The sixteenth letter of the alphabet; called طَآءٌ

[and طَا]; the ا of which is reduced to ى [as its radical letter]: when you spell it, you make its final letter quiescent; but when you apply an epithet to it, and make it a noun, you decline it as a noun, saying, [for instance,] هٰذِهِ طَآءٌ طَوِيلَةٌ

[This is a tall ط]: it is one of the letters termed مَجْهُورَة [or vocal, i. e. pronounced with the voice, and not with the breath only]; and of the letters termed نِطْعِيَّة, like ت and د, because originating from the نِطْع [q. v.] of the roof of the mouth. (TA.) It is substituted for the ت in the measure اِفْتَعَلَ and the forms inflected therefrom, and [sometimes] for the pronominal ت, when immediately following any of the palatal letters [ص and ض and ط and ظ]; (MF, TA;) as in [اِصْطَبَرَ and اِضْطَرَبَ and اِطَّبَعَ and اِظْطَلَمَ, for اِصْتَبَرَ and اِضْتَرَبَ and إِطْتَبَعَ and اِظْتَلَمَ; and in]

فَحَصْطُ and حِضْطُ and خَبَطُّ and حَفِظْطُ, for فَحَصْتُ and حِضْتُ and خَبَطْتُ and حَفِظْتُ; but some of the grammarians say that this [latter]

substitution is not to be made invariably; [nor is it common;] and it is said to be a dialectal peculiarity of some of the Benoo-Temeem. (TA.) It is also substituted for د: thus Yaakoob mentions, on the authority of As, مَطَّ الحُرُوفَ, for مَدَّ الحُرُوفَ: and AO, المَبْطَأُ, for المَبْدَأُ: and Aboo-'Amr Ez-Záhid, in the Yawákeet, مَا أَبْعَدَ

طَارَكَ, for مَا أَبْعَدَ دَارَكَ. (TA.)

A2: [As a numeral, it denotes Nine.]