qalam rasas
pencilThe word, broken down.
قَلَم رَصاص reads right to left. Below, in reading order, each letter — its sound, its shape, its place in the syllable.
A deep 'k', made far back in the throat.
A short 'a' — a small stroke written above the letter.
A plain 'l' — a tall upright stroke with a curved foot.
A short 'a' — a small stroke written above the letter.
A plain 'm'. A small round head with a tail.
A rolled 'r' — closer to Spanish than English.
A short 'a' — a small stroke written above the letter.
An emphatic 's' — pronounced with a fuller, deeper mouth.
A long 'a' vowel — a single upright stroke, and the first letter of the alphabet.
An emphatic 's' — pronounced with a fuller, deeper mouth.
The keystrokes, in order.
On a standard Arabic 101 / Arabic-PC layout — 11 key presses. Diacritics sit on the Shift keys. The on-screen keyboard on this site highlights each key as you go.
Practice typing this word →- 01R→ق
- 02Shift+Q→ـَfatḥa
- 03G→ل
- 04Shift+Q→ـَfatḥa
- 05L→م
- 06Space→
- 07V→ر
- 08Shift+Q→ـَfatḥa
- 09W→ص
- 10H→ا
- 11W→ص