Hebrew alphabet

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Hebrew alphabet
Alefbet ivri.svg
Type
Impure abjad
LanguagesHebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, Mozarabic
Time period
2nd–1st century BCE to present[1]
Parent systems
Child systems
Yiddish alphabet
Sister systems
DirectionRight-to-left
ISO 15924Hebr, 125
Unicode alias
Hebrew

The Hebrew alphabet (Hebrew: אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי,[a] Alefbet ivri), known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, and block script, is an abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew language and other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Judeo-Spanish, Judeo-Arabic, and Judeo-Persian.

Historically, two separate abjad scripts have been used to write Hebrew. The original, old Hebrew script, known as the paleo-Hebrew alphabet, has been largely preserved in a variant form as the Samaritan alphabet. The present "Jewish script" or "square script", on the contrary, is a stylized form of the Aramaic alphabet and was technically known by Jewish sages as Ashurit (lit. "Assyrian script"), since its origins were alleged to be from Assyria.[2]

Various "styles" (in current terms, "fonts") of representation of the Jewish script letters described in this article also exist, including a variety of cursive Hebrew styles. In the remainder of this article, the term "Hebrew alphabet" refers to the square script unless otherwise indicated.

The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters. It does not have case. Five letters have different forms when used at the end of a word. Hebrew is written from right to left. Originally, the alphabet was an abjad consisting only of consonants, but is now considered an "impure abjad". As with other abjads, such as the Arabic alphabet, during its centuries-long use scribes devised means of indicating vowel sounds by separate vowel points, known in Hebrew as niqqud. In both biblical and rabbinic Hebrew, the letters י ו ה א can also function as matres lectionis, which is when certain consonants are used to indicate vowels. There is a trend in Modern Hebrew towards the use of matres lectionis to indicate vowels that have traditionally gone unwritten, a practice known as "full spelling".

The Yiddish alphabet, a modified version of the Hebrew alphabet used to write Yiddish, is a true alphabet, with all vowels rendered in the spelling, except in the case of inherited Hebrew words, which typically retain their Hebrew spellings.

The Arabic and Hebrew alphabets have similarities because they are both derived from the Aramaic alphabet, and both derive from paleo-Hebrew or Phoenician alphabet. Phoenicia is the Greek term referring to Canaan or kn'n.[citation needed]

History[edit]

Paleo-Hebrew alphabet
The Aleppo Codex, a tenth century Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. Book of Joshua 1:1

A distinct Hebrew variant of the Phoenician script, called the paleo-Hebrew alphabet by scholars, emerged around 800 BCE.[3] Examples of related early inscriptions from the area include the tenth-century Gezer calendar, and the Siloam inscription (c. 700 BCE).[4]

The paleo-Hebrew alphabet was used in the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Following the exile of the Kingdom of Judah in the 6th century BCE during the Babylonian captivity, Jews began using a form of the Assyrian Aramaic alphabet, which was another offshoot of the same family of scripts. The Samaritans, who remained in the Land of Israel, continued to use the paleo-Hebrew alphabet. During the 3rd century BCE, Jews began to use a stylized, "square" form of the Aramaic alphabet that was used by the Persian Empire (and which in turn had been adopted from the Assyrians),[5] while the Samaritans continued to use a form of the paleo-Hebrew script called the Samaritan alphabet. After the fall of the Persian Empire in 330 BCE, Jews used both scripts before settling on the square Assyrian form.

The square Hebrew alphabet was later adapted and used for writing languages of the Jewish diaspora – such as Karaim, the Judeo-Arabic languages, Judaeo-Spanish, and Yiddish. The Hebrew alphabet continued in use for scholarly writing in Hebrew and came again into everyday use with the rebirth of the Hebrew language as a spoken language in the 18th and 19th centuries, especially in Israel.

Description[edit]

אבגדהוזחטי
כךלמםנןסעפ
ףצץקרשת  •  
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 and HTML

General[edit]

In the traditional form, the Hebrew alphabet is an abjad consisting only of consonants, written from right to left. It has 22 letters, five of which use different forms at the end of a word.

