬ ‫ﻧـ‬ ‫ن‬ n Nn U+0646

ṇūn [ɳ] ṇ (or nn) ‫ـ‬ ‫ــ‬ ‫ـ‬ ‫ڼ‬ ṇ Ṇṇ U+06BC

watch , boot
(General
American) ,
go(General
[w], [u], American) W w, Ū
wāw
[o] [Note: [o] w, ū, o ‫ـﻮ‬ ‫ـﻮ‬ ‫و‬ ‫و‬ w, ū, o
ū, O o
U+0648

is not
lengthened]

gərda he hey ; stuck H h, A

round hē
[h], [a]
(Cockney)
h, a ‫ـﻪ‬ ‫ـﻬـ‬ ‫ﻫـ‬ ‫ه‬ h, a
a
U+0647

‫ۀ‬ ‫ ۀ‬13
kajīra he
bird (Received
idiosyncratic [ə] ə – – ə Əə U+06C0
Pronunciation)
hē

yacht; week
klaka ye
hard yē
[j], [i] (General
American)
y, ī ‫ـﻲ‬ ‫ـﻴـ‬ ‫ﻳـ‬ ‫ي‬ y, ī Y y, Ī ī U+064A

eight [Note: [e]

pasta ye
soft yē
[e] is not ē ‫ـﯥ‬ ‫ـﯧـ‬ ‫ﯦـ‬ ‫ې‬9 e Ee U+06D0
lengthened]

nārīna ye
masculine [ai], [j]10 guy ay, y ‫ـﯽ‬ ‫ـ‬ ‫ـ‬ ‫ی‬9 ay, y
Ay ay,
Yy
U+06CC
yē

x̌əźīna ye
feminine yē
[əi] əi ‫ـ‬ ‫ـ‬ ‫ـ‬ ‫ ۍ‬10 ạy Əi əi U+06CD

fāiliya ye /
kaṛa ye
[əi],
[j]12
əi, y ‫ـﺊ‬ ‫ـﺌـ‬ ‫ﺋـ‬ ‫ ئ‬9,12 ạy, y
Əi əi,
Yy
U+0626
verbal yē

Notes

^1 In the beginning of a word, ‫( آ‬alif with madda) represents the long vowel /ɑ/ in words borrowed from other languages (e.g. ‫– آﻏﺎ‬
āğā, a title).[2] In the beginning of a word, the alphabet ‫( ا‬alif) represents the consonant /a/, e.g. ‫ – اﺳﭙﻪ‬aspa, "mare".[3] In the middle
or end of a word, ‫ ا‬represents the long vowel /ɑ/ which is following a consonant (e.g. ‫ – ﮐﺎل‬kāl, "year"; and ‫ – ﻧﻴﺎ‬nyā,
"grandmother").[4][5] In the beginning of a word, the alphabet Alif can also be used with a diactric mark [often not written] e.g. ِ ‫( ا‬alif
with a zer) as in ‫ – اِﺳﻼم‬Islām, "Islam (the religion)".[6]
^2 Ten letters, ‫ث‬ ‫ق ف ع ظ ط ض ص ح ﺫ‬, appear only in loanwords which of Arabic origin through Persian borrowings.
Eight of these, ‫ث‬ ‫ع ظ ط ض ص ح ﺫ‬, represent no additional phonemes of Pashto, and their pronunciation is replaced with
other phonemes.
^3 ‫ ح‬/h/ tends to be omitted in pronunciation when at the end of a word, e.g. ‫ اﺻﻼح‬is always pronounced as [isˡlɑ].
^4 The letter ‫ ړ‬represents /ɺ̢/ if it is not at the final position of a syllable; if it is final, it represents /ɻ/.
^5 The phoneme /f/ ‫ ف‬occurs only in loanwords. It tends to be replaced with /p/ ‫ پ‬.
^6 The phoneme /q/ ‫ ق‬occurs only in loanwords. It tends to be replaced with /k/ ‫ک‬.
 ^7 It is also common to write the letter ‫ ک‬as ‫ ك‬.
^8 It is also common to write the letter ‫ ګ‬as ‫گ‬.

^9 In informal texts, ‫ ی‬as well as ‫ ۍ‬,‫ ې‬and ‫ ئ‬are sometimes replaced by the letter ‫ ے‬, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In some

official texts, edited till to the middle of the 20th century, the ‫ ے‬corresponds only to ‫ې‬, while ‫ ۍ‬and ‫( ئ‬if only the grammatical use of
the latter is not lacked) are used as in official typing nowadays.
^10 ‫ ی‬represents /ai/ when it is following a consonant (e.g. ‫ﯽ‬ ‫ – ﻟﺮ‬largay, "wood"), and represents /j/ when it is following a vowel
(e.g. ‫ – دوی‬duy, "they").
^11 The letter ‫ ئ‬represents /j/ after a vowel, e.g. ‫ – ﺟﺪاﺋﻲ‬judāyī, "separation".

^12 It is also common to write ‫ ﺉ‬with the hamza over the right side of the letter – ‫ٸ‬.

