Hebrew Alpha bet

This article is about the Alpha bet derived from the Aramaic Alpha bet (CE 135 – present). For the original Hebrew Alpha bet derived directly from the Phoenician Alpha bet (10th century BCE – CE 135), seePaleo-Hebrew Alpha bet.For the descendant script of the Paleo-Hebrew Alpha bet, seeSamaritan script.For the insect, seeHebrew character.

Hebrew Alpha bet
Script type	Abjad
Time period	2nd–1st century BCE to present
Direction	Right-to-left script
Official script	Israel
Languages	Hebrew,Yiddish,Ladino,Mozarabic,Levantine Arabic,Aramaic,otherJewish languages
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian hieroglyphs Proto-Sinaitic script Phoenician Alpha bet Aramaic Alpha bet Hebrew Alpha bet
Child systems	Yiddish Alpha bet Square Maalouli Alpha bet
Sister systems	Nabataean Syriac Palmyrene Edessan Hatran Elymaic Mandaic Pahlavi Kharosthi
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Hebr(125),​Hebrew
Unicode
Unicode alias	Hebrew
Unicode range	U+0590 to U+05FF Hebrew, U+FB1D to U+FB4F Alphabetic Presentation Forms

TheHebrew Alpha bet(Hebrew:אָלֶף־בֵּיתעִבְרִי,^[a]Alefbet ivri), known variously by scholars as theKtav Ashuri,Jewish script,square scriptandblock script,is traditionally anabjadscript used in the writing of theHebrew languageand otherJewish languages,most notablyYiddish,Ladino,Judeo-Arabic,andJudeo-Persian.In modern Hebrew, vowels are increasingly introduced. It is also used informally in Israel to writeLevantine Arabic,especially amongDruze.It is an offshoot of theImperial Aramaic Alpha bet,which flourished during theAchaemenid Empireand which itself derives from thePhoenician Alpha bet.

Historically, two separate abjad scripts have been used to write Hebrew. The original, old Hebrew script, known as thepaleo-Hebrew Alpha bet,has been largely preserved in a variant form as theSamaritan Alpha bet.The present "Jewish script" or "square script", on the contrary, is a stylized form of theAramaic Alpha betand was technically known by Jewish sages asAshurit(lit. "Assyrian script" ), since its origins were alleged to be fromAssyria.

Various "styles" (in current terms, "fonts") of representation of the Jewish script letters described in this article also exist, including a variety ofcursive Hebrewstyles. In the remainder of this article, the term "Hebrew Alpha bet" refers to the square script unless otherwise indicated.

The Hebrew Alpha bet has 22 letters. It does not havecase.Five letters have different forms when used at the end of a word. Hebrew iswritten from right to left.Originally, the Alpha bet was an abjad consisting only ofconsonants,but is now considered an "impure abjad".As with other abjads, such as theArabic Alpha bet,during its centuries-long use scribes devised means of indicatingvowelsounds by separate vowel points, known in Hebrew asniqqud.In both biblical and rabbinic Hebrew, the lettersיוהאcan also function asmatres lectionis,which is when certain consonants are used to indicate vowels. There is a trend inModern Hebrewtowards the use ofmatres lectionisto indicate vowels that have traditionally gone unwritten, a practice known as "full spelling".

TheYiddish Alpha bet,a modified version of the Hebrew Alpha bet used to write Yiddish, is a true Alpha bet, with all vowels rendered in the spelling, except in the case of inherited Hebrew words, which typically retain their Hebrew consonant-only spellings.

The Arabic and Hebrew Alpha bets have similarities because they are both derived from the Aramaic Alpha bet, which in turn derives either frompaleo-Hebrewor thePhoenician Alpha bet,both being slight regional variations of theProto-Canaanite Alpha betused in ancient times to write the variousCanaanite languages(including Hebrew, Moabite, Phoenician, Punic, et cetera).

History

Paleo-Hebrew Alpha bet containing 22 letters, period,geresh,andgershayim

TheAleppo Codex,a tenth centuryMasoretic Textof theHebrew Bible.Book of Joshua1:1

Main article:History of the Hebrew Alpha bet

TheCanaanitedialects were largely indistinguishable before around 1000 BCE.An example of related earlySemitic inscriptionsfrom the area include the tenth-centuryGezer calendarover which scholars are divided as to whether its language isHebreworPhoenicianand whether the script isProto-Canaaniteorpaleo-Hebrew.

A Hebrew variant of theProto-Canaanite Alpha bet,called thepaleo-Hebrew Alpha betby scholars, began to emerge around 800 BCE.An example is theSiloam inscription(c. 700 BCE).

The paleo-Hebrew Alpha bet was used in the ancient kingdoms ofIsraelandJudah.Following theBabylonian exileof the Kingdom of Judah in the 6th century BCE,Jewsbegan using a form of theImperial Aramaic Alpha bet,another offshoot of the same family of scripts, which flourished during theAchaemenid Empire.TheSamaritans,who remained in the Land of Israel, continued to use the paleo-Hebrew Alpha bet. During the 3rd century BCE, Jews began to use a stylized, "square" form of theAramaic Alpha betthat was used by thePersian Empire(and which in turn had been adopted from theAssyrians),while the Samaritans continued to use a form of the paleo-Hebrew script called theSamaritan Alpha bet.After the fall of the Persian Empire in 330 BCE, Jews used both scripts before settling on the square Assyrian form.