Vowels[edit]

In the traditional form, vowels are indicated by the weak consonants Aleph (א), He (ה), Waw/Vav (ו), or Yodh (י) serving as vowel letters, or matres lectionis: the letter is combined with a previous vowel and becomes silent, or by imitation of such cases in the spelling of other forms. Also, a system of vowel points to indicate vowels (diacritics), called niqqud, was developed. In modern forms of the alphabet, as in the case of Yiddish and to some extent Modern Hebrew, vowels may be indicated. Today, the trend is toward full spelling with the weak letters acting as true vowels.

When used to write Yiddish, vowels are indicated, using certain letters, either with niqqud diacritics (e.g. אָ or יִ) or without (e.g. ע or י), except for Hebrew words, which in Yiddish are written in their Hebrew spelling.

To preserve the proper vowel sounds, scholars developed several different sets of vocalization and diacritical symbols called nequdot (ניקודות, literally "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, called trope or te'amim, used to indicate how scriptural passages should be chanted in synagogue recitations of scripture (although these marks do not appear in the scrolls). In everyday writing of modern Hebrew, niqqud are absent; however, patterns of how words are derived from Hebrew roots (called shorashim or "triliterals") allow Hebrew speakers to determine the vowel-structure of a given word from its consonants based on the word's context and part of speech.

Alphabet[edit]

Unlike the Paleo-Hebrew writing script, the modern Ashuri script has five letters that have special final forms,[c] called sofit (Hebrew: סופית‎, meaning in this context "final" or "ending") form, used only at the end of a word, somewhat as in the Greek or in the Arabic and Mandaic alphabets.[b] These are shown below the normal form in the following table (letter names are Unicode standard[6][7]). Although Hebrew is read and written from right to left, the following table shows the letters in order from left to right.

Alef Gimel Dalet Zayin Chet Tet Yod Kaf
א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ
ך
Lamed Mem Samech Ayin Tsade Qof Resh Tav
ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ש ת
ם ן ף ץ

Pronunciation[edit]

Alphabet[edit]

The descriptions that follow are based on the pronunciation of modern standard Israeli Hebrew.

letter IPA Name of letter
Unicode[6][7] Hebrew[8] Modern Hebrew
pronunciation
Yiddish / Ashkenazi
pronunciation
א [ʔ], ʼAlef אָלֶף /ʔalɛf/ /ʔaləf/
בּ [b] Bet בֵּית /bet/ /bɛɪs/, /bɛɪz/
ב [v] בֵית /vet/ /vɛɪs/, /vɛɪz/
ג [ɡ] Gimel גִּימֵל /ˈɡimel/ /ˈɡiməl/
ד [d] Dalet דָּלֶת /ˈdalɛt/, /ˈdalɛd/ /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 /ˈlamɛd/ /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 /ˈsamɛχ/ /ˈsaməχ/
ע [ʕ], ʻAyin עַיִן /ʕajin/, /ʕa.in/ /ʕajin/
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 תָו /θav/, /θaf/ /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 due to its not existing in the countries where they lived (such as in nearly all of Eastern Europe). Yiddish modified this /θ/ to /s/ (cf. seseo in Spanish), but in modern Israeli Hebrew, it is simply pronounced /t/.

Shin and sin[edit]

Shin and sin are represented by the same letter, ש, but are two separate phonemes. 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 the sin-dot is above the upper-left side of the letter.

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]

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
bet/vet בּ b /b/ bun ב v /v/ van
kaf [9]כּ ךּ k /k/ kangaroo כ ך kh/ch/x /χ/ loch
pe פּ ףּ 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]

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 with a geresh ג׳ [d͡ʒ] ǧ[10] ǧáḥnun [ˈd͡ʒaχnun] גַּ׳חְנוּן
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] אַוַונְטַה

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 of non-native sounds
Name Symbol IPA Arabic letter Example Comment
Dalet with a geresh ד׳ [ð] Dhāl (ذ)
Voiced th
Dhū al-Ḥijjah (ذو الحجة)‎ ד׳ו אל-חיג׳ה * Also used for English voiced th
* Often a simple ד is written.
Tav with a geresh ת׳ [θ] Thāʼ ()
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 much of Israel's general population, especially where Ashkenazic pronunciation is prevalent, many letters have the same pronunciation. They are as follows:

Letters Transliteration Pronunciation (IPA)
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
ʼ /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) //

* 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 /ˌbɡɛdˈkɛfɛt/. 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 the sounds ḏ and ḡ have reverted to [d] and [ɡ], respectively, and ṯ has become [t], so only the remaining three consonants /b k p/ show variation. ר resh may have also been a "doubled" letter, making the list BeGeD KePoReT. (Sefer Yetzirah, 4:1)

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 and/or ת; the "dagesh chazak" – orthographically indistinguishable from the "dagesh kal" – designates gemination, which today is realized only rarely – e.g. in biblical recitations or when using Arabic loanwords).

