What ﹸ means
Use the combining damma ُ for new Arabic text.
In Arabic writing, the combining damma ُ follows a base letter and the text system places it over that letter. ﹸ is a spacing compatibility character: its mapping is a space followed by the combining damma, so it can stand on its own.
If it appears in a computer record or legacy text, read it as the same short u cue, not as another letter or vowel.
Why does this damma stand alone?
It is a compatibility form preserved for older software and data.
Arabic presentation forms preserve shapes used by older software and data. In new text, ordinary Arabic letters and combining marks let the text system choose the right positions; ﹸ is for compatibility with stored material.
Some early Qurʾānic manuscripts used red dots as vowel cues. Later notation shifted toward letter-shaped marks; manuscripts show a gradual change and differing practices. Researchers connect early Arabic vowel notation with Syriac, an Aramaic writing tradition.
Technical and legacy: it represents the same vowel, but it is not the standard character for new Arabic text.
For safe, interoperable new Arabic text, use the combining mark; reserve this form for legacy data.
Part of the collection
Who writes ﹸ
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Don't confuse it with
3
Related characters
1
Questions people ask
1Does it make a different vowel sound?
No. It represents the same damma cue; the difference is spacing and encoding, not pronunciation.
More like this
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How to type or find ﹸ
- Also called
- damma · dammah · ḍamma
- Search it as
- harakat · Arabic damma · Arabic short u · combining damma · isolated damma form
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
ﹸ\FE78Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.