in certain languages whose written form normally consists only of consonants, as Hebrew, a diacritical mark accompanying a consonant (to indicate the following vowel sound) or a neutral letter (to indicate esp. an initial vowel sound)
See vowel point in American Heritage Dictionary 4
noun
Any of a number of diacritical marks written above or below consonants to indicate a preceding or following vowel in languages that are usually written without vowel letters, as in Hebrew and Arabic.