Arabic Letter Ve

Its sound depends on the language being written.

In Uyghur, this vav is a consonant that Latin transliteration may write as w or v. In Arabic-script Kazakh, ۋ represents w, while ۆ represents v.

Sorani Kurdish uses the fa-shaped ڤ for /v/. The two forms belong to different spellings, so choose by the language rather than by appearance.

Why was this letter created?

It helped distinguish sounds in Turkic languages written with Arabic script.

Arabic-script records of the Turkic tradition behind modern Uyghur go back to at least the 11th century. Older Chagatai spelling left some vowels to context. From the late 1920s, Uyghur reforms made sound-to-letter mapping more explicit: plain waw و took the /o/ role, while a marked waw served as a consonant.

The added mark connects ۋ to plain waw و. Kurdish ڤ is a separate, fa-shaped way to write /v/.

How do I type this character?

Use the keyboard layout for the language you are writing.

Uyghur and Kazakh Arabic layouts map their letters differently, so a key that produces ۋ in one layout may produce another character in another.