Arabic letter thal (isolated form)

It represents Arabic ذ, the letter called thal or dhal. In Modern Standard Arabic, ذ is pronounced /ð/, like the voiced “th” in “this.”

Arabic script developed from Nabataean Aramaic through a Nabataeo-Arabic stage. Fully developed Arabic-script inscriptions appear by the late fifth century; a Paleo-Arabic text at Ḥimà is dated 470 CE. These mark the development of the script, not the first appearance of this exact isolated form. Dots helped distinguish letters with shared basic shapes.

Pronunciation varies across Arabic dialects: some preserve /ð/, while others pronounce ذ as d or z in particular words or settings. The spelling can stay ذ even when the sound changes.

Why does ذ leave a gap after it?

ذ connects to a preceding letter but not to the letter that follows it, so a break after ذ is part of normal Arabic shaping. It has isolated and final forms, but no initial or medial form.

This character encodes the isolated shape as a compatibility form. Ordinary Arabic text uses ذ, and the text renderer selects its connected form when needed. Some fonts may not display every compatibility form.