| Geresh | ||
|---|---|---|
| diacritic, punctuation mark |
׳ | וכו׳ |
| cantillation mark | ֜ or ֝ | הָאָ֜רֶץ |
| compare with apostrophes | ||
| 'וכו׳', 'הָאָ֜רֶץ' | ||
Geresh (׳ in Hebrew: גֶּרֶשׁ or גֵּרֶשׁ, or medieval) is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.
- An apostrophe-like sign (also known colloquially as a chupchik) placed after a letter:
- as a diacritic that modifies the pronunciation of some letters (only in modern Hebrew),
- as a diacritic that signifies Yiddish origin of a word or suffix, (examples below)
- as a punctuation mark to denote initialisms or abbreviations,
- or to denote a single-digit Hebrew numeral
- A note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah and other Biblical books, taking the form of a curved diagonal stroke placed above a letter.
Diacritic
As a diacritic, the Geresh is written immediately after (left of) the letter it modifies. It indicates three sounds native to speakers of modern Hebrew that are common in loan words and slang: as in judge, as in measure and as in church. In transliteration of Arabic, it indicates Arabic phonemes which are usually allophones in modern Hebrew: is distinguished from and is distinguished from. Finally, it indicates other sounds foreign to the phonology of modern Hebrew speakers and used exclusively for the transliteration of foreign words: as in then, as in thin,; and, in some transliteration systems, also, and. It may be compared to the usage of a following h in various Latin digraphs to form other consonant sounds not supported by the basic Latin alphabet, such as "sh", "th", etc.
Loanwords, slang, foreign names and transliterations
| Loanwords, slang, foreign names, and transliteration of foreign languages | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Without Geresh | With Geresh | ||||||||
| Symbol | Name | Translit. | IPA | Example | Symbol | Name | Translit. | IPA | Examples |
| ג | gimel | g | gap | ג׳ | gimel with a geresh | j (or g) | Jupiter, George | ||
| ז | zayin | z | zoo | ז׳ | zayin with a geresh | g, j | Jacques, beige, vision | ||
| צ | tsadi | ts | cats | צ׳ | tsadi with a geresh | ch | chip | ||
Transcriptions of Arabic
There are six additional letters in the Arabic alphabet. They are Ṯāʾ, Ḫāʾ, Ḏāl, Ḍād, Ẓāʾ, and Ghayn. Also, some letters have different sounds in Arabic phonology and modern Hebrew phonology, such as Jīm.
| pharyngealized [s]; approximate pronunciation by pronouncing a voiceless "s" while constricting the pharynx or the larynx |
| ←→, sometimes or |
|---|
| Ranges from pharyngeal fricative to epiglottal fricative, sometimes an epiglottal stop or a pharyngealized glottal stop; approximate pronunciation by constricting the pharynx or the larynx |
Distinction when transcribing Arabic Without Geresh With Geresh Symbol Name Translit. Arabic letter IPA Example Symbol Name Arabic letter IPA Example Comments ג gimel g Egyptian / Yemeni Jīm (ج) good ג׳ gimel with a geresh Jīm (ج) Al-Jazeera (الجزيرة)
- Also used with other loan words and transliterations for /dʒ/
- Also used for English voiced th
- Often a simple Dalet (ד) is written
- Also used for English voiceless th
- May also be transcribed with the corresponding Hebrew letter צ
Transliteration of foreign names
| Distinction when transcribing foreign names | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Without Geresh | With Geresh | ||||||||
| Symbol | Name | Translit. | IPA | Example | Symbol | Name | Translit. | IPA | Example |
| ד | dalet | d | door | ד׳ | dalet with a geresh | English voiced th | then | ||
| ת | tav | t | tail | ת׳ | tav with a geresh | English voiceless th | thing | ||
| ו | vav | v | vote | וו or ו׳ (non-standard[*]) |
vav with a geresh or double vav |
w | William | ||
- Note
- * ^ Both double-vav and vav with geresh are non-standard and inconsistently used.
Yiddish origin
Some words or suffixes of Yiddish origin or pronunciation are marked with a geresh, e.g. the diminutive suffix לֶ׳ה – -le, e.g. יענקל׳ה – Yankale (as in Yankale Bodo), or the words חבר׳ה –, 'guys' (which is the Yiddish pronunciation of Hebrew חבורה 'company'), or תכל׳ס –, 'in the end' or 'to conclude', from Hebrew תכלית, 'ending'.
Punctuation mark
The geresh is used as a punctuation mark in initialisms and to denote numerals.
Indicating initialisms
In initialisms, the Geresh is written after the last letter of the initialism. For example: the title גְּבֶרֶת (literally "lady") is abbreviated גב׳, equivalent to English "Mrs" and "Ms".
Denoting a numeral
A Geresh can be appended after (left of) a single letter to indicate that the letter represents a Hebrew numeral. For example: ק׳ represents 100. A multi-digit Hebrew numeral is indicated by the Gershayim ⟨״⟩.
Cantillation mark
As a note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, the Geresh is printed above the accented letter: ב֜. The Geresh Muqdam (lit. 'a Geresh made earlier'), a variant cantillation mark, is also printed above the accented letter, but slightly before (i.e. more to the right of) the position of the normal Geresh: ב֝. As a cantillation mark it is also called Ṭères (טֶרֶס).
Computer encoding
Most keyboards do not have a key for the geresh. As a result, an apostrophe ( ', Unicode U+0027) is often substituted for it.
| Appearance | Code points | Name |
|---|---|---|
| ׳ | U+05F3 | HEBREW PUNCTUATION GERESH |
| ֜ | U+059C | HEBREW ACCENT GERESH |
| ֝ | U+059D | HEBREW ACCENT GERESH MUQDAM |
