Arabic Full Stop

Use an Urdu keyboard’s punctuation key. The physical key depends on the layout; the published CRULP Urdu Phonetic layout assigns this mark to its full-stop key.

In code, use ۔ itself or the Unicode escape \u06D4. A Latin period key may produce . instead, so check the character when exact Urdu punctuation matters.

What does ۔ mean?

It ends an Urdu sentence. In some Urdu teaching, it can also mark a break that English might set off with a colon or dash.

The history of Urdu punctuation in print includes Fort William College in Calcutta. John Gilchrist wrote a booklet on Urdu spelling and punctuation for its publications; it is lost, but summaries appeared in books by Mir Sher Ali Afsos in 1802 and Hafeezuddin Ahmed in 1804. Imam Bakhsh Sehbai’s 1845 grammar discussed punctuation. Munshi Ghulam Muhammad’s sign manual introduced further signs in 1872, and Sir Syed promoted punctuation in an 1874 article.

The raised, slanted stroke follows the pen flick of Nastaliq, a flowing calligraphic style used for Urdu; another type style may draw it as a round dot. Arabic-script writing spans many languages, with distinct punctuation conventions.