Arabic Letter Lam, Initial Form

It is a shaped form of the Arabic letter lam.

ﻟ shows lam joined to the next letter. This character is a pre-shaped compatibility form; ordinary Arabic text stores the base letter ل, and text shaping chooses the visible form from its neighbors. The shape alone does not tell you a word's meaning.

Where does the Arabic script come from?

Arabic writing developed from Nabataean Aramaic, part of the wider Aramaic alphabetic tradition. The al-Namara funerary text, from 328 CE, is Arabic language written in Nabataean characters. Inscriptions with a fuller range of recognizably Arabic letter shapes appear at Ḥimā in the late fifth-century CE. These dates trace the script's development, not the first appearance of lam.

Lam began as a consonant letter in the script. Early Arabic inscriptions recorded funerary messages, personal graffiti, and official declarations on objects such as buildings, coins, and seals. In Arabic grammar, the base letter also appears in لِ, used for commands or exhortations, and لَمْ, which negates a past-tense verb. The sentence supplies the meaning.

How should I type Arabic lam?

Type the base letter ل in ordinary Arabic text.

Text shaping gives lam an initial form when it joins the next letter, a medial form when it joins on both sides, a final form when it joins the previous letter, or an isolated form when it joins neither. This pre-shaped form can be useful in legacy data, glyph charts, or shaping tests. In a normal word, entering it directly can make the stored character disagree with the word's joining behavior.