Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A sign in Arabic orthography used to represent the sound of a glottal stop, transliterated in English as an apostrophe.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A sign (ء‎ - a stand-alone hamza) used in the written Arabic language representing a glottal stop. Hamza may appear as a stand-alone letter or most commonly over or under other letters, e.g. أ‎‎ (over an alif - ا‎), إ‎‎ (under an alif), ؤ‎‎‎ (over a wāw - و‎) or ئ‎‎‎‎ (over a dotless yāʾ - ى‎). The exact seat of hamza is governed by an orthographic rule - "seat of hamza rule".

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Arabic, from hamaza, to urge on, goad; see hmz in Semitic roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Arabic همزة (hámza)

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Examples

  • All these items are of importance for true citizenship - Having said all that I do not believe we should be thinking that any but a few are abu hamza types. they patently are not., but the thoughts of some on this wall will certainly make more.

    Tony Blair: The Next Labour Prime Minister? 2010

  • I do not agree with him but I understand the reasons and our best chance of achieving any accord is with people like him who wish for that accord rather than the likes of abu hamza and his henchmen.

    On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2009

  • Did Osama enhance their lives, and abu hamza and his idiots?

    On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2009

  • We call the herb "ba'leh" or some arabs would probably spell it as "ba2le" since we consider the "2" to resemble the "hamza" in our alphabet.

    The Best Cashews, and Why I Love the Kurds Mercedes 2007

  • But I am not flummoxed by the actual Arabic rendition of this confusing rule about the hamza.

    Improving My Arabic 2006

  • Arabic esoterica begins The page I linked to, about the hamza and the chairs for hamza, makes almost no sense to me.

    Dove's Eye View: 2006

  • But I am not flummoxed by the actual Arabic rendition of this confusing rule about the hamza.

    Dove's Eye View: 2006

  • Arabic esoterica begins The page I linked to, about the hamza and the chairs for hamza, makes almost no sense to me.

    Improving My Arabic 2006

  • I don't know whether the form in the list is from Pahlavi tuwānīgīh 'ability, power' or a separate derivative using an Arabic termination, but in any case hamza is indeed used in native words—it's the standard way to indicate that two separate vowels are coming together.

    languagehat.com: NAME THAT LANGUAGE! 2005

  • I'm pretty sure that Persian doesn't use hamza in native words so that it must be a loan from Arabic.

    languagehat.com: NAME THAT LANGUAGE! 2005

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