Hebrew alphabet

Note: This article contains special characters.

The Hebrew alphabet (Hebrew: אָלֶף-בֵּית עִבְרִי‎ ^[1], alefbet ’ivri) consists 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 Judeo-Arabic (for a full and detailed list, see Jewish languages). Hebrew is written from right to left.

The Hebrew word for "alphabet" is אלפבית (alefbet), named after the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew alphabet is an abjad, having letters for consonants, but means were later devised to indicate vowels by separate vowel points or niqqud. In rabbinic Hebrew, the alefbet is used as an alphabet by using the consonant letters אהוי as matres lectionis.

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, block script, or 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).

History

A page from a 16th century Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary by Elijah Levita

The original Hebrew script developed alongside others in the region during the course of the late second and first millennia BCE; it is closely related to the Phoenician script, which itself probably gave rise to the use of alphabetic writing in Greece (Greek). It is sometimes claimed that around the 10th century BCE^[2], a distinct Hebrew variant, the original "Hebrew script", emerged, which was widely used in the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah until they fell in the 8th and 6th centuries BCE, respectively. It is not straightforward, however, to distinguish Israelite/Judahite scripts from others which were in use in the immediate area, most notably by the Moabites and Ammonites.

Following the Babylonian exile, Jews gradually stopped using the Hebrew script, and instead adopted the Aramaic script (another offshoot of the same family of scripts). This script, used for writing Hebrew, later evolved into the Jewish, or "square" script, that is still used today. Closely related scripts were in use all over the Middle East for several hundred years, but following the rise of Christianity (and later, the rise of Islam), they gave way to the Roman and Arabic alphabets, respectively.

The Hebrew alphabet was later adapted in order to write down the languages of the Jewish diaspora (Karaim, Judæo-Arabic, Ladino, Yiddish, etc.). The Hebrew alphabet was retained as the alphabet used for writing down the Hebrew language during its rebirth in the 18th to 19th century.

Short table

The Hebrew alphabet consists of the following letters. Five letters have a different form (known as the final form) at the ends of words: these are shown in the table below the normal form.

Description

Both the old Hebrew script and the modern Hebrew script have only one case, but some letters have special final forms, called sofit (Heb. ספית, meaning in this case final or ending) form, used only at the end of a word, somewhat as in the Arabic and Mandaic alphabets^[3]. As can be seen in the tables given here, only five letters can receive a sofit form: ך → כ (kaf and khaf) ^[4], ם → מ (mem), ן → נ (nun), ף → פ (pe and fe), ץ → צ (tsadi or tsade).

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 hey, ו vav or י yod has combined with a previous vowel and become silent, or by imitation of such cases in the spelling of other forms. When used to write Yiddish, the Hebrew writing system uses consonants to indicate all the vowels (see Yiddish orthography), except where Hebrew words are written in Yiddish.

To preserve the proper vowel sounds, scholars developed several different sets of vocalisation and diacritical symbols called niqqud (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), called "Trope".

Hebrew letters may also be used as numbers; see the entry on Hebrew numerals. This use of letters as numbers is common in Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) in a practice known as gematria.

Main table

Further information: Romanization of Hebrew, Hebrew numerals, Cursive Hebrew, Rashi script

The following table is a breakdown of each letter in the Hebrew alphabet, showing the letter, its name, its numerical value, and its transliteration for English. There are five letters with a second, "final form", used at the end of words, represented below on the right-hand side of the letter's column.

Symbol		Name			Israeli Transliteration	Numerical Value	Scripts
		Israeli	Ashkenazi	Unicode			Hebrew				Ancestral
							Cursive		Rashi		Phoenician	Paleo-Hebrew	Aramaic
א		alef	alef	alef	- (1)	1
ב		bet, vet	beis, veis	bet	b, v	2
ג		gimel	gimmel	gimel	g	3
ד		dalet	doles	dalet	d	4
ה		he	hei	he	h (2)	5
ו		vav	vov/vof	vav	v	6
ז		zayin	zayin	zayin	z	7
ח		khet	ches	het	kh (or ch/h) (3)	8
ט		tet	tes	tet	t	9
י		yod	yud	yod	y (4)	10
כ	ך	kaf, khaf	kof, chof	kaf	k, kh (or ch)	20
ל		lamed	lomed	lamed	l	30
מ	ם	mem	mem	mem	m	40
נ	ן	nun	nun	nun	n	50
ס		samekh	somech	samekh	s	60
ע		ayin	ayin/oyin	ayin	- (5)	70
פ	ף	pe, fe	pei, fei	pe	p, f	80
צ	ץ	tsadi	tsodi/tsodik	tsadi	ts (or tz/z)	90							,
ק		kuf	kuf	qof	k (or q)	100
ר		resh	reish	resh	r	200
ש		shin, sin	shin, sin	shin	sh, s	300
ת		tav	tov/tof, sov/sof	tav	t	400

