U+0649 "ى" Arabic Letter Alef Maksura Unicode Character

Unicode Version 17.0

ى

U+0649 "ى" Arabic Letter Alef Maksura is a distinct letter in the Arabic script used primarily to represent a long vowel sound similar to "ā" or "ỳ" at the end of words, often functioning as a variant of the letter Alif but with a curved, dotless form that sits on the baseline. Unlike the standard Alif, it is never used word-initially and is commonly found in nouns, adjectives, and verbs, particularly in words of Arabic origin, where it can indicate grammatical endings or serve as a weak root letter. In many Arabic writing systems, it is frequently confused with the similar-looking U+064A "ي" Yeh, but Alef Maksura is distinct because it lacks the two dots below that characterize Yeh, and its pronunciation and usage are rooted in specific orthographic rules.

General Properties

Code Point U+0649
Version Added 1.1
Name Arabic Letter Alef Maksura
Unicode 1.0 Name Arabic Letter Alef Maqsurah
Block Arabic
General Category Other Letter
Canonical Combining Class Not Reordered
Bidirectional Class Arabic Letter

Encodings

HTML Decimal Encoding ى
HTML Hex Encoding ى
UTF-8 Encoding 0xD9 0x89
UTF-16 Encoding 0x0649
UTF-32 Encoding 0x00000649
C/C++/Java Escape \u0649

Unicode Properties

NFC Quick Check Yes
NFD Quick Check Yes
NFKC Quick Check Yes
NFKD Quick Check Yes
Numeric Type None
Numeric Value NaN
Joining Type Dual Joining
Joining Group Yeh
Line Break Alphabetic
Script Arabic
Script Extensions Arabic
Indic Syllabic Category Other
ID Start Yes
XID Start Yes
ID Continue Yes
XID Continue Yes
Alphabetic Yes
Vertical Orientation Rotated
Grapheme Base Yes
Grapheme Cluster Break Other
Word Break Alphabetic letter
Sentence Break OLetter