Egyptian hieroglyphs
Hieratic
Demotic 7 c. BCE Meroitic 3 c. BCE Proto-Sinaitic 19 c. BCE Ugaritic 15 c. BCE Epigraphic South Arabian 9 c. BCE Ge’ez 5–6 c. BCE Phoenician 12 c. BCE Paleo-Hebrew 10 c. BCE Samaritan 6 c. BCE
Libyco-Berber
Tifinagh Paleohispanic (semi-syllabic) 7 c. BCE Aramaic 8 c. BCE
Kharoṣṭhī
Brahmic family
E.g. Tibetan 7 c. CE
Devanagari
Canadian syllabics 1840 Hebrew 3 c. BCE Pahlavi 3 c. BCE Avestan 4 c. CE Palmyrene 2 c. BCE Syriac 2 c. BCE Nabataean 2 c. BCE
Arabic
N'Ko 1949 CE Sogdian 2 c. BCE Orkhon (old Turkic) 6 c. CE Old Hungarian c. 650 CE Old Uyghur Mongolian 1204 CE Mandaic 2 c. CE Greek 8 c. BCE Etruscan 8 c. BCE Latin 7 c. BCE Cherokee (syllabary; letter forms only) c. 1820 CE Runic 2 c. CE
Ogham
Coptic 3 c. CE Gothic 3 c. CE Armenian 405 CE Georgian (origin uncertain) c. 430 CE Glagolitic 862 CE Cyrillic c. 940 CE Old Permic 1372 CE
Hangul
v t e The
Hebrew alphabet
Contents 1 History 2 Description 2.1 General 2.2 Vowels 2.3 Alphabet 3 Pronunciation 3.1 Alphabet 3.1.1 Shin and sin 3.1.2 Dagesh 3.1.3 Sounds represented with diacritic geresh 3.1.4 Identical pronunciation 3.1.5 Ancient Hebrew pronunciation 3.1.6 Regional and historical variation 3.2 Vowels 3.2.1 Matres lectionis
3.2.2
Vowel
3.2.2.1 Meteg 3.2.2.2 Sh'va 3.2.2.3 Comparison table 3.3 Gershayim 4 Stylistic variants 4.1
Yiddish
5 Numeric values of letters
6 Transliterations and transcriptions
7 Religious use
8 Mathematical use
9
Unicode
14.1 General 14.2 Keyboards History[edit] Paleo-Hebrew alphabet The Aleppo Codex, a tenth century
Masoretic Text
Main article: History of the Hebrew alphabet
A distinct Hebrew variant of the Phoenician script, called by scholars
the paleo-Hebrew alphabet, emerged around 800 BCE.[3] Examples of
related early inscriptions from the area include the tenth-century
Gezer calendar, and the
Siloam inscription
Description[edit] א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ך ל מ ם נ ן ס ע פ ף צ ץ ק ר ש ת • ﭏ Features: Abjad • Mater lectionis • Begadkefat Variants: Cursive • Rashi • Solitreo • Braille Numerals: Gematria • Numeration Ancillaries: Diacritics • Punctuation • Cantillation Translit.: Romanization of Hebrew • Hebraization of English • IPA • ISO Computers:
Keyboard •
Unicode
General[edit]
In the traditional form, the
Hebrew alphabet
Alef Bet Gimel Dalet He Vav Zayin Het Tet Yod Kaf א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ך Lamed Mem Nun Samekh Ayin Pe Tsadi Qof Resh Shin Tav ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ש ת ם ן ף ץ Pronunciation[edit]
Alphabet[edit]
Main articles:
Biblical Hebrew
letter IPA Name of letter Unicode[6][7]
Hebrew[8]
Modern Hebrew
pronunciation
Yiddish
א [ʔ], ∅ Alef אָלֶף /ˈalef/ /ˈaləf/ בּ [b] Bet בֵּית /bet/ /bɛɪs/, /bɛɪz/ ב [v] בֵית /vet/ /vɛɪs/, /vɛɪz/ ג [ɡ] Gimel גִּימֵל /ˈɡimel/ /ˈɡiməl/ ד [d] Dalet דָּלֶת /ˈdalet/, /ˈdaled/ /ˈdaləd/, /ˈdaləs/ ה [h]~[ʔ], ∅ He הֵא /he/, /hej/ /hɛɪ/ ו [v], [w] Vav וָו /vav/ /vɔv/ ז [z] Zayin זַיִן /ˈzajin/, /ˈza.in/ /ˈzajin/ ח [x]~[χ] Het חֵית /χet/ /χɛs/ ט [t] Tet טֵית /tet/ /tɛs/ י [j] Yod יוֹד /jod/, /jud/ /jud/ כּ [k] Kaf כַּף /kaf/ /kɔf/ כ [x]~[χ] כַף /χaf/ /χɔf/ ךּ [k] כַּף סוֹפִית /kaf sofit/ /ˈlaŋɡə kɔf/ ך [x]~[χ] כַף סוֹפִית /χaf sofit/ /ˈlaŋɡə χɔf/ ל [l] Lamed לָמֶד /ˈlamed/ /ˈlaməd/ מ [m] Mem מֵם /mem/ /mɛm/ ם מֵם סוֹפִית /mem sofit/ /ˈʃlɔs mɛm/ נ [n] Nun נוּן /nun/ /nun/ ן נוּן סוֹפִית /nun sofit/ /ˈlaŋɡə nun/ ס [s] Samekh ְסָמֶך /ˈsameχ/ /ˈsaməχ/ ע [ʔ], ∅ Ayin עַיִן /ˈajin/, /ˈa.in/ /ˈajin/ פּ [p] Pe פֵּא, פה /pe/, /pej/ /pɛɪ/ פ [f] פֵא, פה /fe/, /fej/ /fɛɪ/ ף פֵּא סוֹפִית, פה סופית /pe sofit/, /pej sofit/ /ˈlaŋɡə fɛɪ/ צ [t͡s] Tsadi צַדִי, צדיק /ˈtsadi/ /ˈtsadi/, /ˈtsadək/ ץ צַדִי סוֹפִית, צדיק סופית /ˈtsadi sofit/ /ˈlaŋɡə ˈtsadik/, /ˈlaŋɡə ˈtsadək/ ק [k] Qof קוֹף /kuf/, /kof/ /kuf/ ר [ɣ]~[ʁ] Resh רֵישׁ /ʁeʃ/ /ʁɛɪʃ/ שׁ [ʃ] Shin שִׁין /ʃin/ /ʃin/ שׂ [s] שִׂין /sin/ /sin/ תּ [t] Tav תּו /tav/, /taf/ /tɔv/, /tɔf/ ת תו /sɔv/, /sɔf/ Note that dotless tav, ת, would be expected to be pronounced /θ/
(voiceless dental fricative), but this pronunciation was lost among
most
Jews
Symbol Name Transliteration IPA Example שׁ (right dot) shin sh /ʃ/ shop שׂ (left dot) sin s /s/ sour Historically, left-dot-sin corresponds to Proto-Semitic *ś, which in biblical-Judaic-Hebrew corresponded to the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative /ɬ/, as evidenced in the Greek transliteration of Hebrew words such as balsam (בֹּשֶׂם) (the ls - 'שׂ') as is evident in the Targum Onkelos.[citation needed] Dagesh[edit] Main article: Dagesh Historically, the consonants ב beth, ג gimel, ד daleth, כ kaf, פ pe and ת tav each had two sounds: one hard (plosive), and one soft (fricative), depending on the position of the letter and other factors. When vowel diacritics are used, the hard sounds are indicated by a central dot called dagesh (דגש), while the soft sounds lack a dagesh. In modern Hebrew, however, the dagesh only changes the pronunciation of ב beth, כ kaf, and פ pe, and does not affect the name of the letter. The differences are as follows: Name With dagesh Without dagesh Symbol Transliteration IPA Example Symbol Transliteration IPA Example beth בּ b /b/ bun ב v /v/ van kaf [9]כּ ךּ k /k/ kangaroo כ ך kh/ch/x /χ/ loch pe פּ p /p/ pass פ ף f/ph /f/ find In other dialects (mainly liturgical) there are variations from this pattern. In some Sephardi and Mizrahi dialects, bet without dagesh is pronounced [b], like bet with dagesh In Syrian and Yemenite Hebrew, gimel without dagesh is pronounced [ɣ]. In Yemenite Hebrew, and in the Iraqi pronunciation of the word "Adonai", dalet without dagesh is pronounced [ð] as in "these" In Ashkenazi Hebrew, tav without dagesh is pronounced [s] as in "silk" In Iraqi and Yemenite Hebrew, and formerly in some other dialects, tav without dagesh is pronounced [θ] as in "thick" Sounds represented with diacritic geresh[edit] Main articles: Geresh and Hebraization of English The sounds [t͡ʃ], [d͡ʒ], [ʒ], written "צ׳", "ג׳", "ז׳", and [w], non-standardly sometimes transliterated וו, are often found in slang and loanwords that are part of the everyday Hebrew colloquial vocabulary. The apostrophe-looking symbol after the Hebrew letter modifies the pronunciation of the letter and is called a geresh. Hebrew slang and loanwords Name Symbol IPA Transliteration Example
Gimel
Zayin with a geresh ז׳ [ʒ] ž[10] koláž [koˈlaʒ] קוֹלַאז׳ Tsadi with a geresh צ׳ [t͡ʃ] č[10] čupár (treat) [t͡ʃuˈpar] צ׳וּפָּר Vav with a geresh or double Vav וו or ו׳(non standard)[] [w] w awánta (boastful act) [aˈwanta] אַוַּנְטַה The pronunciation of the following letters can also be modified with the geresh diacritic, the represented sounds are however foreign to Hebrew phonology, i.e., these symbols mainly represent sounds in foreign words or names when transliterated with the Hebrew alphabet, and not loanwords.
