The Letter Dad (ض): Abjad Value 800, the Sound of Arabic

Dad is the letter Arabic is proud of. Its deep, emphatic sound is thought to be hard for others to say, so the Arabs called their own tongue the language of Dad. Written, it is a broad body crowned with a single dot, and it opens words of light, duty, and the earth beneath us.

What Is the Arabic Letter Dad (ض)?

Dad is the fifteenth letter of the modern Arabic alphabet and the twenty-sixth letter in the Abjad order. It makes a heavy, emphatic “d” sound, pronounced with the tongue pressed wide against the upper teeth and the back of the mouth raised. In shape it is a broad curve with a small tooth, marked by one dot above.

What Is the Abjad Value of Dad?

In the Abjad system, also called Hisab al-Jummal, the Abjad value of Dad is 800. It is one of the “hundreds” letters, so it adds a large amount to a word’s total, and the value never changes with the letter’s position in a word.

Dad keeps the value 800 in both main systems, because it is not one of the six letters that shift between Mashriqi and Maghribi. So a word with Dad gives the same Dad contribution either way. For the full method, see the Abjad Calculation Rules, or get the value of any name in the Abjad Calculator.

Dad: The Sound That Names the Language

No other letter has given its name to a whole language. Because the emphatic sound of Dad was felt to be unique and hard to imitate, classical writers called Arabic لغة الضاد (lughat al-Dad), the language of Dad. This is a fact of history and language, not a property of the number 800.

The letter opens a family of everyday and sacred words: ضياء (Diya, light), ضحى (Duha, the forenoon), and ضيف (Dayf, guest). It also sits inside central words such as فرض (Fard, a religious duty) and رمضان (Ramadan).

Names of Allah That Contain Dad

Words of Light and Duty That Contain Dad

You can check any of these in the calculator above. For the divine names, see the 99 Names of Allah.

Companions and Names That Contain Dad

Dad appears in several names from Islamic history, usually inside the name. The totals below are plain letter sums, shown for study only, and carry no ranking or hidden meaning.

Companions (Sahaba)

Other Names and Scholars

Check any of these names yourself in the calculator above to see the running total build up letter by letter.

Everyday Words That Contain Dad

Dad turns up in many common Arabic words, from the courtroom to the calendar.

How to Write and Recognize Dad (ض)

Dad joins to the letters on both sides, so it has the full set of four forms. The body stays a broad curve with a small tooth at the end; only the connecting strokes change, while the single dot rides above.

Common Confusion: Sad (ص) vs. Dad (ض)

Sad and Dad share the exact same body. The only difference is a single dot, and it changes both the sound and the Abjad value (Sad = 90 vs. Dad = 800):

Dad and the Six Extra Arabic Letters

Dad belongs to the six extra Arabic letters, traditionally called the rawadif, which Arabic added after the original twenty-two Semitic letters. These six were placed at the end of the count and given the highest values, from 500 to 1000.

Dad is the fourth of these six. Its written body is shared with Sad, but its heavy emphatic sound is distinctively Arabic, and its Abjad value of 800 is an Arabic addition with no single matching letter in the Hebrew or Greek numerals.

Frequently Asked Questions