Final form

Template:Short description Template:ForTemplate:For other usesTemplate:More citations needed In certain languages, the final form or terminal form is a special character used to represent a letter only when it occurs at the end of a word. Some languages that use final form characters are: Arabic, Hebrew, Manchu and one letter in Greek ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="A primer on Greek type design">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The lowercase Latin letter "s" had separate medial (ſ) and final (s) in the orthographies of many European languages from the medieval period to the early 19th century; it survived in the German Fraktur script until the 1940s.

Hebrew

In the Hebrew alphabet the final form is called sofit (Template:Langx, meaning "final" or "ending").

Hebrew letters that have a final form

Letter name	Non-final	Final (sofit)
Mem	Template:Script/Hebrew	Template:Script/Hebrew
Nun	Template:Script/Hebrew	Template:Script/Hebrew
Tsadi	Template:Script/Hebrew	Template:Script/Hebrew
Pe	Template:Script/Hebrew	Template:Script/Hebrew
Kaf	Template:Script/Hebrew	Template:Script/Hebrew

This set of letters is known acronymically as Template:Script/Hebrew (Template:Script/Hebrew letters).

The now final forms Template:Script/Hebrew predate their non-final counterparts; They were the default forms used in any position within a word. Their descender eventually bent forwards when preceding another letter to facilitate writing.Template:Citation needed A final form of these letters is also called pshuta (Template:Script/Hebrew, meaning extended or plain).

The letter Mem also had a descender Template:Script/Hebrew, however, its current final form Template:Script/Hebrew was a variant of Template:Script/Hebrew used interchangeably in all positions. The standardization is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud (Megillah 2b-3a and Shabbas 104a). One instance of a medial Template:Script/Hebrew is preserved in Isaiah 9:6 of the Hebrew Bible, while Nehemiah 2:13 and arguablyTemplate:Clarify Genesis 49:19–20 have a final Template:Script/Hebrew.

Modern Hebrew uses the forms Template:Script/Hebrew finally, when transcribing a plosive pronunciation, for example Template:Script/Hebrew (microscope), Template:Script/Hebrew (Mubarak, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), while their final forms Template:Script/Hebrew, are transcribing a fricative pronunciation, for example Template:Script/Hebrew (Kach), Template:Script/Hebrew (Chef).