Symbol Pronunciation
Israeli Ashkenazi Sephardi Yemenite Reconstructed Arabic equivalent
Tiberian Mishnaic Biblical
א [ʔ, -] [ - ] [ʔ, -] [ʔ, -] [ʔ, -] [ʔ, -] [ʔ] ا
בּ [b] [b] [b] [b] [b] [b] [b] ب
ב [v] [v~v̥] [b~β~v] [β] [v] [β] ؤ \
גּ [ɡ] [ɡ~ɡ̊] [ɡ] [] [ɡ] [ɡ] [ɡ] ج
ג [ɡ~ɣ] [ɣ] [ɣ] [ɣ] غ
דּ [d] [d~d̥] [d̪] [] [] [] [] د
ד [d̪~ð] [ð] [ð] [ð] ذ
ה [h~ʔ, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h] ه
ו [v] [v~v̥] [v] [w] [w] [w] [w] و
וּ [u] [uː, iː] [uː] [əw] ? ? ? ـُو
וֹ [] [əʊ, ɔj, ɛj, ɐʊ] [o] [œ] ? ? ? ـَو
ז [z] [z~z̥] [z] [z] [z] [z] [z] ز
ח [x~χ] [x] [ħ] [ħ] [ħ] [ħ] [ħ, χ] ح
ט [t] [t] [t̪] [t̴̪] (1) [t̴̪] [t̪ˤ] (2) [t̪ʼ] (3) ط
י [j] [j] [j] [j] [j] [j] [j] ي
ִי [i] [i] [i] [i] ? ? ? ـِي
כּ [k] [k] [k] [k] [k] [k] [k] ك
כ ך [x~χ] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] خ
ל [l] [l~ɫ] [l] [l] [l] [l] [l] ل
מ ם [m] [m] [m] [m] [m] [m] [m] م
נ ן [n] [n] [] [] [] [] [] ن
ס [s] [s] [s] [s] [s] [s] [s] ض \ س*

*possibly rooted from Ancient Egyptian or dj

ע [ʕ, - ] [ - ] [ʕ, ŋ, - ] [ʕ] [ʕ] [ʕ] [ʕ, ʁ] ع
פּ [p] [p] [p] [p] [p] [p] [p] پ
פ ף [f] [f] [f] [f] [f] [ɸ] ف
צ ץ [t͡s] [t͡s] [t͡s] [s̴] (1) [s̴] [sˤ] (2) [sʼ, ɬʼ, θʼ] (3) ص
ק [k] [k] [k] [ɡ], [ɢ], [q] [q] [q] [] (3) ق
ר [ɣ~ʁ] [ɹ]~[ʀ] [r]~[ɾ] [r]~[ɾ] [ʀ] [r] [r] ر
שׁ [ʃ] [ʃ] [ʃ] [ʃ] [ʃ] [ʃ] [ʃ] ش
שׂ [s] [s] [s] [s] [s] [s] [ɬ] س
תּ [t] [t] [t] [] [] [] [] ت
ת [s] [θ] [θ] [θ] ث
  1. velarized or pharyngealized
  2. pharyngealized
  3. sometimes said to be ejective but more likely glottalized.

