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← Zayin Heth Teth →
Phoenician	Hebrew	Aramaic	Syriac	Arabic
	ח		ܚ	ح‍,ح
Alphabetic derivatives		Greek	Latin	Cyrillic
		Η	H	И,Й
Phonemic representation:				ħ / χ / x
Position in alphabet:				8
Numerical (Gematria/Abjad) value:				8

Ḥet or H̱et (also spelled Khet, Kheth, Chet, Cheth, Het, or Heth) is the reconstructed name of the eighth letter of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, continued in descended Semitic alphabets as Phoenician , Syriac ܚ, Hebrew ח, Arabic ح, and Berber ⵃ.

Heth originally represented a voiceless fricative, either pharyngeal /ħ/, or velar /x/ (the two Proto-Semitic phonemes having merged in Canaanite). In Arabic, two corresponding letters were created for both phonemic sounds: unmodified ḥāʾ ح represents /ħ/, while ḫāʾ خ represents /x/.

In modern Israeli Hebrew, the historical phonemes of the letters Ḥet ח (/ħ/) and Khaf כ (/x/) merged, both becoming the voiceless uvular fricative ([χ]).

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Eta Η, Etruscan 𐌇, Latin H and Cyrillic И. While H is a consonant in the Latin alphabet, the Greek and Cyrillic equivalents represent vowel sounds.

Origins[link]

The letter shape ultimately goes back to a hieroglyph for "courtyard",

(possibly named ḥasir in the Middle Bronze Age alphabets, while the name goes rather back to ḫayt, the name reconstructed for a letter derived from a hieroglyph for "thread",

The corresponding South Arabian letters are ḥ and ḫ, corresponding to Ge'ez Ḥauṭ ሐ and Ḫarm ኀ.

Hebrew Ḥet[link]

Orthographic variants
Various Print Fonts			Cursive Hebrew	Rashi Script
Serif	Sans-serif	Monospaced
ח	ח	ח

Hebrew spelling: חֵית

Pronunciation[link]

In Modern Israeli Hebrew, the letter Khet usually has the sound value of a voiceless uvular fricative (/χ/), due to European influence. It was originally pronounced as a voiceless pharyngeal fricative (/ħ/) and is still among Mizrahim (especially among the older generation and popular Mizrahi singers), in accordance with oriental Jewish traditions.

The ability to pronounce the Arabic letter ḥāʾ (ح) correctly as a voiceless pharyngeal fricative /ħ/ is often used as a shibboleth to distinguish Arabic-speakers from non-Arabic-speakers; in particular, pronunciation of the letter as /x/ is seen as a hallmark of Ashkenazi Jews and Greeks.

Chet is one of the few Hebrew consonants that can take a vowel at the end of a word. This occurs when patach gnuva comes under the Chet at the end of the word. The combination is then pronounced /-aχ/ rather than /-χa/. For example: פתוח (ˌpaˈtuaχ), and תפוח (ˌtaˈpuaχ).

Variations[link]

Chet, along with Aleph, Ayin, Resh, and He, cannot receive a dagesh. As pharyngeal fricatives are difficult for most English speakers to pronounce, loanwords are usually Anglicized to have /h/. Thus challah (חלה), pronounced by native Hebrew speakers as /xala/ or /ħala/ is pronounced /halə/ by most English speakers, who cannot often perceive the difference between [h] and [ħ].

Significance[link]

In gematria, Chet represents the number eight.

In chat rooms and online forums, the letter Chet repeated denotes laughter, similar to the English LOL.

Arabic ḥāʾ[link]

The letter is named حاء ḥāʾ and is the sixth letter of the alphabet. Its shape varies depending on its position in the word:

Pronunciation[link]

In Arabic, the ḥāʾ is similar to the English H, but is much raspier,^[1] IPA: [ħ]~[ʜ].

In Persian, it is [h], exactly as ⟨ه⟩.

See also[link]

• Ħ, ħ : Latin letter H with stroke

References[link]

v t e Arabic عربي Overviews Language Alphabet History Romanization Numerology Influence on other languages Alphabet Arabic numerals Eastern numerals Arabic braille Diacritics Hamza Tāʾ marbūṭah Letters ʾAlif Bāʾ Tāʾ Ṯāʾ Ǧīm Ḥāʾ Ḫāʾ Dāl Ḏāl Rāʾ Zayn Sīn Šīn Ṣād Ḍād Ṭāʾ Ẓāʾ ʿAyn Ġayn Fāʾ Qāf Kāf Lām Mīm Nūn Hāʾ Wāw Yāʾ Eras Ancient North Arabian Classical Modern Notable varieties Standardized Modern Standard Arabic Regional Egyptian Iraqi Levantine Maghrebi Sudanese Arabian Yemeni Ethnic/Religious Judeo-Arabic Academic Literature Names Linguistics Phonology Sun and moon letters ʾIʿrāb (inflection) Grammar Triliteral root Mater lectionis IPA Quranic Arabic Corpus

Heth and Jed
Heth and Jed busking 5th Ave, NYC
Background information
Genres	Indie Rock
Website	[1]

Heth and Jed is a New York City-based indie rock duo, composed of brothers Heth and Jed Weinstein, born in Los Angeles.

Together they have recorded two albums, written a memoir, and presently make a living busking on and under the streets of New York. They have been featured in The New Yorker^[1]New York Magazine^[2] and the New York Daily News.^[3]

The brothers played in several bands, both separately and together, before forming their duo known as Heth and Jed. They began busking in the streets of New York City in 2005 and 3 years later became part of the Music Under New York program. They now perform over 200 hundred plus busking shows annually in addition to touring nationally. While performing underground they have sold over 50,000 copies of their independently released CD’s.

Heth is on guitar and sings, while Jed sings backup and plays bass. They are known for tight vocal harmonies and the use of live looping, creating layers of sound with a wide array of guitar effects. They are heavily influenced by the Grateful Dead style of improvisation: state a theme and take it for a walk through the woods.

Discography and Filmography[link]

• Clean (2002), Rebel Ray Records, produced by Jamie Candiloro (who also worked for Ryan Adams, R.E.M, Willie Nelson and The Eagles)
• Between the In and the Out (2005), Space Rock Records, also produced by Jamie Candiloro.
• Live from New York (2007), live concert recorded for CitySessions TV in Quad studios [2]. The concert aired nationally on RAVE TV.

Book/Memoir[link]

• Weinstein, H. and Weinstein, J. 2011. Buskers: The On-the-Streets, In-the-Trains, Off-the-Grid Memoir of Two Street Musicians, Soft Skull Press.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Heth and Jed’s Homepage
• Documentary about Heth and Jed
• Video clip of Heth and Jed performing in Grand Central subway
• Video clip of Heth and Jed playing in Times Square

• The New Yorker [3] online
• New York Magazine feature online

‪

• WBAI Radio Interview with Heth and Jed