Arabic Keyboard: key facts
- Script: Arabic, used across Middle East & North Africa.
- Writing direction: right to left.
- Layout: 34 keys, 34 base characters, 21 on Shift.
- Transliteration: 74 conversion rules built in.
- Variants: 3 (Harakat, Yamli, Phonétique).
- Native name: لوحة المفاتيح العربية; speech synthesis locale: ar.
Arabic Keyboard in detail
Type Arabic with smart transliteration: “marhaba” becomes مرحبا as you type. Click the virtual keys or use your own keyboard. The Arabic Keyboard (لوحة المفاتيح العربية) covers the Arabic script as used across Middle East & North Africa. Text flows right to left in the editor, and every character below belongs to the authentic Arabic repertoire — no transliterated approximations once you use the virtual keys.
The smart transliteration engine converts Latin keystrokes into Arabic in real time using 74 hand-tuned rules: type the phonetic transcription and watch each syllable transform as you type.
The page ships 3 built-in variants — Harakat (Adds Arabic diacritics (tashkeel) to the shift layer.); Yamli (Intelligent phonetic Arabic — type in English letters, get Arabic.); Phonétique (Full phonetic (transliteration) mode for French users.) — switchable without reloading. Your text never leaves the browser: copy it to any app, export it, listen to it with the ar speech voice, or send it to Google, YouTube, Wikipedia, Translate, DuckDuckGo.
Every key on the Arabic Keyboard
The layout holds 34 character keys: 34 distinct base characters, 21 Shift variants. The table below maps each physical position to the characters it produces, so you can learn the layout or verify coverage of a rare letter before you start typing.
| Position | Base | Shift | AltGr |
|---|
| Row 1, key 2 | ض | َ | — |
| Row 1, key 3 | ص | ً | — |
| Row 1, key 4 | ث | ُ | — |
| Row 1, key 5 | ق | ٌ | — |
| Row 1, key 6 | ف | ْ | — |
| Row 1, key 7 | غ | ّ | — |
| Row 1, key 8 | ع | ُ | — |
| Row 1, key 9 | ه | ِ | — |
| Row 1, key 10 | خ | ٰ | — |
| Row 1, key 11 | ح | َ | — |
| Row 1, key 12 | ج | ِ | — |
| Row 1, key 13 | د | ؛ | — |
| Row 1, key 14 | \ | | | — |
| Row 2, key 2 | ش | ِ | — |
| Row 2, key 3 | س | ٍ | — |
| Row 2, key 4 | ي | ] | — |
| Row 2, key 5 | ب | [ | — |
| Row 2, key 6 | ل | لأ | — |
| Row 2, key 7 | ا | أ | — |
| Row 2, key 8 | ت | ـ | — |
| Row 2, key 9 | ن | ؟ | — |
| Row 2, key 10 | م | ٪ | — |
| Row 2, key 11 | ك | , | — |
| Row 2, key 12 | ط | ظ | — |
| Row 3, key 2 | ئ | ء | — |
| Row 3, key 3 | ء | ّ | — |
| Row 3, key 4 | ؤ | ْ | — |
| Row 3, key 5 | ر | ٌ | — |
| Row 3, key 6 | لا | ً | — |
| Row 3, key 7 | ى | ِ | — |
| Row 3, key 8 | ة | ُ | — |
| Row 3, key 9 | و | ٌ | — |
| Row 3, key 10 | ز | ّ | — |
| Row 3, key 11 | ظ | َ | — |
Complete transliteration table
The quick table higher up this page shows an excerpt. Below is the complete engine: all 74 mappings, longest match wins, applied left to right. Try « marhaban » → مرحبا, « marhaba » → مرحبا, « salam » → سلام to feel how whole words collapse into script in a single gesture. Multi-character sequences always win over single letters, so digraphs and common words convert before their parts do.