Vowels[edit]

Matres lectionis[edit]

א alef, ע ayin, ו waw/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/ or /ʕ/ ê, ệ, ậ, â, ô
ו waw/vav /w/ or /v/ וֹ ḥolám malé ô
וּ shurúq û
י yud /j/ ִי ḥiríq malé î
ֵי tseré malé ê, ệ

Vowel points[edit]

Niqqud is the system of dots that help determine vowels and consonants. In Hebrew, all forms of niqqud are often omitted in writing, except for children's books, prayer books, poetry, foreign words, and words which would be ambiguous to pronounce. Israeli Hebrew has five vowel phonemes, /i e a o u/, but many more written symbols for them:

Name Symbol Written Position Israeli Hebrew
IPA Transliteration English
example
Hiriq Hebrew Hiriq.svg vowel written below consonant [i] i week
Tsere Hebrew Zeire.svg vowel written below consonant [], ([e̞j] with
succeeding yod)
eh (precise pronunciation); ei (imprecise due to modern pronunciation, even if with succeeding yod – see Note 2) bed, main
Segol Hebrew Segol.svg vowel written below consonant [] e men
Patach Hebrew Patah.svg vowel written below consonant [ä] a father
Kamatz Hebrew Qamaz.svg vowel written below consonant [ä], (or []) ah, (or oh) father, more
Holam Haser Hebrew Holam.svg vowel written above consonant [] o home
Holam Male וֹ isolated vowel written on its own
Shuruk Hebrew Equal Shuruk.svg isolated vowel written on its own [u] u moon
Kubutz Hebrew Backslash Qubuz.svg vowel written below consonant

Note 1: The circle represents whatever Hebrew letter is used.
Note 2: The pronunciation of tsere 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 (waw/vav) is used since it can only be represented by that letter.

Meteg[edit]

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]

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 to "w")

Name Symbol Israeli Hebrew
IPA Transliteration English
example
Shva Tilde Schwa.svg [] 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 Hataf Segol.svg [] e men
Reduced Patach Hataf Patah.svg [ä] a father
Reduced Kamatz Hataf Qamaz.svg [] o more
Comparison table[edit]
Vowel comparison table [12]
Vowel length
(phonetically not manifested in Israeli Hebrew)
IPA Transliteration English
example
Long Short Very Short
ָ ַ ֲ [ä] a far
ֵ ֶ ֱ [] e men
וֹ [] 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]

The symbol ״ is called a gershayim and is a punctuation mark used in the Hebrew language to denote acronyms. It is written before the last letter in the acronym, e.g. ר״ת. Gershayim is also the name of a note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, printed above the accented letter, e.g. א֞.

Stylistic variants[edit]

The following table displays typographic and chirographic variants of each letter. For the five letters that have a different final form used at the end of words, the final forms are displayed beneath the regular form.

The block (square, or "print" type) and cursive ("handwritten" type) are the only variants in widespread contemporary use. Rashi is also used, for historical reasons, in a handful of standard texts.

Letter
name
(Unicode)
Variants
Contemporary Early modern Ancestral
Block serif Block sans-serif Cursive Rashi Phoenician Paleo-Hebrew Aramaic
Alef א א Hebrew letter Alef handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Alef Rashi.png 𐤀 Alef Aleph.svg
Bet ב ב Hebrew letter Bet handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Bet Rashi.png 𐤁 Bet Beth.svg
Gimel ג ג Hebrew letter Gimel handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Gimel Rashi.png 𐤂 Gimel Igimel.png
Dalet ד ד Hebrew letter Daled handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Daled Rashi.png 𐤃 Daled Daleth.svg
He ה ה Hebrew letter He handwriting.svg Hebrew letter He Rashi.png 𐤄 Heh He0.svg
Vav (Unicode)[13] / Waw ו ו Hebrew letter Vav handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Vav Rashi.png 𐤅 Vav Waw.svg
Zayin ז ז Hebrew letter Zayin handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Zayin Rashi.png 𐤆 Zayin Zayin.svg
Het ח ח Hebrew letter Het handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Het Rashi.png 𐤇 Khet Heth.svg
Tet ט ט Hebrew letter Tet handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Tet Rashi.png 𐤈 Tet Teth.svg
Yod י י Hebrew letter Yud handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Yud Rashi.png 𐤉 Yud Yod.svg
Kaf כ כ Hebrew letter Kaf handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Kaf-nonfinal Rashi.png 𐤊 Khof Kaph.svg
Final Kaf ך ך Hebrew letter Kaf-final handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Kaf-final Rashi.png
Lamed ל ל Hebrew letter Lamed handwriting.svg Lamed (Rashi-script - Hebrew letter).svg 𐤋 Lamed Lamed.svg
Mem מ מ Hebrew letter Mem handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Mem-nonfinal Rashi.png 𐤌 Mem Mem.svg
Final Mem ם ם Hebrew letter Mem-final handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Mem-final Rashi.png
Nun נ נ Hebrew letter Nun handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Nun-nonfinal Rashi.png 𐤍 Nun Nun.svg
Final Nun ן ן Hebrew letter Nun-final handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Nun-final Rashi.png
Samekh ס ס Hebrew letter Samekh handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Samekh Rashi.png 𐤎 Samekh Samekh.svg
Ayin ע ע Hebrew letter Ayin handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Ayin Rashi.png 𐤏 Ayin Ayin.svg
Pe פ פ Hebrew letter Pe handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Pe-nonfinal Rashi.png 𐤐 Pey Pe0.svg
Final Pe ף ף Hebrew letter Pe-final handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Pe-final Rashi.png
Tsadi צ צ Hebrew letter Tsadik handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Tsadik-nonfinal Rashi.png 𐤑 Tzadi Sade 1.svg, Sade 2.svg
Final Tsadi ץ ץ Hebrew letter Tsadik-final handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Tsadik-final Rashi.png
Qof ק ק Hebrew letter Kuf handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Kuf Rashi.png 𐤒 Quf Qoph.svg
Resh ר ר Hebrew letter Resh handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Resh Rashi.png 𐤓 Resh Resh.svg
Shin ש ש Hebrew letter Shin handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Shin Rashi.png 𐤔 Shin Shin.svg
Tav ת ת Hebrew letter Taf handwriting.svg Hebrew letter Taf Rashi.png 𐤕 Tof Taw.svg

