alphabet
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alphabet
- /ˈæl.fəˌbɛt/ US, UK
- /ˈæl.fə.bɪt/ US, UK, uncommon
Where it comes from
From Middle English alphabete, borrowed from Classical Latin alphabētum, from Ancient Greek ἀλφάβητος (alphábētos), from ἄλφα (álpha) and βῆτα (bêta), the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, Α (A) and Β (B), lowercase forms α and β. The Greek names derived from aleph, the name of the Phoenician letter 𐤀 (ʾ, “ox”) and beth, the name of the letter 𐤁 (b, “house”), so called because they were pictograms of those objects, having developed from the Egyptian hieroglyphs F1 (𓃾) and pr (𓉐).
Doublet of alfabeto. Dipslaced native Old English stæfrǣw (literally "staff-row").
noun alphabets
- The set of letters used when writing in a language. The Greek alphabet has only twenty-four letters.
- 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 writing system in which there are letters for the consonant and vowel phonemes. (Contrast e.g. abjad.)
- A typically finite set of distinguishable symbols. Let L be a regular language over the alphabet #92;Sigma.
- An individual letter of an alphabet; an alphabetic character. The notes are named with the first seven alphabets.
- The simplest rudiments; elements. The very alphabet of our law.
- An agent of the FBI, the CIA, or another such government agency.
verb alphabets · alphabeting · alphabeted
-
To designate by the letters of the alphabet; to arrange alphabetically.
Similar: alphabetize
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: alphabetical, orthography, spelling, alphabetic, language, letter, script, alpha, books, latin, latino, list, latinos, latins, characters, lettering
Translations
Every language
noun an ordered set of letters used in a language
| Español | alfabeto, abecedario |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 알파벳 alpabet, 문자 munja, 음소문자 eumsomunja |
| 日本語 | アルファベット arufabetto, 文字 moji, 音素文字 onso moji |
| 中文 | 字母 zìmǔ, 字母表 zìmǔbiǎo, 字母系統 /字母系统 zìmǔ xìtǒng, 音素文字 yīnsù wénzì |
| हिन्दी | वर्णमाला varṇamālā, मूलाक्षर mūlākṣar, अक्षरमाला akṣarmālā |
| Kiswahili | alfabeti |
| Português | abc, abecê, á-bê-cê, alfabeto, abecedário |
| Français | alphabet |
| Deutsch | Abc, Alphabet |
| Italiano | alfabeto |
| Ελληνικά | αλφάβητο alfávito, αλφαβήτα alfavíta |
| Română | alfabet |
| Русский | алфави́т alfavít, а́збука ázbuka |
| Tiếng Việt | bảng chữ cái |
| العربية | حُرُوف هِجَاء ḥurūf hijāʔ, أَبْجَد ʔabjad, أَلِفْبَاء ʔalifbāʔ, أَلِفْبَائِيَّة ʔalifbāʔiyya, أَبْجَدِيَّة ʔabjadiyya |
| עברית | אָלֶף־בֵּית alef-bét, אָלֶפְבֵּית alefbét |
Talk about this word "alphabet." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/alphabet. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. alphabet. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/alphabet "alphabet." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/alphabet.Cite this
@misc{alphabet_2026,
title = {alphabet},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/alphabet},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
