Rukkakha and qushshaya

A dot deciding hard or soft.

Also known as: Syriac hardening and softening dots

CulturalHistorical & archaeologicalKeyboard & punctuationStandard profile

Meanings

The Syriac dots marking a consonant as spirantised or as plosive.

Historically documentedVerified fact
Mark a consonant as spirantised or as plosive.
Contexts: Language and transcription, History
Historically documentedVerified fact
Above hardens and below softens, which is the same device as the Hebrew dagesh doing the same job with presence and absence instead of position — two related scripts solving one problem two ways.
Contexts: Language and transcription, History

Visual description

A single dot placed below a letter to soften it and above it to harden it, the position alone carrying which.

Symmetry: none
Orientation: upright

Confidence

IdentityModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Historical originLow confidence: Low confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Visual matchModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.

Sources

The world's writing systems and their notation
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and comparable scholarly editions · retrieved 2026-08-27
Scholarly treatment of scripts not covered by a regional source already registered. Cited for the identity, structure and documented use of a script or a mark. Undeciphered and partly deciphered scripts are recorded as such, and a reading that is contested is stated as contested rather than adopted.

Last reviewed 2026-08-27

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Meanings

The Syriac dots marking a consonant as spirantised or as plosive.

Historically documentedVerified fact

Mark a consonant as spirantised or as plosive.

Contexts: Language and transcription, History

Historically documentedVerified fact

Above hardens and below softens, which is the same device as the Hebrew dagesh doing the same job with presence and absence instead of position — two related scripts solving one problem two ways.

Contexts: Language and transcription, History

Confidence

IdentityModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Historical originLow confidence: Low confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Visual matchModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.

Sources

The world's writing systems and their notation
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and comparable scholarly editions · retrieved 2026-08-27
Scholarly treatment of scripts not covered by a regional source already registered. Cited for the identity, structure and documented use of a script or a mark. Undeciphered and partly deciphered scripts are recorded as such, and a reading that is contested is stated as contested rather than adopted.

Last reviewed 2026-08-27