ח, the Hebrew cursive letter het
ח (het) is the 8th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, representing the voiceless uvular fricative /χ/ in Ashkenazi and modern Hebrew, historically the voiceless pharyngeal fricative /ħ/.
In words
משפחה · family
חתן · bridegroom
Easy to confuse with
Looks like ה (he (ה))
A he whose small inner stroke does not sit under the end of its top stroke can read as a het.
Looks like ת (tav (ת))
A tav whose left stroke, shaped like a nun, is not clear can read as a het.
History
ח is the 8th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 8. In traditional and modern Hebrew and Yiddish, it represents the voiceless uvular fricative /χ/ in Ashkenazi and modern Hebrew, historically the voiceless pharyngeal fricative /ħ/.
In cursive, het is formed by connecting two vertical uprights with an arch or bridge in a single fluid gesture, rounding off the rigid rectilinear bridge seen in printed movable type.
Het occurs extensively in greeting phrases, blessings, and dates (representing the numeral eight) in both communal records and private letters.
The older pharyngeal pronunciation, /ħ/, is still common among Israeli Arabs and Mizrahi Jews, particularly the older generation and Mizrahi singers.[1] When a word ends in het with a patach, the vowel is sounded first, a patach gnuva: the ending is /-aħ/ rather than /-ħa/, as in tapuach.[2] English speakers usually say challah with a plain h, because most cannot hear the difference between [h] and [ħ].[3] Written over and over, het denotes laughter, just as haha does in English.[4]
Sources
- [1] Heth — Wikipedia — /ħ/ among Israeli Arabs and Mizrahi Jews (accessed 2026-10-14)
- [2] Heth — Wikipedia — patach gnuva (accessed 2026-10-14)
- [3] Heth — Wikipedia — challah with /h/ in English (accessed 2026-10-14)
- [4] Heth — Wikipedia — repeated het, laughter (accessed 2026-10-14)