Arabic: harakat and tatweel
Arabic is normally written without short vowels. The optional marks (fatha, damma, kasra, their doubled tanwin forms, sukun, shadda, the dagger alif and Quranic annotation signs) are called harakat or tashkeel. They’re essential in the Quran, children’s books and poetry, but they get in the way of searching, matching and counting, because “كَتَبَ” and “كتب” don’t compare as equal.
Tatweel (ـ), the stretching character used to lengthen words for justification or decoration, is also removed.
Hebrew: niqqud and cantillation
Hebrew vowel points (niqqud) and the cantillation marks (te’amim) used to chant biblical text sit above and below the letters. Remove both for plain consonantal text, or tick Only cantillation to keep the vowels and strip just the chanting marks, useful for liturgical texts.
What isn’t touched
Letters, punctuation and other scripts are left exactly as they are. Letters that differ only by their dots (like ب and ت) are distinct letters, not diacritics, and are never changed.
Worked example
Here is what the Arabic & Hebrew Diacritics Remover returns for its built-in example. Settings used: Arabic harakat: on; Tatweel (ـ): on; Hebrew marks: on. Click Try an example in the tool above to load it, then change it as you like.
بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ — العـــربية
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִיםبسم ٱلله ٱلرحمن ٱلرحيم — العربية
בראשית ברא אלהיםQuestions
How do I remove tashkeel from Arabic text?
Paste the text with “Arabic harakat” on. Fatha, damma, kasra, tanwin, sukun, shadda and Quranic marks are removed.
Can I remove only Hebrew cantillation marks?
Yes. Turn on “Only cantillation” to keep the vowel points.
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