The Letter Ghayn (غ): Abjad Value 1000, Forgiveness & the Unseen

Ghayn is the summit of the Abjad. No single letter is worth more, and none comes after it in the count. It is a deep, gargled sound and a curved body topped by one dot, and it opens two of the most hopeful ideas in the language, God’s forgiveness and the unseen that only He knows.

What Is the Arabic Letter Ghayn (غ)?

Ghayn is the nineteenth letter of the modern Arabic alphabet and the twenty-eighth and final letter in the Abjad order. It makes a voiced, gargled sound at the back of the throat, close to the “r” in the Parisian French pronunciation, a soft “gh”. In shape it is a curve with a small loop, marked by one dot above.

What Is the Abjad Value of Ghayn?

In the Abjad system, also called Hisab al-Jummal, the Abjad value of Ghayn is 1000, the largest value any single Arabic letter carries. Because the count runs no higher, Ghayn stands at the very end of the table. The value never changes with the letter’s position in a word.

Ghayn keeps the value 1000 in both main systems, because it is not one of the six letters that shift between Mashriqi and Maghribi. So a word with Ghayn gives the same Ghayn contribution either way. For the full method, see the Abjad Calculation Rules, or get the value of any name in the Abjad Calculator.

Ghayn: Forgiveness and the Unseen

Ghayn opens a family of words tied to forgiveness, richness, and the hidden. This is a fact of the language, not a property of the number 1000.

It begins غفران (Ghufran, forgiveness), غيب (Ghayb, the unseen), and غار (Ghar, cave, as in the caves of Hira and Thawr). It also carries the divine names الغفور (Al-Ghafur, the Most Forgiving) and الغني (Al-Ghani, the Self-Sufficient).

Names of Allah That Contain Ghayn

Words of Forgiveness and the Hidden That Contain Ghayn

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 Ghayn

Ghayn 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

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

Everyday Words That Contain Ghayn

Ghayn turns up in many common Arabic words, including the word for language itself.

How to Write and Recognize Ghayn (غ)

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

Common Confusion: Ayn (ع) vs. Ghayn (غ)

Ayn and Ghayn share the exact same body. The only difference is a single dot, and it changes both the sound and the Abjad value (Ayn = 70 vs. Ghayn = 1000):

Ghayn Closes the Abjad Table

Ghayn 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. Ghayn is the last of them, and its value of 1000 is where the whole Abjad table stops.

With Ghayn, the twenty-eight letters and their values are complete, running from Alif at 1 to Ghayn at 1000. Its written body is shared with Ayn, but its Abjad value of 1000 is an Arabic addition with no single matching letter in the Hebrew or Greek numerals.

Frequently Asked Questions