HEBREW ALPHABET

The 'Hebrew alphabet' ( ^[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 אלףבית (''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 origin of the Hebrew alphabet is believed to have been given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai what is called the Ashuri alphabet.
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 BCE10th century BCE script, 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.

'Aleph'	'Bet/Vet'	'Gimel'	'Dalet'	'He'	'Vav'	'Zayin'	'Khet'	'Tet'	'Yod'	'Kaf/Khaf'
א	ב	ג	ד	ה	ו	ז	ח	ט	י	כ
א	ב	ג	ד	ה	ו	ז	ח	ט	י	ך
'Lamed'	'Mem'	'Nun'	'Samekh'	'Ayin'	'Pe/Fe'	'Tsadi'	'Kuf'	'Resh'	'Shin/Sin'	'Tav'
ל	מ	נ	ס	ע	פ	צ	ק	ר	ש	ת
ל	ם	ן	ס	ע	ף	ץ	ק	ר	ש	ת

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^[2]. As can be seen in the tables given here, only five letters can receive a sofit form: ך → כ ''(kaf ''and'' khaf)'' ^[3], 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 ''alef'', hey, ''vav'' or ''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'' (; 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

The following table is a breakdown of each letter in the Hebrew alphabet, describing its written glyph or glyphs, its name or names, its numerical values, and its Latin script transliteration values used in academic work. If two glyphs are shown for a letter, then the left-most glyph — usually the taller of the two glyphs — is the terminal form of the letter (or right-most glyph if your browser doesn't support right-to-left text layout).

Symbol	Name			Israeli Transliteration	Numerical Value	Scripts
	Israeli	Ashkenazi	Unicode			Hebrew		Ancestral
	Israeli	Ashkenazi	Unicode			Cursive	Rashi	Phoenician	Paleo-Hebrew	Aramaic
א	alef	alef	alef	- (1)	1		Hebrew letter Alef Rashi.png	Aleph	Pa1.PNG
ב	bet, vet	beis, veis	bet	b, v	2		Hebrew letter Bet Rashi.png	Beth	Pa2.PNG
ג	gimel	gimmel	gimel	g	3		Hebrew letter Gimel Rashi.png	Gimel	Pa3.PNG
ד	dalet	doles	dalet	d	4		Hebrew letter Daled Rashi.png	Daleth	Pa4.PNG
ה	he	hei	he	h (2)	5		Hebrew letter He Rashi.png	He	Pa5.PNG
ו	vav	vov/vof	vav	v	6		Hebrew letter Vav Rashi.png	Waw	Pa6.PNG
ז	zayin	zayin	zayin	z	7		Hebrew letter Zayin Rashi.png	Zayin	Pa7.PNG
ח	khet	ches	het	kh (or ch/h) (3)	8		Hebrew letter Het Rashi.png	Heth	Pa8.PNG
ט	tet	tes	tet	t	9		Hebrew letter Tet Rashi.png	Teth	Pa9.PNG
י	yod	yud	yod	y (4)	10		Hebrew letter Yud Rashi.png	Yodh	Pa10.PNG
ך כ	kaf, khaf	kof, chof	kaf	k, kh (or ch)	20	/	Hebrew letter Kaf Rashi.png	Kaph	Pa11.PNG
ל	lamed	lomed	lamed	l	30		Hebrew letter Lamed Rashi.png	Lamedh	Pa12.PNG
ם מ	mem	mem	mem	m	40	/	Hebrew letter Mem Rashi.png	Mem	Pa13.PNG
ן נ	nun	nun	nun	n	50	/	Hebrew letter Nun Rashi.png	Nun	Pa14.PNG
ס	samekh	somech	samekh	s	60		Hebrew letter Samekh Rashi.png	Samekh	Pa15.PNG
ע	ayin	ayin/oyin	ayin	- (5)	70		Hebrew letter Ayin Rashi.png	Ayin	Pa16.PNG
ף פ	pe, fe	pei, fei	pe	p, f	80	/	Hebrew letter Pe Rashi.png	Pe	Pa17.PNG
ץ צ	tsadi	tsodi/tsodik	tsadi	ts (or tz/z)	90	/	Hebrew letter Tsadik Rashi.png	Sade	Pa18.PNG	,
ק	kuf	kuf	qof	k (or q)	100		Hebrew letter Kuf Rashi.png	Qoph	Pa19.PNG
ר	resh	reish	resh	r	200		Hebrew letter Resh Rashi.png	Res	Pa20.PNG
ש	shin, sin	shin, sin	shin	sh, s	300		Hebrew letter Shin Rashi.png	Sin	Pa21.PNG
ת	tav	tov/tof, sov/sof	tav	t	400		Hebrew letter Taf Rashi.png	Taw	Pa22.PNG

