moon letter

Calque of Arabic حَرْف قَمَرِيّ‎ (ḥarf qamariyy).

moon letter (plural moon letters)

1. (linguistics) One of fourteen Arabic letters that do not affect the pronunciation of the "L" of a preceding definite article (ال-‎ (al--)). The "L" in the Arabic definite article is pronounced "L" when followed by a moon letter: e.g., القُرْآن‎ (al-qurʾān). The fourteen moon letters are:

ء‎ (ʾ), ب‎ (b), ج‎ (j), ح‎ (ḥ), خ‎ (ḵ), ع‎ (ʿ), غ‎ (ḡ), ف‎ (f), ق‎ (q), ك‎ (k), م‎ (m), ه‎ (h), و‎ (w), ي‎ (y)

• lunar letter

• sun letter