Transliteration
Name
Symbol
IPA
Arabic
Dalet
Tav with a geresh ת׳ [θ] Thāʼ (ﺙ) Voiceless th Thurston ת׳רסטון Ḥet with a geresh ח׳ [χ] Khāʼ (خ) Sheikh (شيخ) שייח׳ * Unlike the other sounds in this table, the sound [χ] represented by ח׳ is indeed a native sound in Hebrew; the geresh is however used only when transliteration must distinguish between [χ] and [ħ], in which case ח׳ transliterates the former and ח the latter, whereas in everyday usage ח without geresh is pronounced [ħ] only dialectically but [χ] commonly. Resh with a geresh ר׳ or ע׳ [ʁ] Ghayn (غ) Ghajar (غجر) ר׳ג׳ר Sometimes an ʻayin with a geresh (ע׳) is used to transliterate غ – inconsistently with the guidelines specified by the Academy of the Hebrew Language A geresh is also used to denote acronyms pronounced as a string of letters, and to denote a Hebrew numeral. Geresh also is the name of one of the notes of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, but its appearance and function is different. Identical pronunciation[edit] In Israel's general population, many letters have the same pronunciation. They are as follows: Letters
Transliteration
Pronunciation
א Alef* ע Ayin* not transliterated Usually when in medial word position: /./ (separation of vowels in a hiatus) When in initial or final word position, sometimes also in medial word position: silent alternatingly ' or ’ /ʔ/ (glottal stop) ב Bet (without dagesh) Vet ו Vav v /v/ ח Het כ Kaf (without dagesh) Khaf kh/ch/h /χ/ ט Tet תּ Tav t /t/ כּ Kaf (with dagesh) ק Qof k /k/ ס Samekh שׂ Sin (with left dot) s /s/ צ Tsadi* תס Tav-Samekh* and תשׂ Tav-Sin* ts/tz /ts/ צ׳ Tsadi (with geresh) טשׁ Tet-Shin* and תשׁ Tav-Shin* ch/tsh (chair) /tʃ/ * Varyingly
Ancient Hebrew pronunciation[edit]
Some of the variations in sound mentioned above are due to a
systematic feature of Ancient Hebrew. The six consonants /b ɡ d k p
t/ were pronounced differently depending on their position. These
letters were also called BeGeD KeFeT letters /ˌbeɪɡɛdˈkɛfɛt/.
The full details are very complex; this summary omits some points.
They were pronounced as plosives /b ɡ d k p t/ at the beginning of a
syllable, or when doubled. They were pronounced as fricatives /v ɣ ð
x f θ/ when preceded by a vowel (commonly indicated with a macron,
ḇ ḡ ḏ ḵ p̄ ṯ). The plosive and double pronunciations were
indicated by the dagesh. In
Modern Hebrew
ח chet and ע ayin represented pharyngeal fricatives, צ
tsadi represented the emphatic consonant /sˤ/, ט tet represented
the emphatic consonant /tˤ/, and ק qof represented the uvular
plosive /q/. All these are common Semitic consonants.
שׂ sin (the /s/ variant of ש shin) was originally different
from both שׁ shin and ס samekh, but had become /s/ the same
as ס samekh by the time the vowel pointing was devised. Because of
cognates with other Semitic languages, this phoneme is known to have
originally been a lateral consonant, most likely the voiceless
alveolar lateral fricative /ɬ/ (the sound of modern Welsh ll) or the
voiceless alveolar lateral affricate /tɬ/ (like
Náhuatl
Regional and historical variation[edit]
The following table contains the pronunciation of the Hebrew letters
in reconstructed historical forms and dialects using the International
Phonetic Alphabet. The apostrophe-looking symbol after some letters is
not a yud but a geresh. It is used for loanwords with non-native
Hebrew sounds. The dot in the middle of some of the letters, called a
"dagesh kal", also modifies the sounds of the letters ב,
כ and
פ in
modern Hebrew (in some forms of Hebrew it modifies also the sounds of
the letters ג,
ד
Symbol Pronunciation (modern, casual, younger, widely spoken to modern Hebrew)
(ancient, pure, proper, liturgical [religiously written and read on
religious texts])
*(the only surviving dialect still in use today is the Yemenite
dialect and has distinction to
Arabic
Israeli
Ashkenazi
Sephardi
Yemenite*
Reconstructed
English equivalent to classical Hebrew
Arabic
Tiberian Mishnaic Biblical Letter in Arabic Letter in English א [ʔ, -] [ - ] [ʔ, -] [ʔ, -] [ʔ, -] [ʔ, -] [ʔ] camp أ, ا 'alīf, 'alīf hamzah בּ [b] [b] [b] [b] [b] [b] [b] rib ب bā' ב [v] [v~v̥] [b~β~v] [β] [v] [β] write, white ؤ wāw hamzah גּ [ɡ] [ɡ~ɡ̊] [ɡ] [dʒ] [ɡ] [ɡ] [ɡ] give; gym (Yemenite dialect: like the distinctive "j" in Arabic) ج jīm ג [ɡ~ɣ] [ɣ] [ɣ] [ɣ] ghost, grass غ ghayn דּ [d] [d~d̥] [d̪~ð] [d̪] [d̪] [d̪] [d̪] dip د dāl ד [d̪~ð] [ð] [ð] [ð] adze, that ذ ḏāl ה [h~ʔ, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h] hat ه hā’ ו [v] [v~v̥] [v] [w] [w] [w] [w] woven و wāw וּ
[u]
[uː, iː]
[uː]
[əw]
?