# unwritten in initial and final positions, though often not written at all
# unwritten in final positions
# "h" initial or after consonants, "ch" everywhere else
# "i" in final positions or before consonants
# often not written at all

Pronunciation

The following table contains the pronunciation of the Hebrew letters in reconstructed historical forms and dialects using the International Phonetic Alphabet.
:{|class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan=3 | Symbol
!! colspan=7 | Pronunciation (IPA)
|-
!! rowspan=2 | Israeli
!! rowspan=2 | Ashkenazi
!! rowspan=2 | Sephardi
!! rowspan=2 | Yemenite
!! rowspan=2 | Tiberian
!! colspan=2 | Reconstructed
|-
! Mishnaic !! Biblical
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|א
|| || [ - ] || || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ב
|| || || || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ג
|| || || || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ד
|| || || || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ה
|| || || || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ו
|| || || || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ז
|| || || || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ח
|| || || || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ט
|| || || || (1) || || (2) || (3)
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|י
|| || || || {{{{IPA|[j]|| || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ך כ
|| || || || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ל
|| || || || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ם מ
|| || || || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ן נ
|| || || || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ס
|| || || || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ע
|| , – ] || [ - ] || – ] || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ף פ
|| || || || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ץ צ
|| || || || (1) || || (2) || (3)
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ק
|| || || || || || || (3)
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ר
|| || || || || || ||
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ש
|| || || || || || || {{IPA|[ʧ,
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ת
|| || || || || || ||
|}
# velarized or pharyngealized
# pharyngealized
# sometimes said to be ejective but more likely glottalized.

Matres lectionis

Main articles: Mater lectionis

''alef'', ''he'', ''vav'' and ''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.
:{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Symbol!!Name!!Vowel formation
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|א
|| alef
|| ê, ệ, ậ, â, ô
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ה
|| he
|| ê, ệ, ậ, â, ô
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|ו
|| vav
|| ô, û
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%"|י
|| yod
|| î, ê, ệ
|}

Niqqudot

Main articles: 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

''Shin'' and ''sin'' are represented by the same letter, , 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.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!! colspan=1 | Name
!! colspan=1 | Symbol
!! colspan=1 | IPA
!! colspan=1 | Transliteration
!! colspan=1 | Example
|-
| Sin dot (left)
| align=center |
| align="center" |
| align="center" | s
| align="center" | 's'our
|-
| Shin dot (right)
| align=center |
| align="center" |
| align="center" | sh
| align="center" | 'sh'op
|-
|}

Dagesh

Main articles: Dagesh

Historically, the consonants ''bet'', ''gimel'', ''dalet'', ''kaf'', ''pe'' and ''tav'' each had two sounds: one hard (plosive consonant), and one soft (fricative consonant), 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'' (), while the soft sounds lack a ''dagesh''. In modern Hebrew, however, the ''dagesh'' only changes the pronunciation of ''bet'', ''kaf'', ''pe'', and ''tav'' (''tav'' only changes in Ashkenazic pronunciation).
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!! colspan=8 | 'Dagesh'
|-
!! colspan=4 | Without
!! colspan=4 | With
|-
!! colspan=1 |Name
!! colspan=1 |Symbol
! IPA
! Example
!! colspan=1 |Name
!! colspan=1 |Symbol
! IPA
! Example
|-
| Vet
| align=center |
| /v/
| 'v'an
| Bet
| align=center |
| /b/
| 'b'un
|-
| Chaph
| align=center |
| /x/
| lo'ch'
| Kaph
| align=center |
| /k/
| 'k'angaroo
|-
| Fei
| align=center |
| /f/
| 'f'ind
| Pei
| align=center |
| /p/
| 'p'ass
|-
| Sav
★
| align=center |
| /s/
| 's'orry
| Tav
| align=center |
| /t/
| 't'alent
|-
|}

★ Only used in Ashkenazi pronunciation. In Israeli Hebrew, it is always a tav, with a /t/ sound.

