Hiriq


Spelling

When writing with niqqud, the letter yud is often written after the letter that carries the Hiriq sign. This is called , meaning "full" hiriq. In writing without niqqud, the letter yud is added more often as a mater lectionis, than in writing with niqqud, The main exception is the "i" vowel in a syllable that ends with shva naḥ. For example the words rtl=yes and rtl=yes are pronounced identically in modern Hebrew, but in spelling without niqqud rtl=yes is written rtl=yes because there is a shva naḥ on the letter, and rtl=yes is written rtl=yes.
In Yiddish orthography the is placed under the yud.

Pronunciation

The following table contains the pronunciation and transliteration of the different Hiriqs in reconstructed historical forms and dialects using the International Phonetic Alphabet.
The letter Bet used in this table is only for demonstration, any letter can be used.

Vowel length comparison

These vowels lengths are not manifested in Modern Hebrew. In addition, the short i is usually promoted to a long i in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation.
Note: In Yiddish orthography only, the glyph, ', pronounced, can be optionally used, rather than typing ' then '. In Hebrew spelling this would be pronounced. is written ' under the previous letter then .

Computer encoding