Hebrew alphabet
Encyclopedia : H : HE : HEB : Hebrew alphabet
- Note: This article contains .
- This article is mainly about Hebrew letters. For Hebrew diacritical marks, see niqqud (for the vowel points) and cantillation.
| History of the Alphabet |
|---|
Middle Bronze Age 19–15th c. BC
|
| Meroitic 3rd c. BC |
| Complete genealogy |
| Hebrew alphabet | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| א | ב | ג | ד | ||
| ה | ו | ז | ח | ט | י |
| כך | ל | מם | נן | ס | ע |
| פף | צץ | ק | ר | ש | ת |
| History · Transliteration Niqqud · Dagesh · Gematria Cantillation · Numeration | |||||
The Hebrew alphabet is a set of 22 letters used for writing the Hebrew language. Five of these letters have a different form when appearing as the last letter in a word. The Hebrew letters are used in mildly adapted forms for writing several languages of the Jewish diaspora, most famously Yiddish, Ladino, and Judaeo-Arabic (for a full and detailed list, see Jewish languages). Hebrew is written from right to left.
The Hebrew word for "alphabet" is אלף-בית (alef-bet), named after the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew alphabet was in origin an abjad; in other words it had letters for consonants only, but means were later devised to indicate vowels, first by using consonant letters as matres lectionis, later by separate vowel points or nikud.
The number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, their order, their names, and their phonetic values are virtually identical to those of the Aramaic alphabet, as both Hebrews and Arameans borrowed the Phoenician alphabet for their uses during the end of the 2nd millennium BC.
The modern script used for writing Hebrew (usually called the Jewish script by scholars, and also traditionally known as the square script, or the Assyrian script—not to be confused with the Eastern variant of the Syriac alphabet), evolved during the 3rd century BC from the Aramaic script, which was used by Jews for writing Hebrew since the 6th century BC. Prior to that, Hebrew was written using the old Hebrew script, which evolved during the 10th century BC from the Phoenician script; the Samaritans still write Hebrew in a variant of this script for religious works (see Samaritan alphabet).
Short table
-->The Hebrew alphabet consists of the following letters. Some letters have a different form used at the ends of words: these are shown in the table below the normal form.
| Alef | Bet/Vet | Gimel | Dalet | He | Vav | Zayin | Het | Tet | Yod | Kaf/Chaf |
| א | ב | ג | ד | ה | ו | ז | ח | ט | י | כ |
| ך | ||||||||||
| Lamed | Mem | Nun | Samekh | Ayin | Pe/Fe | Tsadi | Qof | Resh | Shin/Sin | Tav |
| ל | מ | נ | ס | ע | פ | צ | ק | ר | ש | ת |
| ם | ן
| style="font-size:300%; font-family:serif" height=40 valign=top| ף | ץ
| style="font-size:300%; font-family:serif" height=40 valign=top| |
Description
Both the old Hebrew script and the modern Hebrew script have only one case, but in the modern script some letters have special final forms used only at the end of a word. This is similar to the Arabic alphabet, although much simpler. The Hebrew alphabet is an abjad: vowels are normally not indicated. Where they are it is because a weak consonant such as א alef, ה he, ו vav, or י yod has combined with a previous vowel and become silent or by imitation of such cases in spelling of other forms. When used to write Yiddish, the Hebrew writing system is a true alphabet (see Yiddish orthography), except where Hebrew words are written in Yiddish.
To preserve the proper vowel sounds, scholars developed several different sets of diacritic symbols called nikud (ניקוד; literally: "applying points"). One of these, the Tiberian system, eventually prevailed. Aaron ben Moses ben Asher, and his family for several generations, are credited for refining and maintaining the system. These points are normally used only for special purposes, such as Biblical books intended for study, in poetry, or when teaching the language to children. The Tiberian system also includes a set of cantillation marks used to indicate how scriptural passages should be chanted, used in synagogue recitations of scripture (although these marks do not appear in the scrolls).
Hebrew letters may also be used as numbers; see the entry on Hebrew numerals. This use of letters as numbers is used in Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) in a practice known as gematria.
Main table
The following table is a breakdown of each letter in the Hebrew alphabet, describing its written glyph or glyphs, its name or names, its Latin script transliteration values used in academic work, and its pronunciation in reconstructed historical forms and dialects using the International Phonetic Alphabet. If two glyphs are shown for a letter, then the left-most glyph is the Final form of the letter (or right-most glyph if your browser doesn't support right-to-left text layout).