★
★ Letters, gimmel (), and dalet () also contain dagesh (dotted) forms. However, they are not used in Modern Hebrew.

Vowel points

Israeli Hebrew has five vowel phonemes, /i e a o u/, but many more written symbols for them:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!! rowspan=2 | Name
!! rowspan=2 | Symbol
!! colspan=3 |Israeli Hebrew
|-
!! colspan=1 | IPA
!! colspan=1 | Transliteration
!! colspan=1 | English
Example
|-
| Hiriq
| align="center" |

| align="center" |
| align="center" | u
| align="center" | t'u'be
|-
|}
'Note Ⅰ:' The letter "'O'" represents whatever Hebrew letter is used.

'Note Ⅱ:' The ''dagesh'', ''mappiq'', and ''shuruk'' have different functions, even though they look the same .

'Note Ⅲ:' The letter "'ו'" (''vav'') is used since it can only be represented by that letter.

Sh'va

Main articles: Sh'va

By adding two vertical dots (called ''sh'va'') underneath the letter, the vowel is made very short.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!! rowspan=2 | Name
!! rowspan=2 | Symbol
!! colspan=3 |Israeli Hebrew
|-
!! colspan=1 | IPA
!! colspan=1 | Transliteration
!! colspan=1 | English
Example
|-
| Sh'va
| align="center" |

| align="center" |
| align="center" | o
| align="center" | c'o'ne
|-
|}

Comparison table

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!! colspan=6 | Vowel Comparison Table
|- align=center
!! colspan=3 | Vowel Length
(phonetically not manifested in Israeli Hebrew)
!! rowspan=2 | IPA
!! rowspan=2 | Transliteration
!! rowspan=2 | English
Example
|-
! Long
! Short
! Very Short
|- align=center
|style="font-size:24px"|
|style="font-size:24px"|
|style="font-size:24px"| || /a/ || a
| sp'a'
|- align=center
|style="font-size:24px"|
|style="font-size:24px"|
|style="font-size:24px"| || /ɛ/ || e
| t'e'mp
|- align=center
|style="font-size:24px"|
|style="font-size:24px"|
|style="font-size:24px"| ֳ || /o/ || o
| c'o'ke
|- align=center
|style="font-size:24px"|
|style="font-size:24px"|
| rowspan=2 align=center | ''n/a''
| /u/ || u
| t'u'be
|- align=center
|style="font-size:24px"|
|style="font-size:24px"|
| /i/ || i
| sk'i'
|- align=center
!! colspan=2 | 'Note Ⅰ:'
| colspan=4 | By adding two vertical dots (sh'va)
the vowel is made very short.
|-
!! colspan=2 | 'Note Ⅱ:'
| colspan=4 align=center | The short o and long a have the same ''niqqud''.
|-
!! colspan=2 | 'Note Ⅲ:'
| colspan=4 align=center | The short o is is usually promoted to a long o
in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation
|-
!! colspan=2 | 'Note Ⅳ:'
| colspan=4 align=center | The short u is is usually promoted to a long u
in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation
|-
|}

Not used in Hebrew

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!! colspan=1 | Symbol
! Explanation
|-
| align=center |
| These are intended for Yiddish. They are not used in Hebrew^[4]. ''See: Yiddish orthography''.
|-
| align=center |
| The ''rafe'' () niqqud is no longer used in Hebrew. It is still seen in Yiddish. In masoretic manuscripts, the soft fricative consonants are indicated by a small line on top of the letter. Its use has been largely discontinued in printed texts.
|-
|}

Gershayim

Main articles: Gershayim

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. Gershayim is also the name of a note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, printed above the accented letter.