?
?
moon
(Yemenite dialect - like the distinctive
Arabic
ـُو ḍammah wāw וֹ
[o̞]
[əʊ, ɔj, ɛj, ɐʊ]
[o]
[œ]
?
?
?
moan (Yemenite dialect - like the distinctive
Arabic
ז [z] [z~z̥] [z] [z] [z] [z] [z] zebra ز zayn / zāy ח [x~χ] [x] [ħ] [ħ] [ħ] [ħ] [ħ, χ] heart, heap ح ḥā’ ט [t] [t] [t̪] [t̴̪] (1) [t̴̪] [t̪ˤ] (2) [t̪ʼ] (3) batter ط ṭā’ י [j] [j] [j] [j] [j] [j] [j] yacht ي yā’ ִי
[i]
[i]
[i]
[i]
?
?
?
pit, jew (Yemenite dialect - like the distinctive
Arabic
כּ [k] [k] [k] [k] [k] [k] [k] calf, cap ك kāf כ ך [x~χ] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] psyche خ khā’ ל [l] [l~ɫ] [l] [l] [l] [l] [l] lamp ل lām מ ם [m] [m] [m] [m] [m] [m] [m] mimosa م mīm נ ן
[n]
[n]
[n̪]
[n̪]
[n̪]
[n̪]
[n̪]
nun
(Yemenite dialect - like the distinctive
Arabic
ن nūn ס
[s]
[s]
[s]
[s]
[s]
[s]
[s]
adze, that (origin of samekh may be similar to the Ancient Egyptian
"dj" (IPA: ḏ) - possibly like the distinctive
Arabic
sīn
(the only non-native letter in
Arabic
ע [ʔ, - ] [ - ] [ʕ, ŋ, - ] [ʕ] [ʕ] [ʕ] [ʕ, ʁ] art (aka "heavy long stop"; similar to hamzah) ع ‘ayn פּ [p] [p] [p] [p] [p] [p] [p] pen - non-native letter in Arabic פ ף [f] [f] [f] [f] [f] [ɸ] far, sipher (Biblical Hebrew) ف fā’ צ ץ [t͡s] [t͡s] [t͡s] [s̴] (1) [s̴] [sˤ] (2) [sʼ, ɬʼ, θʼ] (3) hassle, sap ص ṣād ק [k] [k] [k] [ɡ], [ɢ], [q] [q] [q] [kʼ] (3) queen, picker (all classical dialects like the distinctive Arabic letter: qāf) ق qāf ר
[ɣ~ʁ]
[ɹ]~[ʀ]
[r]~[ɾ]
[r]~[ɾ]
[ʀ]
[r]
[r]
rap; wrap (Yemenite dialect - like the distinctive
Arabic
שׁ [ʃ] [ʃ] [ʃ] [ʃ] [ʃ] [ʃ] [ʃ] shin ش shīn שׂ [s] [s] [s] [s] [s] [s] [ɬ] sin س sīn תּ [t] [t] [t] [t̪] [t̪] [t̪] [t̪] torn ت tā’ ת
[s]
[θ]
[θ]
[θ]
torn; think (Yemenite dialect - like the distinctive
Arabic
velarized or pharyngealized pharyngealized sometimes said to be ejective but more likely glottalized. Vowels[edit] Matres lectionis[edit] Main article: Mater lectionis א alef, ע ayin, ו vav and י yod are letters that can sometimes indicate a vowel instead of a consonant (which would be, respectively, /ʔ/, /ʔ/, /v/ and /j/). When they do, ו and י are considered to constitute part of the vowel designation in combination with a niqqud symbol – a vowel diacritic (whether or not the diacritic is marked), whereas א and ע are considered to be mute, their role being purely indicative of the non-marked vowel. Letter Name of letter Consonant indicated when letter consonantal Vowel designation Name of vowel designation Indicated Vowel א alef /ʔ/ — — ê, ệ, ậ, â, ô ע ayin /ʔ/ — — ê, ệ, ậ, â, ô ו vav /v/ וֹ ḥolám malé ô וּ shurúq û י yud /j/ ִי ḥiríq malé î ֵי tseré malé ê, ệ
Vowel
Name Symbol Written Position Israeli Hebrew IPA Transliteration English example Hiriq vowel written below consonant [i] i week Zeire vowel written below consonant [e̞], ([e̞j] with succeeding yod) eh (precise pronunciation); ei (imprecise due to modern pronunciation, even if with succeeding yod – see Note 2) man, main Segol vowel written below consonant [e̞] e men Patach vowel written below consonant [ä] a camp Kamatz סָ vowel written below consonant [ä], (or [o̞]) ah, (or oh) father, more
Holam
vowel written above consonant [o̞] o home
Holam
