Zero-width non-joiner

The zero-width non-joiner (ZWNJ) is a non-printing character used in the computerization of writing systems that make use of ligatures. When placed between two characters that would otherwise be connected into a ligature, a ZWNJ causes them to be printed in their final and initial forms, respectively. This is also an effect of a space character, but a ZWNJ is used when it is desirable to keep the words closer together or to connect a word with its morpheme.

The ZWNJ is encoded in Unicode as U+200C ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER (HTML ‌ · ‌).

In certain languages, the ZWNJ is necessary for unambiguously specifying the correct typographic form of a character sequence.

The ASCII control code unit separator was formerly used.

In the Biblical Hebrew example, the placement of the holam dot to the left of the letter vav ⟨ו‎⟩ is correct. If a dot were placed over the ⟨ו‎⟩, it would resemble ⟨עוֹנוֹת‎⟩, "seasons". In Modern Hebrew, there is no reason to use the ḥolam after the vav, and the ligature is not needed, so it is rarely used in Modern Hebrew typesetting.

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