Loanwords

The sounds /tʃ, dʒ, ʒ, w/, written 'וו ,ז' , ג' , צ, are found in many loanwords that are part of the everyday Hebrew colloquial vocabulary, even among people who don't know the source languages. In addition, there are ways of writing some sounds in words that are truly foreign, not part of Israeli Hebrew:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!! colspan=6 | Everyday Colloquial Hebrew
|-
!! colspan=1 | Name
!! colspan=1 | Symbol
!! colspan=1 | IPA
!! colspan=1 | Transliteration
!! colspan=1 | Example
! Letter
|-
| Jimel
| align=center |
| align="center" |
| align="center" | j
| align="center" | 'j'ump
| align="center" | J
|-
| Zhayin
| align=center |
| align="center" |
| align="center" | varies
| align="center" | vi'si'on, a'z'ure
| align="center" | ''see examples''
|-
| Tshadi
| align=center |
| align="center" |
| align="center" | ch
| align="center" | 'ch'annel
| align="center" | "ch"
|-
| Double Vav
| align=center |
| align="center" |
| align="center" | w
| align="center" | 'w'ing
| align="center" | W
|-
!! colspan=6 | Foreign Sounding Loanwords
|-
| Dhal
| align=center |
| align="center" |
| align="center" | th
| align="center" | 'th'en
| align="center" | "th", Ḏāl (ذ)
|-
| Kha
| align=center |
| align="center" |
| align="center" colspan=2 | ''Arabic''
| align="center" | Ḫāʼ (خ)
|-
| Za
| align=center |
| align="center" |
| align="center" colspan=2 | ''Arabic''
| align="center" | Ẓāʼ (ظ)
|-
| Ghayin
| align=center |
| align="center" |
| align="center" colspan=2 | ''Arabic''
| align="center" | Ġayn (غ)
|-
| Tshadi
| align=center |
| align="center" |
| align="center" colspan=2 | ''Arabic''
| align="center" | Ḍād (ض)
|-
| Thav
| align=center |
| align="center" |
| align="center" | th
| align="center" | 'th'ing
| align="center" | "th", Ṯāʼ (ث)
|-
|}

Transliteration of foreign sounds

When transliterating foreign words, for example in Israeli bilingual dictionaries, special combinations of letters and ''niqqudot'' are used —in addition to those given above — to indicate their pronunciation. These are approximative equivalents only, not phonetical signs, as different vowel roundedness amounts are generally not taken into account.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!! colspan=6 | Foreign sounds
|-
!! colspan=1 | Symbol
!! colspan=1 | IPA
!! colspan=1 | Transliteration
!! colspan=1 | Examples
|-
| align=center |
| align="center" |
| align="center" | ''English'' 'ng', ''Wolof'' 'ŋ', ''Cantonese'' '五' etc.
| align="center" | ri'ng', njà'ŋ'alekat, 落'伍' ''et al.''
|-
| align=center |
| align="center" |
| align="center" | ''German'' 'ü' and 'y', ''French'' 'u' and 'û', ''Norwegian'' 'y' etc.
| align="center" | Gem'ü'se, m'û'r, sk'y'ld ''et al.''
|-
| align=center |
| align="center" | , , , , ''etc.''
| align="center" |''Valdôtain'' 'e', 'eu' and final 'a's, spoken ''tamiḻ'' unstressed 'அ' and 'உ', ''Estonian'' 'ö' and 'õ' etc.
| align="center" | trouv'eu'r, யா'வது', p'õ'llut'öö'line ''et al.''
|-
| align=center |
| align="center" | , ''etc.''
| align="center" | ''Gujǎrātī'' 'ઉં', ''Breton'' 'uñ', ''Lakĥoṫa'' 'un'
| align="center" | હાડ'કું', p'uñ's, š'un'ka
|-
| align=center |
| align="center" | , ''etc.''
| align="center" | some ''Övdalsk'' 'o's, ''Polish'' 'ą', ''Diné b.'' 'ǫ' etc.
| align="center" | m'o'nað, osi'ą'ść, s'ǫ'ʼłání et al.''
|-
|-
| align=center |
| align="center" | , ^[5]
| align="center" | ''Bân-lâm-gú'' 'eng', ''Urdū'' 'ـیں', ''avañeʼẽ'' 'ĩ' etc.
| align="center" | kè-s'êng', 'ہـ'ـیں, pete'ĩ'chaʼ ''et al.''
|-
| align=center |
| align="center" | ,
| align="center" | ''Hindī'' 'ऐं', ''gegë'' 'ê', ''ñe'engatú'' 'ẽ' etc.
| align="center" | िकता'बें', gj'ê'ndje, Iúmuh'ẽ'n ''et al.''
|-
| align=center |
| align="center" |
| align="center" | ''Portuguese'' 'ã', ''Telugu'' '-ఁ' and '-ం', ''Yorùbá'' 'an' etc.
| align="center" | libertaç'ã'o, 'మం'దా'రం', nnk'an' ''et al.''
|-
|}