Yiddish symbols[edit]

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 orthography of Yiddish.

Numeric values of letters[edit]

Following the adoption of Greek Hellenistic alphabetic numeration practice, Hebrew letters started being used to denote numbers in the late 2nd century BC,[14] 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. שלב א׳, שלב ב׳ – "phase a, phase b"), commonly in Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) in a practice known as gematria, and often in religious contexts.

The lower clock on the Jewish Town Hall building in Prague, with Hebrew numerals in counterclockwise order.
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]

The following table lists transliterations and transcriptions of Hebrew letters used in Modern Hebrew.

Clarifications:

  • For some letters, the Academy of the Hebrew Language offers a precise transliteration that differs from the regular standard it has set. When omitted, no such precise alternative exists and the regular standard applies.
  • The IPA phonemic transcription is specified whenever it uses a different symbol from the one used for the regular standard Israeli transliteration.
  • The IPA phonetic transcription is specified whenever it differs from IPA phonemic transcription.

Note: SBL's transliteration system, recommended in its Handbook of Style,[15] 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 כפ״ת with no dagesh, SBL uses the same symbols as for with dagesh (i.e. "b", "g", "d", "k", "f", "t").

Hebrew letter Standard
Israeli
transliteration
regular
[16]
standard
Israeli
transliteration
precise
[16]
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
ג׳ ǧ[B1][10] /d͡ʒ/
דּ d d
ד
ה
consonantal
h
ה
silent
none[A3]
ו
consonantal
v w
וּ u
וֹ o [] or [ɔ̝]
ז z
ז׳ ž[B2][10] /ʒ/
ח [C1] /x/ or /χ/ [χ]
dialectical
[ħ]
ט t
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/ [] or [e̞j]/
כּ, ךּ[9] k
כ, ך kh[C2] /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 /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
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 ascertains that א in initial position is not transliterated, the symbol for the glottal stop  ʾ  is omitted from the transliteration, and only the subsequent vowels are transliterated (whether or not their corresponding vowel diacritics appeared in the text being transliterated), resulting in "im", "em" and "om", respectively.

B1^ 2^ 3^ The diacritic geresh – "׳" – is used with some other letters as well (ד׳, ח׳, ט׳, ע׳, ר׳, ת׳), but only to transliterate from other languages to Hebrew – never to spell Hebrew words; therefore they were not included in this table (correctly translating a Hebrew text with these letters would require using the spelling in the language from which the transliteration to Hebrew was originally made). The non-standard "ו׳" and "וו" [e1] are sometimes used to represent /w/, which like /d͡ʒ/, /ʒ/ and /t͡ʃ/ appears in Hebrew slang and loanwords.

