Heth, sometimes written Chet or Ḥet, is the eighth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ḥēt 𐤇, Hebrew ḥēt ח, Aramaic ḥēṯ 𐡇, Syriac ḥēṯ ܚ, and Arabic ḥāʾ ح.
The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek eta Η, Etruscan , Latin H, and Cyrillic И.
In Arabic, ḥāʾ is similar to the English [h], but it is much "raspier",[4] IPA: [ħ]~[ʜ].
The ability to pronounce the Arabic letter ḥāʾ (ح) correctly as a voiceless pharyngeal fricative /ħ/ is often used as a shibboleth to distinguish Arabic-speakers from non-Arabic-speakers; in particular, pronunciation of the letter as /x/ is seen as a hallmark of Ashkenazi and Greek Jews.
[citation needed] Ḥet is one of the few Hebrew consonants that can take a vowel at the end of a word.
In chat rooms, online forums, and social networking the letter Ḥet repeated (חחחחחחחחחח) denotes laughter, just as in English, in the saying 'Haha'.