ث — se
«se» is a consonant of the Persian script, read as “s (as ث)”. A plain s today: the interdental th of "think" this letter once carried has faded out of the spoken language, while the spelling stayed. For example, in the word “ثانیه” — second. The Persian alphabet has 32 letters in total. The skeleton with three dots on top — one more than ت. Bookish loanwords only: ثانیه "second". It appears, for example, in the word “بحث” — discussion, debate.
In short
| Character | ث |
| Name | se |
| Sound | s (as ث) |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 11th of 33: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ت and ج, appears in 37 words of this site.
How to type ث
- On a phone: add the Persian keyboard in the keyboard settings (Gboard on Android; Keyboards in the iPhone settings).
- In Word on Windows: type U+062B and press Alt+X right after it — the code turns into the character.
- On a Mac: switch to the Unicode Hex Input source, hold Option and type 062B.
- Unicode code point: U+062B. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
A plain s today: the interdental th of "think" this letter once carried has faded out of the spoken language, while the spelling stayed
Other written forms
The same character is written differently on a shop sign and in a book. Here are all the forms you may meet.
| Form | Character | Note |
|---|---|---|
| initial | ثـ | — |
| medial | ـثـ | — |
| final | ـث | — |
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- ثانیهsaniesecond
The character in the “ب ت ث — one skeleton, dots count to three” group
The most legible family: one skeleton, and the difference is the number of dots. One underneath, two on top, three on top. Learn it first — here you can see how the whole writing system works. The third letter lives only in bookish loanwords.
Words with this character
- بحثbahsdiscussion, debate
- بحث کردنbahs kânto argue, discuss
- حادثهhâdeseaccident, insurance event
- لثهlâsegum
- حادثهhâdeseincident, accident
- بحث کردنbahs kânto discuss, debate
- تأثیر گذاشتنtasir gâzâshtânto influence, have an effect
- بحثبرانگیزهbahs-bârângizedebatable, controversial
- مثالmesâlexample
- مثلاًmesâlanfor example
- درخواست ثبت کردنdârkhâst sabât kânto file a repair request
- کثیفkesifdirty
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «se» it is “s (as ث)”, as in the word “ثانیه”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 32 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Persian character ث read?
As “s (as ث)” — it is a consonant of the Persian script. A plain s today: the interdental th of "think" this letter once carried has faded out of the spoken language, while the spelling stayed. For example, in the word “ثانیه” — second.
What is the letter ث called?
Se. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Persian script: it is called “se” and reads as “s (as ث)”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.