ħ

Etymology
Originally devised for use in Maltese; see that entry for more details. First adopted as the IPA symbol for the voiceless pharyngeal fricative in 1921.

Symbol

 * 1)  a voiceless pharyngeal fricative.
 * 2)  -fricated release of a plosive (e.g., sometimes implying an affricate ); -coloring; or a weak, fleeting or epenthetic.
 * 3)  as IPA.

Etymology
The letter mainly continues and. These two phonemes were merged into around  since at least the 18th century, but continued to be distinguished as  and  elsewhere. By the later 19th century, however, this merger had established itself throughout the language (thus significantly earlier than that of, which see).

Additionally it may continue Arabic. This letter was mostly vowelised (see ), but as first or last radical of a root it sporadically underwent fortition instead.

The symbol <ħ> was apparently first used by in the first Maltese written Gospel, though it was not popularised until the latter half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, being officially adopted in 1924.

Usage notes

 * In contemporary Maltese, the letter ħ represents in all positions. Chiefly word-finally, the same phoneme may also be represented by  or . The actual realisation varies (by position and speaker) between, , and . This variation is purely allophonic.