In Arabic, the “moon letters” or حروف القمریہ (Huroof Al-Qamariyyah) are a group of 14 letters that do not cause the “lām” (ل) in the definite article “al-” (الـ) to assimilate. This means that when a word starting with a moon letter is preceded by the definite article, the “lām” is pronounced clearly.
Here are the 14 moon letters with examples:
- أ (Alif) - Example: الأمير (Al-Amir) meaning “The Prince”
- ب (Ba) - Example: البيت (Al-Bayt) meaning “The House”
- ج (Jeem) - Example: الجمل (Al-Jamal) meaning “The Camel”
- ح (Ha) - Example: الحديقة (Al-Hadiqah) meaning “The Garden”
- خ (Kha) - Example: الخبز (Al-Khubz) meaning “The Bread”
- ع (Ain) - Example: العين (Al-Ayn) meaning “The Eye”
- غ (Ghayn) - Example: الغرفة (Al-Ghurfah) meaning “The Room”
- ف (Fa) - Example: الفيل (Al-Fil) meaning “The Elephant”
- ق (Qaf) - Example: القمر (Al-Qamar) meaning “The Moon”
- ك (Kaf) - Example: الكتاب (Al-Kitab) meaning “The Book”
- م (Meem) - Example: المدينة (Al-Madinah) meaning “The City”
- ه (Ha) - Example: الهواء (Al-Hawa) meaning “The Air”
- و (Waw) - Example: الوردة (Al-Wardah) meaning “The Flower”
- ي (Ya) - Example: اليد (Al-Yad) meaning “The Hand”
These examples illustrate how the pronunciation of the definite article “al-” remains unchanged when followed by any of these moon letters.