Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

maddah

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.19 in modern English

Syllables: mad-dah
IPA

13

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Arabic diacritic similar in appearance to a tilde. Over an alif (آ (ʔā) "alif maddah"), it indicates glottal stop, /ʔ/, followed by a long /aː/. The diacritic is not used separately, only over alif. Alif maddah can appear in the beginning: آسِف (ʔāsif) or in the middle of a word: قُرْآن (qurʔān).

noun

In the Qur'an, it indicates an extra long vowel and can appear over any long vowel.

noun

In Persian the letter is used only in the beginning of a word with a long /aː/: آمدن (âmadan).

Etymology

From Arabic مَدَّة (madda).

Origin

Source language: Arabic

Word Breakdown

Root: مَدَّة, م د د

Inflected Forms

maddahs (plural)

Questions

What does maddah mean?: Arabic diacritic similar in appearance to a tilde. Over an alif (آ (ʔā) "alif maddah"), it indicates glottal stop, /ʔ/, followed by a long /aː/. The diacritic is not used separately, only over alif. Alif maddah can appear in the beginning: آسِف (ʔāsif) or in the middle of a word: قُرْآن (qurʔān).
Where does maddah come from?: It is traced to Arabic.

How to pronounce maddah

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “maddah”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “maddah”.
Repeat and practice — Say “maddah” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.