Yodh

Yodh (also spelled jodh, yod, or jod) is the tenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenicianyōd 𐤉, Hebrewyodי, Aramaicyod 𐡉, Syriacyōḏ ܝ, and Arabicyāʾي. It is also related to the Ancient North Arabian 𐪚‎‎‎, South Arabian𐩺, and Ge'ezየ. Its sound value is /j/ in all languages for which it is used; in many languages, it also serves as a long vowel, representing /iː/.

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the GreekIota (Ι), LatinI and J, CyrillicІ, CopticIauda (Ⲓ) and Gothiceis.

The term yod is often used to refer to the speech sound [j], a palatal approximant, even in discussions of languages not written in Semitic abjads, as in phonological phenomena such as English "yod-dropping".