Niqqud

See also: Tiberian vocalization, Babylonian vocalization, and Palestinian vocalization

"Samaritan pointing" redirects here. Not to be confused with Samaritan vocalization.

Niqqud
ְ   ֱ   ֲ   ֳ   ִ   ֵ   ֶ   ַ   ָ   ֹ   ֻ   ּ   ֿ   ׁ   ׂ
Other diacritics	cantillation, geresh, gershayim
Example
Gen. 1:9, "And God said, Let the waters be collected". Letters in black, niqqud in red, cantillation in blue
Niqqud articles
Shva · Hiriq · Zeire · Segol · Patach · Kamatz · Holam · Dagesh · Mappiq · Shuruk · Kubutz · Rafe · Sin/Shin dot

In Hebrew orthography, niqqud or nikud (Hebrew: נִקּוּד, Modern: nikúd, Tiberian: niqqūḏ, "dotting, pointing" or Hebrew: נְקֻדּוֹת, Modern: nekudót, Tiberian: nəquddōṯ, "dots") is a system of diacritical signs used to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations of letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Several such diacritical systems were developed in the Early Middle Ages. The most widespread system, and the only one still used to a significant degree today, was created by the Masoretes of Tiberias in the second half of the first millennium AD in the Land of Israel (see Masoretic Text, Tiberian Hebrew). Text written with niqqud is called ktiv menuqad.

Niqqud marks are small compared to the letters, so they can be added without retranscribing texts whose writers did not anticipate them.

In modern Israeli orthography, niqqud is mainly used in specialised texts such as dictionaries, poetry, or texts for children or new immigrants to Israel. For purposes of disambiguation, a system of spelling without niqqud, known in Hebrew as ktiv maleh (כְּתִיב מָלֵא, literally "full spelling") had developed before the introduction of niqqud. This was formally standardised in the Rules for Spelling without Niqqud (כְּלָלֵי הַכְּתִיב חֲסַר הַנִּקּוּד) enacted by the Academy of the Hebrew Language in 1996, and updated in 2017. Nevertheless, niqqud is still used occasionally in texts to prevent ambiguity and mispronunciation of specific words.

One reason for the lesser use of niqqud is that it no longer reflects the current pronunciation. In modern Hebrew, tzere is pronounced the same as segol, although they were distinct in Tiberian Hebrew, and pataḥ the same as qamatz. To the younger generation of native Hebrew speakers, these distinctions seem arbitrary and meaningless; on the other hand, Hebrew language purists have rejected out of hand the idea of changing the basics of niqqud and fitting them to the current pronunciation – with the result that in practice niqqud is increasingly going out of use.

According to Ghil'ad Zuckermann, the lack of niqqud in what he calls "Israeli" (Modern Hebrew) often results in "mispronunciations". For example, the Israeli lexical item מתאבנים is often pronounced as mitabním (literally "becoming fossilized (masculine plural)") instead of metaavním "appetizers", the latter deriving from תאבון teavón "appetite", the former deriving from אבן éven "stone". Another example is the toponym מעלה אדומים, which is often pronounced as maalé edomím instead of maalé adumím, the latter appearing in the Hebrew Bible (Joshua 15:7 and 18:17). The hypercorrect yotvetá is used instead of yotváta for the toponym יטבתה, mentioned in Deuteronomy 10:7. The surname of American actress Farrah Fawcett (פארה פוסט) is often pronounced fost instead of fóset by many Israelis.

Chart

This table uses the consonant letters ב‎, ח‎ or ש‎, where appropriate, to demonstrate where the niqqud is placed in relation to the consonant it is pronounced after. Any other letters shown are actually part of the vowel. Note that there is some variation among different traditions in exactly how some vowel points are pronounced. The table below shows how most Israelis would pronounce them, but the classic Ashkenazi pronunciation, for example, differs in several respects.

Note concerning IPA: the transcription symbols are linked to the articles about the sounds they represent. The diacritic ˘ (breve) indicates a short vowel; the triangular colon symbol ː indicates that the vowel is long.