Shuruk isolated vowel written on its own [u] u moon Kubutz vowel written below consonant Note 1: The symbol "ס" represents whatever Hebrew letter is used. Note 2: The pronunciation of zeire and sometimes segol – with or without the letter yod – is sometimes ei in Modern Hebrew. This is not correct in the normative pronunciation and not consistent in the spoken language.[11] Note 3: The dagesh, mappiq, and shuruk have different functions, even though they look the same. Note 4: The letter ו (vav) is used since it can only be represented by that letter. Meteg[edit] Main article: Meteg By adding a vertical line (called Meteg) underneath the letter and to the left of the vowel point, the vowel is made long. The meteg is only used in Biblical Hebrew, not Modern Hebrew. Sh'va[edit] Main article: Sh'va By adding two vertical dots (called Sh'va) underneath the letter, the vowel is made very short. When sh'va is placed on the first letter of the word, mostly it is "è" (but in some instances, it makes the first letter silent without a vowel (vowel-less): e.g. וְ wè to "w") Name Symbol Israeli Hebrew IPA Transliteration English example Shva [e̞] or ∅ apostrophe, e, or silent deuce (the "e" not aspirated or pronounced as if it is almost silent) - when placed on the first letter of the word but in the medial or final position, it makes the letter (consonant or vowel) silent Reduced Segol [e̞] e men Reduced Patach [ä] a father Reduced Kamatz סֳ [o̞] o more Comparison table[edit]
Vowel
Vowel
Long Short Very Short ָ ַ ֲ [ä] a far ֵ ֶ ֱ [e̞] e men וֹ [o̞] o more וּ ֻ [u] u soon ִי ִ [i] i ski Note I: By adding two vertical dots (sh'va) ְ the vowel is made very short. Note II: The short o and long a have the same niqqud. Note III: The short o is usually promoted to a long o in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation Note IV: The short u is usually promoted to a long u in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation Gershayim[edit]
Main article: Gershayim
The symbol ״ is called a gershayim and is a punctuation mark used
in the
Hebrew language
Letter name (Unicode) Variants Contemporary Early modern Ancestral Block serif Block sans-serif Cursive Rashi Phoenician Paleo-Hebrew Aramaic Alef א א 𐤀 Bet ב ב 𐤁 Gimel ג ג 𐤂 Dalet ד ד 𐤃 He ה ה 𐤄 Vav ו ו 𐤅 Zayin ז ז 𐤆 Het ח ח 𐤇 Tet ט ט 𐤈 Yod י י 𐤉 Kaf כ כ 𐤊 Final Kaf ך ך Lamed ל ל 𐤋 Mem מ מ 𐤌 Final Mem ם ם Nun נ נ 𐤍 Final Nun ן ן Samekh ס ס 𐤎 Ayin ע ע 𐤏 Pe פ פ 𐤐 Final Pe ף ף Tsadi צ צ 𐤑 , Final Tsadi ץ ץ Qof ק ק 𐤒 Resh ר ר 𐤓 Shin ש ש 𐤔 Tav ת ת 𐤕
Yiddish
Symbol Explanation װ ױ ײ ײַ These are intended for Yiddish. They are not used in Hebrew, aside from in loan words[d]. בֿ
The rafe (רפה) diacritic is no longer regularly used in Hebrew.
In Masoretic Texts and some other older texts, lenited consonants and
sometimes matres lectionis are indicated by a small line on top of the
letter. Its use has been largely discontinued in modern printed texts.
It is still used to mark fricative consonants in the
YIVO
Numeric values of letters[edit]
Main article: Hebrew numerals
Following the adoption of Greek Hellenistic alphabetic numeration
practice, Hebrew letters started being used to denote numbers in the
late 2nd century BC,[13] and performed this arithmetic function for
about a thousand years. Nowadays alphanumeric notation is used only in
specific contexts, e.g. denoting dates in the Hebrew calendar,
denoting grades of school in Israel, other listings (e.g. של
ב
The lower clock on the Jewish Town Hall building in Prague, with
Hebrew numerals
letter numeric value letter numeric value letter numeric value א 1 י 10 ק 100 ב 2 כ 20 ר 200 ג 3 ל 30 ש 300 ד 4 מ 40 ת 400 ה 5 נ 50 ו 6 ס 60 ז 7 ע 70 ח 8 פ 80 ט 9 צ 90 The numbers 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900 are commonly represented by the
juxtapositions ק״ת, ר״ת, ש״ת, ת״ת, and ק״תת
respectively. Adding a geresh ("׳") to a letter multiplies its value
by one thousand, for example, the year 5778 is portrayed as
ה׳תשע״ח, where ה represents 5000, and תשע״ח represents
778.
