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Grapheme Data for /f/ and Related Phonemes

/ɸ/ - voiceless bilabial fricative

Writing SystemGraphemeExampleNotes
ha-Latn <f> fyaɗe ‘rape’Often merges with /f/

/f/ - voiceless labiodental fricative

Writing SystemGraphemeExampleNotes
apd-Latn <f> fajur ‘dawn’
ar-Arab <ف> فقير ‘poor’, مستشفى ‘hospital’
ast-Latn <f> figu ‘fig’
bcy-Latn <f> fara ‘stone’
bec-Latn <fw> ofufwe ‘wife’Labialised in environment u_e
bec-Latn <f> falɛ ‘untie’, ifofu ‘debt’, kaf ‘hoe’
blt-Tavt <> ꪶꪠꪙ ‘rain’low tone series (syll. init.)
blt-Tavt <> ꪡ꫁ꪱ ‘sky’high tone series (syll. init.)
de-Latn <ff> pfiffig ‘smart’
de-Latn <f> Fisch ‘fish’
de-Latn <ph> Physik ‘physics’Loan words
de-Latn <v> Vater ‘father’
dv-Thaa <ފ> ފަސް
en-Latn <f> fun
en-Latn <gh> laugh, rough
en-Latn <ph> phone
es-Latn <f> fuego ‘fire’
fub-Arab <ڢ> ڢُلْࢡٜ ‘Fulani People’, تٜڢُغٛ ‘to search’, مِتُڢِ ‘I pricked, injected’, ڢُوڢُ ‘lung’
fub-Latn <f> fulɓe ‘Fulani People’, tefugo ‘to search’, mi tufi ‘I pricked, injected’, fuufu ‘lung’
id-Latn <f> fajar ‘dawn’Typically from Arabic; tends to become /p/ in older borrowings (e.g. pikir ‘think’ is now more common than fikir)
id-Latn <v> vaksin ‘vaccine’Pronounced [f]; only used in loan words
ii-Latn <f> fut ‘six’
ne-Deva <> फूल ‘flower’
png-Latn <f> fogi, fuba
ru-Cyrl <в> вы́ставка ‘exhibition’, бо́ров ‘hog’Preceding a voiceless consonant or if word-final
ru-Cyrl <ф> фо́рма ‘shape’Preceding either ‹а, о, э, у, ы›, a voiceless consonant, or ‹л, м, н, р, в›, or if word-final
srr-Arab <ف> فَدْ ‘to beat’
srr-Latn <f> fad ‘to beat’
wo-Arab <ف> فࣹرْ ‘to gather’
wo-Latn <f> for ‘to gather’
xnz-Copt <>
xnz-Latn <f>
yba-Latn <f> ɔfiyɛɔ

/fʷ/ - labialized voiceless labiodental fricative

Writing SystemGraphemeExampleNotes
bec-Latn <fw> fwap ‘shallow’

/fʲ/ - palatalized voiceless labiodental fricative

Writing SystemGraphemeExampleNotes
bcy-Latn <fy> fyama ‘smell’
png-Latn <fw> fwata, fwara̱ga
ru-Cyrl <вь> кровь ‘blood’Preceding a voiceless consonant or if word-final
ru-Cyrl <фь> верфь ‘shipyard’Preceding either a vowel, voiceless consonant, or ‹л, м, н, р, в›, or if word-final
ru-Cyrl <ф> фина́л ‘finale’Preceding ‹я, ё, е, ю, и

/fː/ - geminate voiceless labio-dental fricative

Writing SystemGraphemeExampleNotes
wo-Arab <ف◌ّ> فَّتَ ‘Ephatha’proper name from the Bible
wo-Latn <ff> Effata ‘Ephatha’proper name from the Bible

Sequences including /f/ - voiceless labiodental fricative

Writing SystemPhoneme SequenceGraphemeExampleNotes
de-Latn/pf/ <pf> Pferd ‘horse’, Kopf ‘head’
ii-Yiii/fe/ <> ꃍꆦ ‘all dressed up’
ii-Yiii/fe/ <>
ii-Yiii/fe/ <> ꀁꃏ ‘thin’
ii-Yiii/fe/ <> ꐯꀋꃐ ‘of different width’
ii-Yiii/fä̙/ <> ‘release’
ii-Yiii/fä̙/ <>
ii-Yiii/fä̙/ <> ꈁꃓ ‘cover ones mouth’
ii-Yiii/fä̙/ <> ‘crave’
ii-Yiii/fo/ <>
ii-Yiii/fo/ <> ‘seal’
ii-Yiii/fo/ <> ‘approach’
ii-Yiii/fʉ̙/ <> ‘six’
ii-Yiii/fʉ/ <> ꃙꄜ ‘injure’
ii-Yiii/fʉ/ <> ꃚꋒ ‘sound’
ii-Yiii/fʉ/ <> ꄔꃛ ‘bean curd’
ii-Yiii/fʉ̙/ <> ꃜꇤ ‘matchmaker’
ii-Yiii/fʉ̙/ <> ‘scratch’
ii-Yiii/fɨ̙/ <> ꃞꆏ ‘appearance’
ii-Yiii/fɨ/ <>
ii-Yiii/fɨ/ <> ‘ugly’
ii-Yiii/fɨ/ <>