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The '''Arabic alphabet'''  is a set of characters used to write the [[Arabic language]], as well as several other unrelated languages in the [[Middle East]] and [[Asia]] (for example, Farsi). It is based on the Phoenician alphabet, from which the [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] and [[Greek alphabet]]s are also descended. Unlike its sister scripts, the Arabic alphabet is always cursive, and often a letter has several variants depending on its position in a word.

The '''Arabic alphabet'''  is a set of characters used to write the [[Arabic language]]s, as well as several other unrelated languages in the [[Middle East]] and [[Asia]] (for example, Farsi). It is based on the Phoenician alphabet, from which the [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] and [[Greek alphabet]]s are also descended. Unlike its sister scripts, the Arabic alphabet is always cursive, and often a letter has several variants depending on its position in a word.

Like Hebrew, Arabic is not a true alphabet, and can more accurately be described as an abjad: that is, a set of characters with no specific symbols for [[vowel]]s. Instead, diacritical marks (''harakat'' or ''tashkil'') are used to render short vowels, and the consonants ʾalif, wāw, and yāʾ are used to render long vowels (similar to ''matres lectionis'' in Hebrew). However, which letters and which diacritics are used largely depends on the national variant of the alphabet.

Like Hebrew, Arabic is not a true alphabet, and can more accurately be described as an abjad: that is, a set of characters with no specific symbols for [[vowel]]s. Instead, diacritical marks (''harakat'' or ''tashkil'') are used to render short vowels, and the consonants ʾalif, wāw, and yāʾ are used to render long vowels (similar to ''matres lectionis'' in Hebrew). However, which letters and which diacritics are used largely depends on the national variant of the alphabet.