C1^ 2^ The Sound /χ/ (as "ch" in loch) is often transcribed "ch", inconsistently with the guidelines specified by the Academy of the Hebrew Language: חם /χam/ → "cham"; סכך /sχaχ/ → "schach".

D^ Although the Bible does include a single occurrence of a final pe with a dagesh (Book of Proverbs 30, 6: "אַל-תּוֹסְףְּ עַל-דְּבָרָיו: פֶּן-יוֹכִיחַ בְּךָ וְנִכְזָבְתָּ."), in modern Hebrew /p/ is always represented by pe in its regular, not final, form "פ", even when in final word position, which occurs with loanwords (e.g. שׁוֹפּ /ʃop/ "shop"), foreign names (e.g. פִילִיפּ /ˈfilip/ "Philip") and some slang (e.g. חָרַפּ /χaˈrap/ "slept deeply").

Religious use[edit]

The letters of the Hebrew alphabet have played varied roles in Jewish religious literature over the centuries, primarily in mystical texts. Some sources in classical rabbinical literature seem to acknowledge the historical provenance of the currently used Hebrew alphabet and deal with them as a mundane subject (the Jerusalem Talmud, for example, records that "the Israelites took for themselves square calligraphy", and that the letters "came with the Israelites from Ashur [Assyria]");[17] others attribute mystical significance to the letters, connecting them with the process of creation or the redemption. In mystical conceptions, the alphabet is considered eternal, pre-existent to the Earth, and the letters themselves are seen as having holiness and power, sometimes to such an extent that several stories from the Talmud illustrate the idea that they cannot be destroyed.[18]

The idea of the letters' creative power finds its greatest vehicle in the Sefer Yezirah, or Book of Creation, a mystical text of uncertain origin which describes a story of creation highly divergent from that in the Book of Genesis, largely through exposition on the powers of the letters of the alphabet. The supposed creative powers of the letters are also referenced in the Talmud and Zohar.[19][20]

The four-pronged Shin

Another book, the 13th-century Kabbalistic text Sefer HaTemunah, holds that a single letter of unknown pronunciation, held by some to be the four-pronged shin on one side of the teffilin box, is missing from the current alphabet. The world's flaws, the book teaches, are related to the absence of this letter, the eventual revelation of which will repair the universe.[21] Another example of messianic significance attached to the letters is the teaching of Rabbi Eliezer that the five letters of the alphabet with final forms hold the "secret of redemption".[21]

In addition, the letters occasionally feature in aggadic portions of non-mystical rabbinic literature. In such aggada the letters are often given anthropomorphic qualities and depicted as speaking to God. Commonly their shapes are used in parables to illustrate points of ethics or theology. An example from the Babylonian Talmud (a parable intended to discourage speculation about the universe before creation):

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 of Yisrael Meir Kagan.

Mathematical use[edit]

See aleph number and beth number and gimel function.

In set theory, , pronounced aleph-naught or aleph-zero, is used to mark the cardinal number of an infinite countable set, such as , the set of all integers. More generally, the (aleph) notation marks the ordered sequence of all distinct infinite cardinal numbers.

Less frequently used, the (beth) notation is used for the iterated power sets of . The 2nd element is the cardinality of the continuum. Very occasionally, gimel is used in cardinal notation.

Unicode and HTML[edit]

An example of a Hebrew keyboard.

The Unicode Hebrew block extends from U+0590 to U+05FF and from U+FB1D to U+FB4F. It includes letters, ligatures, combining diacritical marks (Niqqud and cantillation marks) and punctuation.[6] The Numeric Character References is included for HTML. 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.

Standard Hebrew keyboards have a 101-key layout. Like the standard QWERTY layout, the Hebrew layout was derived from the order of letters on Hebrew typewriters.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

a^ "Alef-bet" is commonly written in Israeli Hebrew without the maqaf (מקף, "[Hebrew] hyphen"), אלפבית עברי, as opposed to with the hyphen, אלף־בית עברי.

b^ The Arabic letters generally (as six of the primary letters can have only two variants) have four forms, according to their place in the word. The same goes with the Mandaic ones, except for three of the 22 letters, which have only one form.

