alphabet

English

Etymology

From Middle English alphabete, borrowed from Late 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 (𓃾) and (𓉐).

Doublet of alfabeto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæl.fə.bɛt/
• (uncommon) IPA^(key): /ˈæl.fə.bɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: al‧pha‧bet

Noun

alphabet (plural alphabets)

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 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 ${\displaystyle L}$ be a regular language over the alphabet ${\displaystyle \Sigma }$.

4. (India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia) 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, 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.

5. The simplest rudiments; elements.
   • 1828, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “The Constitutional History of England: From the Accession of Henry VII, to the Death of George II, by Henry Hallam”, in The Edinburgh Review, volume 18:

     The very alphabet of our law.

6. (Internet slang, politics) An agent of the FBI, the CIA, or another such government agency.

Synonyms

• ABC, absey

Hypernyms

• (linguistics): signary

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• Appendix:Hebrew alphabet
• Appendix:Macedonian alphabet
• Appendix:Swedish spelling alphabet
• Category:Alphabets

Verb

alphabet (third-person singular simple present alphabets, present participle alphabeting, simple past and past participle alphabeted)

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

Synonyms

• alphabetize

Further reading

• alphabet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin alphabētum, from Ancient Greek ἀλφάβητος (alphábētos), from ἄλφα (álpha) (Α,α) and βῆτα (bêta) (Β,β) (the first two letters of the Greek alphabet), from Phoenician aleph 𐤀 (ʾ, “ox”) and beth 𐤁 (b, “house”), so called because they were pictograms of those objects, having developed from the Egyptian hieroglyphs (𓃾) and (𓉐).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al.fa.bɛ/

• Audio (France)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛ
• Homophone: alphabets

Noun

alphabet m (plural alphabets)

1. alphabet (set of letters considered as a group)

Derived terms

• alphabet latin
• alphabet phonétique international
• alphabet radio
• alphabetical language

Related terms

• alphabète
• alphabétique
• alphabétiquement
• inalphabète

Further reading

• “alphabet”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

From Late Latin alphabētum, from Ancient Greek ἀλφάβητος (alphábētos), from ἄλφα (álpha) (Α,α) and βῆτα (bêta) (Β,β) (the first two letters of the Greek alphabet), from Phoenician aleph 𐤀 (ʾ, “ox”) and beth 𐤁 (b, “house”), so called because they were pictograms of those objects, having developed from the Egyptian hieroglyphs (𓃾) and (𓉐).

Noun

alphabet m (plural alphabets)

1. alphabet (set of letters considered as a group)