Name and transliteration
| Symbol
| Name
| Transliteration | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academic | Uni- code Stan- dard | Israeli
| Ash- kenazi
| Academic | Israeli | |||||
| Unicode | Font-friendly | ISO-8859-1-friendly | Uni- code | Font-friendly | ISO-8859-1-friendly | |||||
| א
| ’āleph | 'àleph
| alef | alef | alef
| ’ | '
| ' (1) | ||
| ב
| bêth, bhêth | bêth, bhêth
| bet | bet, vet | beis, veis
| b, bh | b, bh
| b, v | ||
| ג
| gímel, ghímel | gímel, ghímel
| gimel | gimel | gimmel
| g, gh | g, gh
| g | ||
| ד | dāleth, dhāleth | dàleth, dhàleth
| dalet | dalet | doles
| d, dh | d, dh
| d | ||
| ה
| ? | hê | hê
| he | he, hei | hei
| ? | ?
| h (2) | |
| ו
| wāw | wàw
| vav | vav | vov, vof
| ? | w | w
| v | |
| ז
| ? | záyin | záyin
| zayin | zayin | zayin
| ? | z | z
| ? |
| ח
| ħêth, (3) xêth | h`êth, (3) xêth
| het | chet | ches
| ħ, (3) x | h`, (3) x
| kh, ch (4) | ||
| ט
| ţêth | t`êth
| tet | tet | tes
| ţ | t`
| t | ||
| י
| yôdh | yôdh
| yod | yod, yud | yud
| ? | y | y
| y, i (8) | |
| ך כ
| kāph, khāph | kàph, khàph
| kaf | kaf, chaf | kof, chof
| k, kh | k, kh
| k, ch | ||
| ל
| lāmedh | làmedh
| lamed | lamed | lomed
| ? | l | l
| l | |
| ם מ
| mēm | mēm | mèm
| mem | mem | mem
| ? | m | m
| m |
| ן נ
| ? | nûn | nûn
| nun | nun | nun
| ? | n | n
| n |
| ס
| sāmekh | sàmekh
| samekh | samech | somech
| ? | s | s
| s | |
| ע
| ġáyin | ‘áyin, (3) ġáyin | `áyin, (3) 3áyin
| ayin | ayin | ayin, oyin
| ġ | ‘, (3) ġ | `, (3) 3
| ' (9) |
| ף פ
| pê, phê | pê, phê
| pe | pe, pei, fe/fei | pei, fei
| p, ph | p, ph
| p, f | ||
| ץ צ
| şādhê | s`àdhê
| tsadi | tzadi, tzadik | tsodi, tsodik
| ş | s`
| tz, ts, z | ||
| ק
| qôph | qôph
| qof | kof, kuf | kuf
| ? | k | k
| q | |
| ר
| rêš | rêsh
| resh | resh, reish | reish
| ? | r | r
| r | |
| ש
| šîn, śîn | shîn, lhîn
| shin | shin, sin | shin, sin
| š, ś | sh, lh
| sh, s | ||
| ת
| tāw, thāw | tàw, thàw
| tav | tav, taf | tov, tof, sov, sof
| t, th | t, th
| t | ||
Numerical value and pronunciation
| Symbol
| Numerical Value
| Pronunciation (IPA) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modern Israeli
| Ashkenazi
| Sephardi
| Yemenite
| Tiberian
| Reconstructed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mishnaic | Biblical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| א
| 1
| improve the section], or see the relevant discussion on the [talk page].
Remember: There is technically no "f" or "j" in Hebrew. The "f" proximity is a soft "p" like "ph" and "j" is a derivative of the "y" or "Yuh" sound.
The following sources were used in creating the previous compilation additions: Unicode TableThe Unicode Hebrew block extends from U+0590 to U+05FF and from U+FB1D to U+FB40. It includes letters, ligatures, combining diacritical marks (niqqud and cantillation marks) and punctuation.
Note: The codes װ ױ ײ are intended for Yiddish. They are not used in Hebrew. HTML Code TableThese are the Hebrew Numeric Character References. These can be used in many markup languages, and they are often used in Wiki to create the Hebrew glyphs compatible with the majority of web browsers.Alef-Bet
Vowels and Unique Characters
See alsoReferencesRoots of the Hebrew Alphabet
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
[Special]
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