Transliterations and transcriptions[edit]
Main articles: Romanization of Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, Biblical
Hebrew orthography, Yiddish, and
Yiddish
For some letters, the
Academy of the Hebrew Language
Note: SBL's transliteration system, recommended in its Handbook of
Style,[14] differs slightly from the 2006 precise transliteration
system of the Academy of the Hebrew Language; for "צ" SBL uses "ṣ"
(≠ AHL "ẓ"), and for בג״
ד
Click "show" to view extended table including examples. Hebrew letter example Translation Standard Israeli transliteration – regular[15] example standard Israeli transliteration – precise[15] example IPA phonemic transcription example IPA phonetic transcription example א consonantal, in initial word positions אִם if none[A1] im [ʔ] [ʔim] א consonantal, in non initial word positions שָׁאַל asked ' sha'ál ʾ shaʾál /ʔ/ /ʃaˈʔal/ א silent רִאשׁוֹן first none[A2] rishón בּ בֵּן son b ben ב טוֹב good v tov גּ גַּג roof g gag g gaḡ ג ḡ ג׳ ג׳וּק roach ǧ[B1][10] ǧuk /d͡ʒ/ /d͡ʒuk/ דּ דּוּד boiler d dud d duḏ ד ḏ ה consonantal הֵד echo h hed ה silent פֹּה here none[A3] po ו consonantal וָו hook v vav w waw וּ הוּא he u hu וֹ לוֹ to him o lo [o̞] or [ɔ̝] [lo̞, lɔ̝] ז זֶה this z ze ז׳ זָ׳רְגוֹן jargon ž[B2][10] žargón /ʒ/ /ʒarˈɡon/ ח חַם hot ẖ [C1] ẖam ḥ ḥam /x/ or /χ/ /xam/ [χ] [χam] dialectical [ħ] [ħam] ט קָט tiny t kat ṭ kaṭ י consonantal יָם sea y yam /j/ /jam/ י part of hirik male (/i/ vowel) בִּי in me i bi י part of tsere male (/e/ vowel or /ei/ diphthong) מֵידָע information e medá é médá /e/ or /ej/ /meˈda/ or /mejˈda/ [e̞] or /e̞j/ [me̞ˈda] or [me̞jˈda] כּ, ךּ[9] כֹּה so k ko כ, ך סְכָךְ branch-roofing kh [C2] skhakh ḵ sḵaḵ /x/ or /χ/ /sxax/ [χ] [sχaχ] ל לִי to me l li מ, ם מוּם defect m mum נ, ן נִין great-grandson n nin ס סוֹף end s sof ע in initial or final word positions עַדְלֹאיָדַע Purim-parade none[A4] adloyáda ʿ ʿadloyádaʿ only in initial word position[ʔ] [ˌʔadlo̞ˈjada] dialectical /ʕ/ /ˌʕadloˈjadaʕ/ ע in medial word positions מוֹעִיל useful ' mo'íl ʿ moʿíl /ʔ/ /moˈʔil/ dialectical /ʕ/ /moˈʕil/ פּ[D] טִיפּ tip p tip פ, ף פִסְפֵס missed f fisfés צ, ץ צִיץ bud ts tsits ẓ ẓiẓ /t͡s/ /t͡sit͡s/ צ׳, ץ׳ ריצ׳רץ׳ zip č[B3][10] ríčrač /t͡ʃ/ /ˈrit͡ʃrat͡ʃ/ ק קוֹל sound k kol q qol ר עִיר city r ir [ʀ] or [ʁ] [iʀ] or [iʁ] dialectical [r] or [ɾ] [ir] or [iɾ] שׁ שָׁם there sh sham š šam /ʃ/ /ʃam/ שׂ שָׂם put s sam ś śam תּ תּוּת strawberry t tut t tuṯ ת ṯ Hebrew letter Standard Israeli transliteration – regular[15] standard Israeli transliteration – precise[15] IPA phonemic transcription IPA phonetic transcription א consonantal, in initial word positions none[A1] [ʔ] א consonantal, in non initial word positions ' ʾ /ʔ/ א silent none[A2] בּ b ב v גּ g g ג ḡ ג׳ ǧ[B1][10] /d͡ʒ/ דּ d d ד ḏ ה consonantal h ה silent none[A3] ו consonantal v w וּ u וֹ o [o̞] or [ɔ̝] ז z ז׳ ž[B2][10] /ʒ/ ח ẖ[C1] ḥ /x/ or /χ/ [χ] dialectical [ħ] ט t ṭ י consonantal y /j/ י part of hirik male (/i/ vowel) i י part of tsere male (/e/ vowel or /ei/ diphthong) e é /e/ or /ej/ [e̞] or [e̞j]/ כּ, ךּ[9] k כ, ך kh[C2] ḵ /x/ or /χ/ [χ] ל l מ, ם m נ, ן n ס s ע in initial or final word positions none[A4] ʿ only in initial word position[ʔ] dialectical /ʕ/ ע in medial word positions ' ʿ /ʔ/ dialectical /ʕ/ פּ[D] p פ, ף f צ, ץ ts ẓ /t͡s/ צ׳, ץ׳ č[B3][10] /t͡ʃ/ ק k q ר r [ʀ] or [ʁ] dialectical [r] or [ɾ] שׁ sh š /ʃ/ שׂ s ś תּ t t ת ṯ Notes A1^ 2^ 3^ 4^ In transliterations of modern Israeli Hebrew, initial
and final ע (in regular transliteration), silent or initial א, and
silent ה are not transliterated. To the eye of readers orientating
themselves on Latin (or similar) alphabets, these letters might seem
to be transliterated as vowel letters; however, these are in fact
transliterations of the vowel diacritics – niqqud (or are
representations of the spoken vowels). E.g., in אִם ("if", [ʔim]),
אֵם ("mother", [ʔe̞m]) and אֹם ("nut", [ʔo̞m]), the letter
א always represents the same consonant: [ʔ] (glottal stop), whereas