Symbol	Common name	Alternative names	Type	Scientific name	Hebrew	IPA	Transliteration	Comments
בְ‎	Sh'va	sheva	Israeli	švaʾ	שְׁוָא	[e̞] or Ø	ə, e, ’, or nothing	In modern Hebrew, shva represents either /e/ or Ø, regardless of its traditional classification as shva naḥ (Hebrew: שווא נח) or shva na (Hebrew: שווא נע). Examples: Niqqud Shva denoting the vowel /e/ Shva denoting Ø (absence of a vowel) shva naḥ קִמַּטְתְּ [kiˈmate̞t] הִתְמוֹטַטְתְּ [hitmo̞ˈtate̞t] קִפַּלְתְּ [kiˈpalt] הִתְקַפַּלְתְּ [hitkaˈpalt] shva na שָׁדְדוּ [ʃade̞ˈdu] לְאַט [le̞ˈat] שָׂרְדוּ [sarˈdu] זְמַן [zman]
			Tiberian	šəwāʾ	שְׁוָא	[ă] [ɛ̆] [ĕ] [ĭ] [ɔ̆] [ŏ] [ŭ]
חֱ‎	Reduced segol	hataf segol	Israeli	ẖataf seggōl	חֲטַף סֶגּוֹל	[e̞]	e or é
			Tiberian	ḥăṭep̄ səgōl	חֲטֶף סְגוֹל	[ɛ̆]	ĕ
חֲ‎	Reduced patach	hataf patah	Israeli	ẖataf pattaẖ	חֲטַף פַּתָּח	[a]	a or á
			Tiberian	ḥăṭep̄ páṯaḥ	חֲטֶף פַּתַח	[ă]	ă
חֳ‎	Reduced kamatz	hataf kamats	Israeli	ẖataf qamaṣ	חֲטַף קָמָץ	[o̞]	ŏ
			Tiberian	ḥăṭep̄ qāmeṣ	חֲטֶף קָמֶץ	[ɔ̆]	ŏ
בִ‎	Hiriq	hiriq	Israeli	ẖīrīq	חִירִיק	[i]	ī	Usually promoted to Hiriq Malei in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation
			Tiberian	ḥīreq	חִירֶק	[i] or [iː]	ī
בִי‎	Hiriq malei	hiriq yod	Israeli	ẖīrīq maleʾ	חִירִיק מָלֵא	[i]	ī
			Tiberian	ḥīreq mālēʾ	חִירֶק מָלֵא	[iː]	ī
בֵ‎	Zeire	tsere, tzeirei	Israeli	ṣērē	צֵירֵי	[e̞]	e
			Tiberian	ṣērē	צֵרי	[eː]	ē
בֵי‎, בֵה‎, בֵא‎	Zeire malei	tsere yod, tzeirei yod	Israeli	ṣērē maleʾ	צֵירֵי מָלֵא	[e̞]	ē	More commonly ei (IPA [ei̯])
			Tiberian	ṣērē mālēʾ	צֵרֵי מָלֵא	[eː]	ē
בֶ‎	Segol	segol	Israeli	seggōl	סֶגּוֹל	[e̞]	e
			Tiberian	səḡōl	סְגוֹל‎	[ɛ] or [ɛː]	e or é
בֶי‎, בֶה‎, בֶא‎	Segol malei	segol yod	Israeli	seggōl maleʾ	סֶגּוֹל מָלֵא	[e̞]	e	With succeeding yod, it is more commonly ei (IPA [ei̯])
			Tiberian	səḡōl mālēʾ	סְגוֹל מָלֵא	[ɛː]	ệ
בַ‎	Patach	patah	Israeli	pattaẖ	פַּתָּח	[a]	a	A patach on a letters ח‎, ע‎, ה‎ at the end of a word is sounded before the letter, and not after. Thus, נֹחַ (Noah) is pronounced /ˈno.ax/. This only occurs at the ends of words and only with patach and ח‎, ע‎, and הּ‎ (that is, ה‎ with a dot (mappiq) in it). This is sometimes called a patach ganuv (פַּתָּח גָּנוּב), or "stolen" patach (more formally, "furtive patach"), since the sound "steals" an imaginary epenthetic consonant to make the extra syllable.
			Tiberian	páṯaḥ	פַּתַח	[a] or [aː]	a or á
בַה‎, בַא‎	Patach malei	patah he	Israeli	pattaẖ maleʾ	פַּתָּח מָלֵא	[a]	a
			Tiberian	páṯaḥ mālēʾ	פַּתַח מָלֵא	[aː]	a
בָ‎	Kamatz gadol	kamats	Israeli	qamaṣ gadōl	קָמָץ גָּדוֹל	[a]	a
			Tiberian	qāmeṣ gāḏōl	קָמֶץ גָּדוֹל	[ɔː]	ā
בָה‎, בָא‎	Kamatz malei	kamats he	Israeli	qamaṣ maleʾ	קָמָץ מָלֵא	[a]	a
			Tiberian	qāmeṣ mālēʾ	קָמֶץ מָלֵא	[ɔː]	â
בׇ‎	Kamatz katan	kamats hatuf	Israeli	qamaṣ qatan	קָמָץ קָטָן	[o̞]	o	Usually promoted to holam malei in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation. Also, not to be confused with Hataf Kamatz.
			Tiberian	qāmeṣ qāṭān	קָמֶץ קָטָן	[ɔ]
בֹ‎	Holam	holam	Israeli	ẖolam	חוֹלָם	[o̞]	o	Usually promoted to holam malei in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation. The holam is written above the consonant on the left corner, or slightly to the left of (i.e., after) it at the top.
			Tiberian	ḥōlem	חֹלֶם	[oː]	ō
בוֹ‎, בֹה‎, בֹא‎	Holam malei	holam male	Israeli	ẖōlam mālēʾ	חוֹלָם מָלֵא	[o̞]	ō	The holam is written in the normal position relative to the main consonant (above and slightly to the left), which places it directly over the vav.
			Tiberian	ḥōlem mālēʾ	חֹלֶם מָלֵא	[oː]	ō
בֻ‎	Kubutz	kubuts (shuruk - Ashkenazi)	Israeli	qubūṣ	קֻבּוּץ	[u]	u	Usually promoted to Shuruk in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation
			Tiberian	qībūṣ	קִבּוּץ	[u] or [uː]	u or ú
בוּ‎, בוּה‎, בוּא‎	Shuruk	shuruk (melopum - Ashkenazi)	Israeli	šūrūq	שׁוּרוּק	[u]	ū	The shuruk is written after the consonant it applies to (the consonant after which the vowel /u/ is pronounced). The dot in the shuruk is identical to a dagesh, thus shuruq and vav with a dagesh are indistinguishable. (see below).
			Tiberian	šūreq	שׁוּרֶק	[uː]	ū
בּ‎	Dagesh	dagesh	Israeli	dageš	דָּגֵשׁ	varied	varied	Not a vowel, "dagesh" refers to two distinct grammatical entities: "dagesh kal", which designates the plosive (as opposed to fricative) variant of any of the letters בגדכפת (in earlier forms of Hebrew this distinction was allophonic; in Israeli Hebrew ג‎, ד‎ and ת‎ with or without dagesh kal are acoustically and phonologically indistinguishable, whereas plosive and fricative variants of ב‎, כ‎ and פ‎ are sometimes allophonic and sometimes distinct phonemes (e.g., אִפֵּר /iˈper/ applied make up vs. אִפֵר /iˈfer/ tipped ash). "dagesh hazak", which designates gemination (prolonged pronunciation) of consonants, but which, although represented in most cases when transliterated according to standards of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, is acoustically and phonologically nonexistent in Modern Hebrew (except occasionally in dramatic or comical recitations, in some loanwords—such as a few Arabic profanities—and pronunciations exaggerated for the sake of disambiguation). For most letters the dagesh is written within the glyph, near the middle if possible, but the exact position varies from letter to letter (some letters do not have an open area in the middle, and in these cases it is written usually beside the letter, as with yod). The guttural consonants (א, ה, ח, ע‎) and resh (ר‎) are not marked with a dagesh, although the letter he (ה‎) (and rarely א‎) may appear with a mappiq (which is written the same way as dagesh) at the end of a word to indicate that the letter does not signify a vowel but is consonantal. To the resulting form, there can still be added a niqqud diacritic designating a vowel.
			Tiberian	dāḡēš	דָּגֵשׁ‎
בֿ‎	Rafe	rafe	Israeli	rafe	רָפֵה	Ø	a˺, e˺, i˺, o˺, or u˺	No longer used in Hebrew. Still seen in Yiddish (especially following the YIVO standard) to distinguish various letter pairs. Some ancient manuscripts have a dagesh or a rafe on nearly every letter. It is also used to indicate that a letter like ה‎ or א‎ is silent. In the particularly strange case of the Ten Commandments, which have two different traditions for their cantillations which many texts write together, there are cases of a single letter with both a dagesh and a rafe, if it is hard in one reading and soft in the other.
			Tiberian	rāfa		[◌̆]	ă, ĕ, ĭ, or ŭ	Niqqud, but not a vowel. Used as an "anti-dagesh", to show that a בגדכפת letter is soft and not hard, or (sometimes) that a consonant is single and not double, or that a letter like ה‎ or א‎ is completely silent
שׁ‎	Shin dot	shin dot	Israeli and Tiberian	šin dot	שִׁי"ן, שִׁי״ן יְמָנִית, "right Shin"	[ʃ]	š/sh	Niqqud, but not a vowel (except when inadequate typefaces merge the holam of a letter before the shin with the shin dot). The dot for shin is written over the right (first) branch of the letter. It is usually transcribed "sh".
שׂ‎	Sin dot	sin dot	Israeli	śin dot	שִׂי"ן, שִׁי״ן שְׂמָאלִית, "left Shin"	[s]	ś/s	Niqqud, but not a vowel (except when inadequate typefaces merge the holam of the sin with the sin dot). The dot for sin is written over the left (third) branch of the letter
			Tiberian					Some linguistic evidence indicates that it was originally IPA [ɬ].

