Alphabet
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈæl.fə.bɛt/
- uncommon: IPA: /ˈæl.fə.bɪt/
- Hyphenation: al + pha + bet
Origin
From Late Latin alphabÄ“tum, from Ancient Greek ἀλφάβητος, from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, ἄλφα (Α,α) and βῆτα (Î’,β), from Phoenician aleph 𤀠("") and beth ð¤ ("house"), so called because they were pictograms of those objects.
Full definition of alphabet
Noun
alphabet
(plural alphabets)- The set of letters used when writing in a language.The Greek alphabet has only twenty-four letters.In the first year of school, pupils are taught to recite the alphabet.
- A writing system in which letters represent phonemes. Contrast e.g. logography, a writing system in which each character represents a word, and syllabary, in which each character represents a syllable.
- A true alphabet, a writing system in which there are letters for the consonant and vowel phonemes. Contrast e.g. abjad.
- (computer science) A typically finite set of distinguishable symbols.''Let be a regular language over the alphabet
- (India) An individual letter of an alphabet; an alphabetic character.
- 2002, Eugene E. Dike, African myth of creation in African form of writing, Monsenstein und Vannerdat, ISBN 3936600406, page 30:We realize the fact that the alphabet A has been used in many world scripts as a vowel with the others AEIOU.
- 2005, Satinder Bal Gupta, Comprehensive Discrete Mathematics & Structures, Laxmi Publications, page 237:There are 26 alphabets in English.
- The simplest rudiments; elements.
- MacaulayThe very alphabet of our law.