U064E

U+064E ARABIC FATHA is a combining diacritic used in the Arabic script to indicate a short vowel sound, specifically the /a/ sound. It appears as a small diagonal line placed above the base letter and is one of the harakat, the set of diacritical marks used to indicate vowels and pronunciation in Arabic writing.

In Unicode, the character is designated as U+064E (decimal 1614) and is categorized as a combining mark (General Category Mn) within the Arabic script block. As a combining mark, it does not stand alone; it combines with the preceding consonant to modify its pronunciation. Rendering and placement depend on font support and proper right-to-left shaping, so the diacritic may look slightly different across fonts and platforms.

Usage of the fatha is common in educational texts, language-learning materials, and Qur’anic or liturgical texts where vowel pronunciation is indicated. In everyday Arabic writing, short vowels are typically omitted, making the fatha optional except in contexts where precise pronunciation is required. The fatha can appear with any Arabic letter and can be combined with other diacritics; related diacritics include U+064F ARABIC DAMMA and U+0650 ARABIC KASRA, among others.

Example: بَ combines the base letter ب (U+0628) with the fatha (U+064E). The availability and appearance of such sequences depend on font support and correct text direction handling.