ظ — za
«za» is a consonant of the Persian script, read as “z (as ظ)”. Reads as a plain z — the third sign on that sound, after ذ and ض; the ear cannot tell them apart, only the eye can. For example, in the word “ظهر” — midday. The Persian alphabet has 32 letters in total. ط with a dot on top. Almost only in bookish loanwords: ظهر "midday". It appears, for example, in the word “خداحافظ” — goodbye.
In short
| Character | ظ |
| Name | za |
| Sound | z (as ظ) |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 24th of 33: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ط and ع, appears in 52 words of this site.
How to type ظ
- 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+0638 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 0638.
- Unicode code point: U+0638. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
Reads as a plain z — the third sign on that sound, after ذ and ض; the ear cannot tell them apart, only the eye can
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 | ظـ | — |
| medial | ـظـ | — |
| final | ـظ | — |
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.
- ظهرzakhrmidday
The character in the “ص ض ط ظ — old spellings on living words” group
Four "heavy" consonants of the older alphabet. Their special pronunciation faded centuries ago. Today ص reads as plain s, ض as z, ط as t, ظ as z — three signs share the one z sound. They live in bookish loanwords, but there is no skipping them: صبح "morning" opens every day.
Words with this character
- خداحافظkhâdâhâfezgoodbye
- ظرفzarfdishes
- مواظب باشmâvareb bâshbe careful
- حفظ کردنhefz kânto memorize
- اظهارنامهezhârnâmedeclaration form
- ظاهرzâherlooks, appearance
- ظرف شستنzarf shâstanto wash the dishes
- حفظ کردنhefz kânto memorize, learn by heart
- اظهارنامه مالیاتیezhârnâmee mâliyotitax return
- وظایفvazâefduties, responsibilities
- نظافت اتاقnezâfâte âtâkroom cleaning
- منظره دریاmânzere dâryosea view
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 «za» it is “z (as ظ)”, as in the word “ظهر”), 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 ظ read?
As “z (as ظ)” — it is a consonant of the Persian script. Reads as a plain z — the third sign on that sound, after ذ and ض; the ear cannot tell them apart, only the eye can. For example, in the word “ظهر” — midday.
What is the letter ظ called?
Za. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Persian script: it is called “za” and reads as “z (as ظ)”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.