Same pronunciation

In Israel's general population, many consonants have merged to the same pronunciation. They are:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Letter
!! align=center colspan=3 | with Letter(s)
|-
| align=center |
''alef''
★
| align=center colspan=3 |
''hey''
★
|-
| align=center |
''vet'' (without ''dagesh'')
| align=center colspan=3 |
''vav''
|-
| align=center |
''het''
| align=center colspan=3 |
''kaf'' (without ''dagesh'')
|-
| align=center |
''tet''
| align=center colspan=3 |
''tav''
|-
| align=center |
''kaf'' (with ''dagesh'')
| align=center colspan=3 |
''qof''
|-
| align=center |
''samech''
| align=center colspan=3 |
''sin (with left dot)''
|-
| align=center |
''tzadi''
★
| align=center |
''tav-semech''
★
| align=center | ''and''
| align=center |
''tav-sin''
★
|-
|}

★ Varyingly

Pronunciation of Ancient Hebrew

Some of the variations in sound mentioned above are due to a systematic feature of Ancient Hebrew. The six consonants /b g d k p t/ were pronounced differently depending on their position. These letters were also called BeGeDKePHeT (pronounced ) letters. (The full details are very complex; this summary omits some points.) They were pronounced as stops [b g d k p t] at the beginning of a syllable, or when doubled. They were pronounced as fricatives — IPA when preceded by a vowel. The stop and double pronunciations were indicated by the ''dagesh''. In Modern Hebrew the sounds and have reverted to [d] and [g] respectively, and has become [t], so only the remaining three consonants /b k p/ show variation.

★ ''vav'' was a semivowel /w/ (as in English, not as in German).

★ ''het'' and ''ayin'' were pharyngeal fricatives, ''tsadi'' was an emphatic /s/, ''tet'' was an emphatic /t/, and ''qof'' was /q/. All these are common Semitic consonants.

★ ''sin'' (the /s/ variant of ''shin'') was originally different from both shin and ''samekh'', but had become /s/ the same as ''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 IPA the fricative (as in Welsh ''ll'') or the affricate (as in Náhuatl ''tl'').

Unicode and HTML

Main articles: Unicode and HTML for the Hebrew alphabet

The 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. 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.

Trivia

★ In his science fiction novel ''The Forever War'', author Joe Haldeman names collapsars after letters of the Hebrew alphabet (examples include Aleph and Yod-42).

★ In the Discworld novel Feet of Clay, a corrupted version of the Hebrew alphabet (altered slightly to look like roman letters) is used to represent the writing of golems, creatures originating from Jewish mythology.

Notes

1. "Alefbet" is commonly written in Israeli Hebrew without the ''maqaf'' (מקף, hyphen), אלפבית עברי, as opposed to with the hyphen, אלף־בית עברי
2. The Arabic letters have, ''in principle (as six of the primary letters can have only two variants)'', 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. For more information, see Arabic alphabet and Mandaic alphabet.
3. '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. In medial positions, both pronunciations are possible, but a dagesh may be inserted (in dictionaries or learning books) to know which pronunciation applies: 'בּ' = ''b'' and 'ב' = ''v'', 'כּ' = ''k'' and 'כ' = ''kh'', 'פּ' =''p'' and 'פ' = ''f''.
4. However, וו (two separate vavs) is to be distinguished from the ''Yiddish ligature'' װ (also two vavs but together as one character), is used in some cases to transliterate the diphtong /w/ in foreign words.
5. The differences between [ĩ], [ẽ], [ɛ̃] are not always properly transliterated in some dictionaries, hence some discrepancies reflected here.

References

Roots of the Hebrew Alphabet

★ Hoffman, Joel M. 2004. ''In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language.''.

★ Saenz-Badillos, Angel. 1993. ''A History of the Hebrew Language.'' Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. New York: NYU Press

★ Steinberg, David. ''History of the Hebrew Language.''

★ Mathers table

★ ''Aleph-Beth Quick Study Chart.'' February 28, 2005. Qumran Bet Community. Retrieved January 5th, 2006.

External links

★ Hebrew alphabet lesson

★ How to draw letters

★ Official Unicode standards document for Hebrew

★ Transliterate your English name into Hebrew Letters
'Keyboards'

★ Hebrew translit - for typing Hebrew with an English keyboard

★ Mikledet.com - for typing Hebrew with an English keyboard

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