hamza in French

A sign used in the written Arabic language representing a glottal stop. Hamza may appear as a stand-alone letter (ء‎) or most commonly diacritically over or under other letters, e.g. أ‎ (over an alif [ا‎]), إ‎ (under an alif), ؤ‎ (over a wāw [و‎]) or ئ‎ (over a dotless yāʾ [ى‎]). The exact seat of hamza is governed by an orthographic rule – the "seat of hamza rule".