1. unwritten in initial and final positions, though often not written at all
2. unwritten in final positions
3. "h" initial or after consonants, "ch" everywhere else
4. "i" in final positions or before consonants
5. often not written at all

Pronunciation

Further information: Hebrew phonology

The following table contains the pronunciation of the Hebrew letters in reconstructed historical forms and dialects using the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Symbol	Pronunciation (IPA)
	Israeli	Ashkenazi	Sephardi	Yemenite	Tiberian	Reconstructed
						Mishnaic	Biblical
א	[ʔ]	[ - ]	[ʔ, -]	[ʔ, -]	[ʔ, -]	[ʔ, -]	[ʔ]
ב	[b, v]	[b, v~v̥]	[b, b~β~v]	[b]	[b, v]	[b, β]	[b]
ג	[g]	[g~g̊]	[g, g~ɣ]	[ʤ, ɣ]	[ɡ, ɣ]	[ɡ, ɣ]	[ɡ]
ד	[d]	[d~d̥]	[d̪~ð]	[d̪, ð]	[d̪, ð]	[d̪, ð]	[d̪]
ה	[h~ʔ, -]	[h, -]	[h, -]	[h, -]	[h, -]	[h, -]	[h]
ו	[v]	[v~v̥]	[v]	[w]	[w]	[w]	[w]
ז	[z]	[z~z̥]	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]	[dz]
ח	[χ~ħ]	[x]	[ħ]	[ħ]	[ħ]	[ħ, x]	[ħ, x]
ט	[t]	[t]	[t̪]	[t̴̪] (1)	[t̴̪]	[t̪ˁ] (2)	[t̪ʼ] (3)
י	[j]	[j]	[j]	[j]	[j]	[j]	[j]
ך כ	[k, χ]	[k, x]	[k, x]	[k, x]	[k, x]	[k, x]	[k]
ל	[l]	[l~ɫ]	[l]	[l]	[l]	[l]	[l]
ם מ	[m]	[m]	[m]	[m]	[m]	[m]	[m]
ן נ	[n]	[n]	[n̪]	[n̪]	[n̪]	[n̪]	[n̪]
ס	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]
ע	[ʔ~ʕ, – ]	[ - ]	[ʕ, ŋ, – ]	[ʕ]	[ʕ]	[ʕ, ɣ]	[ʕ, ɣ]
ף פ	[p, f]	[p, f]	[p, f]	[f]	[p, f]	[p, ɸ]	[p]
ץ צ	[ʦ]	[ʦ]	[ʦ]	[s̴] (1)	[s̴]	[sˁ] (2)	[ʦʼ, ʧʼ, tɬʼ] (3)
ק	[k]	[k]	[k]	[ɡ]	[q]	[q]	[kʼ] (3)
ר	[ʁ]	[ʀ]	[r~ɾ]	[r~ɾ]	[ɾ]	[ɾ]	[ɾ]
ש	[ʃ, s]	[ʃ, s]	[ʃ, s]	[ʃ, s]	[ʃ, s]	[ʃ, s]	[ʧ, tɬ, s]
ת	[t]	[t, s]	[t̪, θ]	[t̪, θ]	[t̪, θ]	[t̪, θ]	[t̪]

1. velarized or pharyngealized
2. pharyngealized
3. sometimes said to be ejective but more likely glottalized.

Matres lectionis

Main article: Mater lectionis

א alef, ה he, ו vav and י yod are consonants that can sometimes fill the position of a vowel. vav and yod in particular are more often vowels than they are consonants.

Symbol	Name	Vowel formation
א	alef	ê, ệ, ậ, â, ô
ה	he	ê, ệ, ậ, â, ô
ו	vav	ô, û
י	yod	î, ê, ệ

Niqqud

Main article: Niqqud

Niqqud is the system of dots the help determine vowels and consonants. In Hebrew, all forms of niqqud are often omitted in writing, except for children's books, prayer books, foreign words, and words which would be ambiguous to pronounce.

Shin and sin

Further information: Shin (letter)

Shin and sin are represented by the same letter, ש, but are two separate phonemes. They are not mutually allophonic. When vowel diacritics are used, the two phonemes are differentiated with a shin-dot or sin-dot; the shin-dot is above the upper-right side of the letter, and sin-dot is above the upper-left side of the letter.

Dagesh

Main article: Dagesh

Historically, the consonants ב bet, ג gimel,