the vowels /i/, /e/ and /o/ respectively represent the spoken vowel,
whether it is orthographically denoted by diacritics or not. Since the
Academy of the Hebrew Language
The four-pronged Shin Another book, the 13th-century
Kabbalistic
Why does the story of creation begin with bet?... In the same manner that the letter bet is closed on all sides and only open in front, similarly you are not permitted to inquire into what is before or what was behind, but only from the actual time of Creation. Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Hagigah, 77c Extensive instructions about the proper methods of forming the letters
are found in Mishnat Soferim, within
Mishna Berura
ℵ 0 displaystyle aleph _ 0 , pronounced aleph-naught or aleph-zero, is used to mark the cardinal number of an infinite countable set, such as Z displaystyle mathbb Z , the set of all integers. More generally, the ℵ α displaystyle aleph _ alpha (aleph) notation marks the ordered sequence of all distinct infinite cardinal numbers. Less frequently used, the ℶ α displaystyle beth _ alpha (beth) notation is used for the iterated power sets of ℵ 0 displaystyle aleph _ 0 . The 2nd element ℶ 1 displaystyle beth _ 1 is the cardinality of the continuum. Very occasionally, gimel is used
in cardinal notation.
Unicode
An example of a Hebrew keyboard. Main articles:
Unicode
Hebrew braille Hebrew diacritics Hebrew punctuation Help:Hebrew Inverted nun Koren Type Significance of numbers of Judaism Notes[edit]
a^ "Alef-bet" is commonly written in
Israeli Hebrew
^ "Hebrew alphabet." Encyclopedia Britannica. "Square Hebrew became
established in the 2nd and 1st centuries bce and developed into the
modern
Hebrew alphabet
Bibliography[edit] Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, §5 ff.
Hoffman, Joel M. 2004. In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew
Language. New York: New York University Press.
Saenz-Badillos, Angel. 1993. A History of the Hebrew Language.
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Steinberg, David. History of the Hebrew Language.
Mathers table
Hebrew
Alphabet
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Reference works Brown–Driver–Briggs Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament v t e Types of writing systems Overview History of writing Grapheme Lists Writing systems undeciphered inventors constructed Languages by writing system / by first written accounts Types Abjads Numerals Aramaic Hatran Arabic Pitman shorthand Hebrew Ashuri Cursive Rashi Solitreo Tifinagh Manichaean Nabataean Old North Arabian Pahlavi Pegon Phoenician Paleo-Hebrew Proto-Sinaitic Psalter Punic Samaritan South Arabian Zabur Musnad Sogdian Syriac ʾEsṭrangēlā Serṭā Maḏnḥāyā Teeline Shorthand Ugaritic Abugidas Brahmic Northern Asamiya (Ôxômiya) Bānglā Bhaikshuki Bhujinmol Brāhmī Devanāgarī Dogri Gujarati Gupta Gurmukhī Kaithi Kalinga Khojki Khotanese Khudawadi Laṇḍā Lepcha Limbu Mahajani Meitei Mayek Modi Multani Nāgarī Nandinagari Odia 'Phags-pa Newar Ranjana Sharada Saurashtra Siddhaṃ Soyombo Sylheti Nagari Takri Tibetan Uchen Umê Tirhuta Tocharian Zanabazar Square Zhang-Zhung Drusha Marchen Marchung Pungs-chen Pungs-chung Southern Ahom Balinese Batak Baybayin Bhattiprolu Buhid Burmese Chakma Cham Grantha Goykanadi Hanunó'o Javanese Kadamba Kannada Karen Kawi Khmer Kulitan Lanna Lao Leke Lontara Malayalam Maldivian Dhives Akuru Eveyla Akuru Thaana Mon Old Makassarese Old Sundanese Pallava Pyu Rejang Rencong Sinhala Sundanese Tagbanwa Tai Le Tai Tham Tai Viet Tamil Telugu Thai Tigalari Vatteluttu Kolezhuthu Malayanma Visayan Others Boyd's syllabic shorthand Canadian syllabics Blackfoot Déné syllabics Fox I Ge'ez Gunjala Gondi Japanese Braille Jenticha Kayah Li Kharosthi Mandombe Masaram Gondi Meroitic Miao Mwangwego Sorang Sompeng Pahawh Hmong Thomas Natural Shorthand Alphabets Linear Abkhaz Adlam Armenian Avestan Avoiuli Bassa Vah Borama Carian Caucasian Albanian Coorgi–Cox alphabet Coptic Cyrillic Deseret Duployan shorthand Chinook