While this letter existed in ancient Semitic languages and some modern Semitic languages, it no longer exists in the modern Hebrew. Instead it has been absorbed into the letter ע (ayin). While the evidence exists showing that this is in fact a separate letter, there is very little evidence for reconstructing its original pictograph. The Ugarit and Arabic languages wrote this letter the same as the ayin but with an additional line or dot. The closest candidate for this letter is the , a twisted rope, as found in some ancient Semitic inscriptions.

In the Arabic language this letter is called the ghah but originally may have had the name ghah meaning "twisted". The meaning of the letter ghah is twisted from the twisting fibers of a rope and from this come the meaning of goats from their twisted horns. As goats are dark in color, this letter also carries the meaning of dark.

Because the Greek language transliterates this letter with a gamma (g sound) we know that this letter originally had a type of "g" sound such as in the word ring.