Definition of hamza in English:

noun

• 1(in Arabic script) a symbol representing a glottal stop.

  More example sentences

  • ‘The sign hamza also represents a glottal stop and is transliterated in the same way.’
  • ‘Historically, qaf merged with the hamza (the glottal stop), except in some restricted domains mainly religious ones.’
  • ‘Ibrahim Jaafari in Arabic begins with an alif for Ibrahim, the first letter of the alphabet (alif supports the glottal stop, hamza, which can serve as a chair for any of the three vowels, the equivalents of a, i or u).’

  1. 1.1A glottal stop.
     ‘Once again we see the the "q" becoming a glottal stop sound like "hamza."’
     ‘I discovered that my students pronounce Latin "La'in," with a glottal stop as intense as any Cockney's, or as any Arabic hamza.’