writing Early Cyrillic Eclectic shorthand Elbasan Etruscan Evenki Fox II Fraser Gabelsberger shorthand Garay Georgian Asomtavruli Nuskhuri Mkhedruli Glagolitic Gothic Gregg shorthand Greek Greco-Iberian alphabet Hangul Hanifi IPA Kaddare Latin Beneventan Blackletter Carolingian minuscule Fraktur Gaelic Insular Kurrent Merovingian Sigla Sütterlin Tironian notes Visigothic Luo Lycian Lydian Manchu Mandaic Medefaidrin Molodtsov Mongolian Mru Neo-Tifinagh New Tai Lue N'Ko Ogham Oirat Ol Chiki Old Hungarian Old Italic Old Permic Orkhon Old Uyghur Osage Osmanya Pau Cin Hau Runic Anglo-Saxon Cipher Dalecarlian Elder Futhark Younger Futhark Gothic Marcomannic Medieval Staveless Sidetic Shavian Somali Tifinagh Vagindra Visible Speech Vithkuqi Wancho Zaghawa Non-linear Braille Maritime flags Morse code New York Point Semaphore line Flag semaphore Moon type Ideograms/Pictograms Adinkra Aztec Blissymbol Dongba Ersu Shaba Emoji IConji Isotype Kaidā Míkmaq Mixtec New Epoch Notation Painting Nsibidi Ojibwe Hieroglyphs Siglas poveiras Testerian Yerkish Zapotec Logograms Chinese family of scripts Chinese Characters Simplified Traditional Oracle bone script Bronze Script Seal Script large small bird-worm Hanja Idu Kanji Chữ nôm Zhuang Chinese-influenced Jurchen Khitan large script Sui Tangut Cuneiform Akkadian Assyrian Elamite Hittite Luwian Sumerian Other logo-syllabic Anatolian Bagam Cretan Isthmian Maya Proto-Elamite Yi (Classical) Logo-consonantal Demotic Hieratic Hieroglyphs Numerals Hindu-Arabic Abjad Attic (Greek) Muisca Roman Semi-syllabaries Full Celtiberian Northeastern Iberian Southeastern Iberian Khom Redundant Espanca Pahawh Hmong Khitan small script Southwest Paleohispanic Zhuyin fuhao Somacheirograms ASLwrite SignWriting si5s Stokoe Notation Syllabaries Afaka Bamum Bété Byblos Cherokee Cypriot Cypro-Minoan Ditema tsa Dinoko Eskayan Geba Great Lakes Algonquian syllabics Iban Japanese Hiragana Katakana Man'yōgana Hentaigana Sogana Jindai moji Kikakui Kpelle Linear B Linear Elamite Lisu Loma Nüshu Nwagu Aneke script Old Persian Cuneiform Vai Woleai Yi (Modern) Yugtun v t e
Braille
Braille
1829 braille
International uniformity
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Braille
French-ordered scripts (see for more) Albanian Amharic Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Belarusian Bharati
Devanagari
Bulgarian Burmese Cambodian Cantonese Catalan Chinese (Mandarin, mainland) Czech Dutch Dzongkha (Bhutanese) English (Unified English) Esperanto Estonian Faroese French Georgian German Ghanaian Greek Guarani Hawaiian Hebrew Hungarian Icelandic Inuktitut (reassigned vowels) Iñupiaq IPA Irish Italian Kazakh Kyrgyz Latvian Lithuanian Maltese Mongolian Māori Navajo Nigerian Northern Sami Persian Philippine Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Samoan Scandinavian Slovak South African Spanish Tatar Taiwanese Mandarin (largely reassigned) Thai & Lao (Japanese vowels) Tibetan Turkish Ukrainian Vietnamese Welsh Yugoslav Reordered scripts Algerian
Braille
Frequency-based scripts American
Braille
Independent scripts Japanese Korean Two-Cell Chinese Eight-dot scripts Luxembourgish Kanji Gardner–Salinas braille codes (GS8) Symbols in braille
Braille
Braille
Braille
Persons Louis Braille Charles Barbier Valentin Haüy Thakur Vishva Narain Singh Sabriye Tenberken William Bell Wait Organisations
Braille
Other tactile alphabets Decapoint Moon type New York Point Night writing Vibratese Related topics Accessible publishing
Braille
v t e Electronic writing systems Emoticons Emoji iConji Leet Unicode v t e
Internet slang
3arabizi
Alay (Indonesia)
Denglisch
Doge
Fingilish (Persian)
Greeklish
Gyaru-moji (Japan)
Jejemon (Philippines)
Leet
See also English internet slang (at Wiktionary) SMS language v t e The Northwest Semitic abjad ʾ b g d h w z ḥ ṭ y k l m n s ʿ p ṣ q r š t 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 200 300 400 History Phoenician Paleo-Hebrew Hebrew Aramaic Syriac Authority control GND: 44445 |