^13 The letter ‫ ۀ‬is only represented at the end of a word, e.g. ‫ – ﺗﯧﺮۀ‬terə, "sharp". The vowel /ə/ when present between consonants

is unrepresented by the ‫ ۀ‬alphabet, e.g. ‫ – ﻧﻨﻮﺗﻞ‬nənawatəl, "to enter".

^14 Pashtuns tend to omit or not pronounce the letter ‫ غ‬and some words, e.g. consider the following words; ،‫ دﻏﻮی = دوی‬،‫دﻏﻪ = دا‬
‫ دﻏﻪ ﺳﯽ = داﺳﯽ‬،‫ ﻫﻐﻠﺘﻪ = ﻫﻠﺘﻪ‬،‫ دﻏﻠﺘﻪ = دﻟﺘﻪ‬،‫دﻏﻪ ﻫﻮﻣﺮه = دوﻣﺮه‬

Historical letters now in disuse

The superscribed element of the letter ‫ ځ‬in earlier varieties was not hamza-shaped, but was very similar to little kāf of the letter ‫ ك‬.[7] Such shape of
the upper element of the letter is hard to find in modern fonts.

Since the time of Bayazid Pir Roshan, ‫( ڊ‬dāl with subscript dot) was used for /d͡z/, which was still used in the Diwan of Mirza written in 1690 CE,[1]
but this sign was later replaced by ‫ځ‬.

Another rare glyph for /d͡z/ is ‫֗ج‬, a ‫ ج‬with the same dot above.

Diacritic marks
The four diacritic marks are:

Diacritic Unicode Name Translit. IPA Latin

َ U+064E zwar a [a] a

ٙ U+0659 zwarakay ə [ə] ə

ِ U+0650 zer i [i] i The Pashto diacritic marks: zwarakay, pēš, zēr,
and zwar
ُ U+064F peš u [u] u

Notes

The diacritic marks are not considered separate letters. Their use is optional and are usually not written; they are only occasionally
used to distinguish between two words which would otherwise appear similar.
In Arabic loanwords, the tanwin fatha (ً) can be used, e.g. ً ‫ – ﻣَﺜَﻼ‬masalan, "for example".

"Ye" letters

"Ye"-letters in Pashto alphabet

 Pashto Position in a
Letter Unicode name Transliteration IPA Example
name word

‫ي‬ klaka ye ARABIC LETTER YEH y, ī

[j], can appear ‫ﻳﻢ‬
[i] anywhere yəm ('I am')

‫ﻳﯥ‬
‫ې‬ pasta ye ARABIC LETTER E e [e] middle or end ye ('you (sing.)
are')

ay
when following a [ai] end
‫ﺳﺘﻮری‬
consonant storay ('star')
‫ی‬ nārīna ye1 ARABIC LETTER FARSI YEH
y
[j] end
‫دوى‬
when following a vowel duy ('they')

‫ۍ‬ ‫وړۍ‬
x̌əźīna ye2 ARABIC LETTER YEH WITH TAIL əi [əi] end
waṛəi ('wool')

‫ﻳﺊ‬
əi [əi] end yəi ('you (plur.)
ARABIC LETTER YEH WITH HAMZA are')
‫ئ‬ fāiliya ye3 ABOVE
‫ﺟﺪاﺋﻲ‬
y [j] middle judāyī
('separation')

Indications

^1 If ‫ ى‬follows a consonant in a word, it indicates the word is masculine singular and in the direct case.

^2 ‫ ۍ‬always indicates the word it occurs in is feminine.

^3 If ‫ ئ‬occurs at the end of a verb, it indicates the verb is in second person plural form. Note, that sometimes the grammatical ‫ئ‬
was lacked either in the typing as in the alphabet and replaced with the ‫ۍ‬.

See also
Pre-Islamic scripts in Afghanistan
Perso-Arabic alphabet

References
1. D. N. MacKenzie, "A Standard Pashto", Khyber.org (http://www.khyber.org/publications/026-030/standardpashto.shtml)
2. Pashto-English Dictionary (http://qamosona.com/G/index.php/term/,6f57b19b61545aaf9b9ea5adad59.xhtml)
3. Pashto-English Dictionary (http://qamosona.com/G/index.php/term/,6f57b19b61545aaf9b9ea5b0b05c5e.xhtml)
4. Pashto-English Dictionary (http://qamosona.com/G/index.php/term/,6f57b19b61545aaf9b9ea5afab5c61ae.xhtml)
5. Pashto-English Dictionary (http://qamosona.com/G/index.php/term/,6f57b19b61545aaf9b9ea5aeac585db0.xhtml)
6. mohammedanisme in Dutch and Flemish-Pashto Dictionary (http://qamosona.com/G/index.php/term/25,11914.xhtml)
7. Ivanov, Vladimir; Novgorodova, Irina. "L2/01-316. Arabic Letter Final/Isolated Kaf Sign" (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2001/01316-Kaf
-Sign-Proposal.pdf) (PDF). www.unicode.org. Unicode, Inc.

Bibliography
Awde & Sarwan (2002). "Pashto dictionary & phrasebook", page 24.

External links
Pashto phonetic keyboard (http://pukhtoogle.com/pashto)

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