majhul

Borrowed from Classical Persian مَجْهُول (majhūl, “unknown”), from Arabic مَجْهُول (majhūl, “unknown”).

majhul (plural majhuls)

1. a semivowel or diacritic, in Arabic script languages, that is being pronounced differently from how it would be in Arabic. Used to describe vowel quality for vowel characters that have multiple corresponding vowel phonemes in languages such as Classical Persian, modern Dari, and Urdu.

   Antonym: ma'ruf

   • 1919, D.C. Phillott, Higher Persian Grammar:

     The majhul sounds o and e are still preserved in the Persian spoken by Afghans and Indians, but they are now unknown in Persia.

   • 1975, MMT Henderson, Diglossia in Kabul Persian Phonology:

     [Kabuli Persian] differs from [Tehrani Persian] in that it has retained the old majhul vowels e and o, which have merged with i and u in [Tehrani Persian]

From Arabic مَجْهُول (majhūl).

majhul (comparative majhulroq, superlative eng majhul)

1. unknown