Keyboard

Both consonants and niqqud can be typed from virtual graphical keyboards available on the World Wide Web, or by methods integrated into particular operating systems.

Microsoft Windows

• In Windows 8 or later, niqqud can be entered using the right alt (or left alt ctrl) the first Hebrew letter of the name of the value, when using the default (Hebrew Standard) keyboard layout:

Niqqud	Right Alt (=AltGr) Hebrew-keyboard key:	Explanation (usually the first Hebrew letter of the niqqud's name)
אָ‎	AltGr ק‎ for קָמץ (kamatz)	first Hebrew letter of the niqqud's name
אַ‎	AltGr פ‎ for פַתח (patach)
בְ‎	AltGr ש‎ for שְׁווא (sheva)
בּ וּ הּ‎	AltGr ד‎ for דּגש (dagesh)
אִ‎	AltGr ח‎ for חִירִיק (hiriq)
אֶ‎	AltGr ס‎ for סֶגול (segol)
אֵ‎	AltGr צ‎ for צֵירֵי (tsere)
אֹ‎	AltGr ו‎ for חוֹלם (holam)	the ו‎ key (like the 'o' vowel), since the ח‎ key is already used for hiriq
אֻ‎	AltGr \ for קֻבּוּץ (kubuts)	because the line \ visually resembles ֻ
אֲ‎	AltGr [ for reduced patach פַתח	the key to the right of פ‎
אֳ‎	AltGr ר‎ for reduced kamats קָמץ	the key to the right of ק‎
אֱ‎	AltGr ב‎ for reduced segol סֶגול	the key to the right of ס‎
שׁ‎	AltGr W for the Shin dot	the key above ש‎, right-side, since the dot is placed above ש‎, right-side
שׂ‎	AltGr Q for the Sin dot	the key above ש‎, left-side, since the dot is placed above ש‎, left-side
אֿ‎	AltGr ] for רפֿה (rafe)

• In Windows 7 or earlier, niqqud can be entered by enabling Caps Lock and then, with the cursor positioned after a letter, pressing Shift and one of the keys in the Windows column below.
• The user can configure the registry to allow use of the Alt key with the numeric plus key to type the hexadecimal Unicode value.
• The user can use the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator to produce a custom keyboard layout, or can download a layout produced by another party.

Linux

In GTK Linux systems, niqqud can be entered by holding down AltGR and pressing the same keys as for Windows, above, or by pressing ctrl shift u followed by the appropriate 4 digit Unicode.

macOS

Using the Hebrew keyboard layout in macOS, the typist can enter niqqud by pressing the Option key together with a number on the top row of the keyboard. Other combinations such as sofit and hataf can also be entered by pressing either the Shift key and a number, or by pressing the Shift key, Option key, and a number at the same time.

Niqqud input Input (Windows) Key (Windows) Input (macOS) Unicode Type Result ~ 0 05B0 Sh'va [1] 1 3 05B1 Reduced Segol [1] 2 1 05B2 Reduced Patach [1] 3 2 05B3 Reduced Kamatz [1] 4 4 05B4 Hiriq [1] 5 5 05B5 Zeire [1] 6 9 05B6 Segol [1] 7 6 05B7 Patach [] 8 7 05B8 Kamatz 1 9 A 05C2 Sin dot (left) 2 0 M 05C1 Shin dot (right) 2  – = 05B9 Holam 1 = 3 , 05BC Dagesh or Mappiq 1 U 05BC Shuruk 4 \ 8 05BB Kubutz 1

Notes:

• ¹ The letter "ס‎" represents any Hebrew consonant.
• ² For sin-dot and shin-dot, the letter "ש‎" (sin/shin) is used.
• ³ The dagesh, mappiq, and shuruk have different uses, but the same graphical representation, and hence are input in the same manner.
• ⁴ For shuruk, the letter "ו‎" (vav) is used since it can only be used with that letter.
• A rafe can be input by inserting the corresponding Unicode character, either explicitly or via a customized keyboard layout.

SIL International have developed another standard, which is based on Tiro, but adds the Niqqud along the home keys. Linux comes with "Israel — Biblical Hebrew (Tiro)" as a standard layout. With this layout, niqqud can be typed without pressing the Caps Lock key.

See also

• The Arabic equivalent, harakat.
• Hebrew diacritics
• Q're perpetuum
• Hebrew spelling
• Tiberian Hebrew
• Hebrew keyboard

Bibliography

• Gonen, Einat; Dan, Barak (2006). Gadish, Ronit (ed.). "Leshonenu La′am. Academy Decisions: Grammar". Ha-ʻIvrit (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: The Academy of the Hebrew Language. ISSN 0024-1091.
•  Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, especially §7, §8, §9
• Netzer, Nisan (1976). Haniqqud halakha lema′ase (in Hebrew). Israel: Massada.

External links

• Diacritical Vowel Markers