Alphabet

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈæl.fÉ™.bÉ›t/
• uncommon: IPA: /ˈæl.fÉ™.bɪt/
• Hyphenation: al + pha + bet

Origin

From Late Latin alphabētum, from Ancient Greek ἀλφάβητος, from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, ἄλφα (Α,α) and βῆτα (Β,β), from Phoenician aleph 𐤀 ("") and beth 𐤁 ("house"), so called because they were pictograms of those objects.

Full definition of alphabet

Noun

1. 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.
2. 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.
1. A true alphabet, a writing system in which there are letters for the consonant and vowel phonemes. Contrast e.g. abjad.
3. (computer science) A typically finite set of distinguishable symbols.''Let $L$ be a regular language over the alphabet $$

1. (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.
2. The simplest rudiments; elements.
• MacaulayThe very alphabet of our law.

Derived terms

Verb

1. To designate by the letters of the alphabet; to arrange alphabetically.