| You type | You get |
|---|
| marhaban | مرحبا |
| marhaba | مرحبا |
| salam | سلام |
| salaam | سلام |
| shukran | شكرا |
| kayf | كيف |
| kaif | كيف |
| halal | حلال |
| haram | حرام |
| allah | الله |
| madina | مدينة |
| madinaa | مدينة |
| habibi | حبيبي |
| habibti | حبيبتي |
| assalamu | السلام |
| assalam | السلام |
| ahlaan | اهلا |
| ahlan | اهلا |
| alhamdulillah | الحمد لله |
| alhamdu | الحمد |
| ana | انا |
| anta | انت |
| ya | يا |
| fi | في |
| la | لا |
| min | من |
| ma | ما |
| hal | هل |
| kull | كل |
| hadha | هذا |
| kaifahaluk | كيف حالك |
| in | ان |
| shsh | شش |
| baad | بعد |
| qabl | قبل |
| akhi | اخي |
| ukhti | اختي |
| th | ث |
| kh | خ |
| sh | ش |
| dh | ذ |
| gh | غ |
| 7 | ح |
| 9 | ق |
| 3 | ع |
| 5 | خ |
| 6 | ط |
| aa | ا |
| ee | ي |
| ii | ي |
| oo | و |
| ou | و |
| uu | و |
| at | ة |
| ah | ة |
| b | ب |
| t | ت |
| j | ج |
| h | ح |
| d | د |
| r | ر |
| z | ز |
| s | س |
| f | ف |
| q | ق |
| k | ك |
| l | ل |
| m | م |
| n | ن |
| w | و |
| y | ي |
| a | ا |
| i | ي |
| u | و |
Getting the most out of this keyboard
Start with the Harakat variant if you are unsure: Adds Arabic diacritics (tashkeel) to the shift layer. You can switch variants mid-text without losing what you typed.
Arabic runs right to left, so end-of-line punctuation jumps to the correct visual side automatically. If a mixed sentence looks odd, select it and copy it into Word or Docs, which apply full bidirectional layout.
For pronunciation, press the speaker button: the ar voice reads exactly what is in the editor, which makes this page a practical dictation and shadowing tool. Export the text first if you want to rehearse offline.
Preferred typefaces here are Scheherazade New, Amiri, Noto Naskh Arabic, Noto Sans Arabic (fallback Scheherazade New). If a character shows as a box on your device, switch fonts in the toolbar — complex-script shaping varies between systems, especially on older phones.
Common words to try first
New to Arabic? These 16 conversions are the fastest way to trust the engine: type the left column exactly and confirm the right column appears. They cover greetings, frequent words and the trickiest letter combinations of the language.
| Type this | You get |
|---|
| marhaban | مرحبا |
| marhaba | مرحبا |
| salam | سلام |
| salaam | سلام |
| shukran | شكرا |
| kayf | كيف |
| kaif | كيف |
| halal | حلال |
| haram | حرام |
| allah | الله |
| madina | مدينة |
| madinaa | مدينة |
| habibi | حبيبي |
| habibti | حبيبتي |
| assalamu | السلام |
| assalam | السلام |
Dictionaries and resources for Arabic Keyboard
Below the keyboard, the resource hub gathers 11 hand-picked links for Arabic Keyboard: 3 monolingual dictionaries (including Lexilogos — dictionnaire, Al-Maany — dictionnaire arabe, Wiktionary (ar)), 3 bilingual translators, 1 grammar and conjugation reference, 1 vocabulary and phrase guide, and 3 encyclopedias, newspapers and general resources. Type a word in the editor first and the links marked with an arrow receive it automatically — look up a definition, a conjugation or a translation without retyping.
Keep exploring
If this is not quite your language, the closest alternatives each have their own virtual keyboard, transliteration engine and dictionary hub, so switching costs one click. The method guides embed the same keyboard, so you can practise while you learn.
- Hebrew Keyboard (Hebrew): Type Hebrew right-to-left with smart transliteration or the virtual keyboard, including niqqud on the Shift layer.…
- Persian (Farsi) Keyboard (Perso-Arabic): Clavier persan en ligne : écrivez en farsi (فارسی) avec translittération phonétique instantanée.…
- Urdu Keyboard (Urdu (Perso-Arabic)): Clavier ourdou en ligne : tapez اردو avec un clavier virtuel complet et translittération phonétique.…
- Amharic Keyboard (Ge'ez): Clavier amharique (Ge'ez) en ligne : écrivez አማርኛ avec le fidèle éthiopien et translittération phonétique.…
- Method guides: “Type Arabic without an Arabic keyboard: complete guide”, “Arabic, Persian, Urdu: which keyboard to choose?”, “Online dictionaries by language: the Lexilogos-like hub”.