c^ In forms of Hebrew older than Modern Hebrew, כ״ף, בי״ת and פ״א can only be read b, k and p, respectively, at the beginning of a word, while they will have the sole value of v, kh and f in a sofit (final) position, with few exceptions.[9] In medial positions, both pronunciations are possible. In Modern Hebrew this restriction is not absolute, e.g. פִיזִיקַאי /fiziˈkaj/ and never /piziˈkaj/ (= "physicist"), סְנוֹבּ /snob/ and never /snov/ (= "snob"). A dagesh may be inserted to unambiguously denote the plosive variant: בּ = /b/, כּ = /k/, פּ =/p/; similarly (though today very rare in Hebrew and common only in Yiddish) a rafé placed above the letter unambiguously denotes the fricative variant: בֿ = /v/, כֿ = /χ/ and פֿ = /f/. In Modern Hebrew orthography, the sound [p] at the end of a word is denoted by the regular form "פ", as opposed to the final form "ף", which always denotes [f] (see table of transliterations and transcriptions, comment[D]).

d^ However, וו (two separate vavs), used in Ktiv male, is to be distinguished from the Yiddish ligature װ (also two vavs but together as one character).

e1^ e2^ e3^ e4^ e5^ The Academy of the Hebrew Language states that both [v] and [w] be indistinguishably represented in Hebrew using the letter Vav.[22] Sometimes the Vav is indeed doubled, however not to denote [w] as opposed to [v] but rather, when spelling without niqqud, to denote the phoneme /v/ at a non-initial and non-final position in the word, whereas a single Vav at a non-initial and non-final position in the word in spelling without niqqud denotes one of the phonemes /u/ or /o/. To pronounce foreign words and loanwords containing the sound [w], Hebrew readers must therefore rely on former knowledge and context.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Hebrew alphabet." Encyclopedia Britannica. "Square Hebrew became established in the 2nd and 1st centuries bce and developed into the modern Hebrew alphabet over the next 1,500 years."
  2. ^ Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 21b–22a); Jerusalem Talmud (Megillah 10a). Cf. Mishnah (Megillah 1:8): "The Books [of Scripture] differ from phylacteries and Mezuzahs only in that the Books may be written in any language, while phylacteries and Mezuzahs may be written in the Assyrian writing only." See: The Mishnah (ed. Herbert Danby), Oxford University Press: London 1977, p. 202.
  3. ^ Saénz-Badillos, Angel (1993). A History of the Hebrew Language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 16.
  4. ^ Saénz-Badillos, Angel (1993). A History of the Hebrew Language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 61–62.
  5. ^ A History of the Hebrew Language. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. 1993. ISBN 978-0-521-55634-7.
  6. ^ a b c Chart of Hebrew glyphs at unicode.org
  7. ^ a b Unicode names of Hebrew characters at fileformat.info.
  8. ^ Kaplan, Aryeh. Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation. pp. 8, 22.
  9. ^ a b c d "ךּ" is rare but exists, e.g. last word in Deuteronomy 7 1 (דברים פרק ז׳ פסוק א׳) in the word "מִמֶּךָּ" – see תנ״ך מנוקד, דברים פרק ז׳. There is a single occurrence of "ףּ", see this comment[D].
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Transliteration guidelines preceding 2006-update Archived 2011-11-16 at the Wayback Machine, p. 3 Academy of the Hebrew Language
  11. ^ Laufer, Asher (2008). Chapters in Phonetics and Phonetic Transcription. Jerusalem: Magnes. pp. 207–211. ISBN 978-965-493-401-5.
  12. ^ Hebrew lessons for Christians
  13. ^ https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0590.pdf
  14. ^ Sirat, Colette (1976), Ecriture et civilisations, Paris: Editions du CNRS.
  15. ^ Resources for New Testament Exegesis – Transliteration Standards of The SBL Handbook of Style
  16. ^ a b c d Transliteration guidelines Archived 2014-07-03 at the Wayback Machine by the Academy of the Hebrew Language, November 2006
  17. ^ Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 21b
  18. ^ Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Pesach 87b, Avodah Zarah 18a.
  19. ^ Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot 55c
  20. ^ Zohar 1:3; 2:152
  21. ^ a b The Book of Letters. Woodstock, Vermont: Jewish Lights Publishing, Woodstock. 1990
  22. ^ "Transliteration Rules" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-07-03. issued by the Academy of the Hebrew Language.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

General[edit]

Keyboards[edit]