See the lexicon

General Script Characteristics

Shape

rectangular

Internal Structure

tight interwoven

stacked

certain letters written in reverse

Presence of Elongation

frequent

Elongated Letters

bā’/fā’ bowl

kāf bowl

lām bowl

yā’ rajiah

medial ligatures

Length of Elongation

varied length of elongations

Ligature

Conventional - curvilinear

Conventional - underpinning

Shading / Contrast

medium contrast

Letter Morphology

Point

inclined square

Ascenders

Alif Ascenders

alif - elongated vertical shaft

alif - top right serif

Lām Ascenders

lām - elongated vertical shaft

lām - top right serif

Kāf Ascenders

initial medial and final elongated (mabsūṭah)

Kaf - two elongated parallel strokes

top long curvilinear stroke

Initial /medial compact form diagonal body

top arm long diagonal stroke

ṭā' ẓā' ascenders

rounded body

vertical shaft with serif

Descenders

wāw descenders

wāw - short curvilinear tail

rā' zā' descenders

rā'/zā' - s-shaped

mīm descenders

mīm - vertical downstroke

mīm - s-shape

nūn sīn shīn sādḍād yā’ lām and qāf descenders

nūn, sīn/shīn, sād/ḍād, yā', lām, qāf - crescent bowl

jīm ḥāʾ khā' and ‘ain ghayn descenders

semicircular backward tail

opening downwards

opening horizontal

yā’ al-rāji’ah descenders

backward horizontal stroke

horizontals

bāʾ tāʾ thāʾ fāʾ kāf horizontals

elongated straight bowl on baseline

denticles

sīn shīn denticles

rounded base denticles

initial and medial bāʾ tāʾthāʾ nūn yāʾ denticles

initial slightly inclined to left

counters

hā' counters

final multi-knotted form (musalsalah)

fā' qāf wāw counters

triangular pointed head

medial 'ain ghayn counters

wide inverted triangle, open eye

mīm counters

circular head

vocalization and diacritics

ḍamma vocalization and diacritics

oblique tail (10°-35°)

closed eye

sukūn vocalization and diacritics

circle

shadda vocalization and diacritics

short denticles

Other

additional characteristics

eyebrow of khā /jim/ ḥa is elongated horizontally