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← Pe               Tsade               Qoph →
Phoenician	Hebrew	Aramaic	Syriac	Arabic
	צ,ץ		ܨ	ﺻ,ﺹ
Phonemic representation:				sˁ
Position in alphabet:				18
Numerical (Gematria/Abjad) value:				90

Tsade (also spelled Ṣādē or Tzadi or Sadhe or Tzaddik) is the eighteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Tsadi צ and Arabic Ṣād ﺹ. Its oldest sound value is probably IPA: [sˁ], although there is a variety of pronunciation in different modern Semitic languages and their dialects. It represents the coalescence of three Proto-Semitic "emphatic consonants" in Canaanite. Arabic, which kept the phonemes separate, introduced variants of ṣād and ṭāʼ to express the three (see ḍād, ẓāʼ). In Aramaic, these emphatic consonants coalesced instead with ʻayin and ṭēt, respectively, thus Hebrew ereẓ ארץ (earth) is arʻāʼ ארעא in Aramaic.

The Phoenician letter is continued in the Greek Sampi Ϡ and San Ϻ and in Etruscan 𐌑 Ś. It may have inspired the form of the letter Tse in the Glagolitic alphabet.

The corresponding letter of the Ugaritic alphabet is 𐎕 ṣade.

Hebrew speakers may also call this letter Tsadiq (meaning "righteous person"; see Tzadik), though this use probably originated from a fast recitation of the alphabet (i.e., "tsadi, qoph" -> "tsadiq, qoph").

Contents 1 Origins 2 Hebrew Tsadi 2.1 Name 2.2 Pronunciation 2.3 Variations 2.4 Significance 3 Arabic ṣad 4 See also

Phoenician alphabet (1050 BCE–unknown)

𐤀    𐤁    𐤂    𐤃    𐤄    𐤅

𐤆    𐤇    𐤈    𐤉    𐤊    𐤋

𐤌    𐤍    𐤎    𐤏    𐤐

𐤑    𐤒    𐤓    𐤔    𐤕

Semitic abjads · Genealogy

Hebrew alphabet (1000 BCE–present)

א    ב    ג    ד    ה    ו

ז    ח    ט    י    כך

ל    מם    נן    ס    ע    פף

צץ    ק    ר    ש    ת

History · Transliteration Niqqud · Dagesh · Gematria Cantillation · Numeration

Syriac alphabet (200 BCE–present)

ܐ    ܒ    ܓ    ܕ    ܗ    ܘ

ܙ    ܚ    ܛ    ܝ    ܟܟ    ܠ

ܡܡ    ܢܢ    ܣ    ܥ    ܦ

ܨ    ܩ    ܪ    ܫ    ܬ

Arabic alphabet (400 CE–present)

ﺍ    ﺏ    ﺕ    ﺙ    ﺝ    ﺡ

ﺥ    ﺩ    ﺫ    ﺭ    ﺯ     س

ﺵ    ﺹ    ﺽ    ﻁ    ﻅ    ﻉ

ﻍ    ﻑ    ﻕ    ﻙ    ﻝ

ﻡ    ﻥ    ه‍    ﻭ    ﻱ

History · Transliteration Diacritics · Hamza ء Numerals · Numeration

v • d • e

The origin of Tsade is unclear. It may have come from a Middle Bronze Age glyph based on a pictogram of a plant, perhaps a papyrus plant, or a fish hook (in Modern Hebrew, "tsad" means "[he] hunt[ed]", and Arabic "sad" means "to fish" or "to hunt").

Another spelling of the name includes Tsadik as well as using a "z" instead of the "s" being Tzadi or Tzadik.

In modern Hebrew, tzadi represents a voiceless alveolar affricate (IPA: [ʦ]). This is the same in Yiddish language. Historically, it likely represented a pharyngealized /sˤ/; Yemenite Jews still pronounce it this way.

Tzadi, like Kaph, Mem, Pe, and Nun, has a final form, used at the end of words. Its shape changes from this: צ to this: ץ. The pronunciation is not changed.

In gematria, Tzadi represents the number 90. Its final form represents 900 but this is rarely used, Tav, Tav, and Kuf (400+400+100) being used instead.

A geresh can also be placed after it ('צ), giving it the IPA sound /ʧ/. This is most commonly seen in the Hebrew צ'יפּסים, meaning chips.

As an abbreviation, it stands for tzafon, North.

Tzadi is also one of the seven letters which receive a special crown (called a tagin) when written in a Sefer Torah. See Shin, Ayin, Teth, Nun, Zayin, and Gimmel.

The letter is named ṣad, and is written is several ways depending in its position in the word:

Position
Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ص	صـ‍	ـصـ	ـص

• Ṣ
• Z → Usage