The square Hebrew Alpha bet was later adapted and used for writing languages of theJewish diaspora– such asKaraim,theJudeo-Arabic languages,Judaeo-Spanish, and Yiddish. The Hebrew Alpha bet continued in use for scholarly writing in Hebrew and came again into everyday use with the rebirth of the Hebrew language as a spoken language in the 18th and 19th centuries, especially inIsrael.

Description

General

In the traditional form, the Hebrew Alpha bet is anabjadconsisting only ofconsonants,written from right to left.It has 22 letters, five of which use different forms at the end of a word.

Vowels

In the traditional form, vowels are indicated by the weakconsonantsAleph(א‎),He(ה‎),Waw/Vav(ו‎), orYodh(י‎) serving as vowel letters, ormatres lectionis:the letter is combined with a previous vowel and becomes silent, or by imitation of such cases in the spelling of other forms. Also, a system of vowel points to indicate vowels (diacritics), calledniqqud,was developed. In modern forms of the Alpha bet, as in the case ofYiddishand to some extentModern Hebrew,vowelsmay be indicated. Today, the trend is towardfull spellingwith the weak letters acting as true vowels.

When used towrite Yiddish,vowels are indicated, using certain letters, either with niqqud diacritics (e.g.אָ‎ orיִ‎) or without (e.g.ע‎ orי‎), except for Hebrew words, which in Yiddish are written in their Hebrew spelling.

To preserve the proper vowel sounds, scholars developed several different sets of vocalization and diacritical symbols callednequdot(נקודות‎‎, literally "points" ). One of these, theTiberian 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 asBiblicalbooks intended for study, inpoetryor when teaching the language to children. The Tiberian system also includes a set ofcantillation marks,calledtropeorte'amim,used to indicate how scriptural passages should be chanted in synagogue recitations of scripture (although these marks do not appear in the scrolls). In everyday writing of modern Hebrew,niqqudare absent; however, patterns of how words are derived fromHebrew roots(calledshorashimor "triliterals" ) allow Hebrew speakers to determine the vowel-structure of a given word from its consonants based on the word's context and part of speech.

Alphabet

Unlike the Paleo-Hebrew writing script, the modern Hebrew script has fivelettersthat have specialfinal forms,^[c]calledsofit(Hebrew:סופית,meaning in this context "final" or "ending" ) form, used only at the end of a word, somewhat as in theGreekor in theArabicandMandaic Alpha bets.^[b]These are shown below the normal form in the following table (letter names areUnicodestandard). Although Hebrew is read and written from right to left, the following table shows the letters in order from left to right:

Alef	Bet	Gimel	Dalet	He	Waw/Vav	Zayin	Chet	Tet	Yod	Kaf
א‎	ב‎	ג‎	ד‎	ה‎	ו‎	ז‎	ח‎	ט‎	י‎	כ‎
										ך‎
Lamed	Mem	Nun	Samech	Ayin	Pe	Tsadi	Qof	Resh	Shin	Tav
ל‎	מ‎	נ‎	ס‎	ע‎	פ‎	צ‎	ק‎	ר‎	ש‎	ת‎
	ם‎	ן‎			ף‎	ץ‎

Order

As far back as the 13th century BCE, ancient Hebrewabecedariesindicate a slightly different ordering of the Alpha bet. TheZayit Stone,Izbet Sartahostracon,and oneinscription from Kuntillet Ajrudeach contain a number of reverse letter orders; such asvav-he,chet-zayin,pe-ayin,etc. The latter reversal can be clearly seen in theBook of Lamentations,whose first four chapters are ordered as Alpha betical acrostics, but whose second, third and fourth chapters exhibit this reversal tope-ayin.The fact that Lamentations follows the pre-exilicpe-ayinorder is evidence for the position that they are not postexilic compositions, but rather written shortly after the events described.

Pronunciation

Alphabet

Main articles:Biblical Hebrew phonology,Modern Hebrew phonology,International Phonetic Alphabet for Hebrew,andYiddish phonology

The descriptions that follow are based on the pronunciation of modern standard Israeli Hebrew.

letter	IPA	Name of letter					Pronunciation
		Unicode	Hebrew	Modern Hebrew pronunciation	Yiddish/Ashkenazi pronunciation	Sephardi pronunciation	Approximate western European equivalent
א‎	[∅],[ʔ]	Alef	אָלֶף‎	/alɛf/	/ʔaləf/	/ʔalɛf/	When ʔ, as inbutton[ˈbʌʔn̩] orclipboard[ˌklɪʔ⁠ˈbɔɹd]
בּ‎	[b]	Bet	בֵּית‎	/bet/	/bɛɪs/,/bɛɪz/	/bɛt/	b as inblack
ב‎	[v]		בֵית‎	/vet/	/vɛɪs/,/vɛɪz/	/vɛt/	v as invogue
גּ‎	[ɡ]	Gimel	גִּימֵל‎	/ˈɡimel/	/ˈɡɪməl/	/ˈɡimɛl/	g as ingourd
ג‎	[ɣ]		גִימֵל‎			/ɣɪmεl/	gh as in Arabicghoul
דּ‎	[d]	Dalet	דָּלֶת‎	/ˈdalɛt/,/ˈdalɛd/	/ˈdaləd/,/ˈdaləs/	/ˈdalɛt/	d as indoll
ד‎	[ð]		דָלֶת‎			/ðalεt/	th as inthat
ה‎	[h]	He	הֵא‎	/he/,/hej/	/hɛɪ/	/he/	h as inhold
ו‎	[v]	Vav	וָו‎	/vav/	/vɔv/	/vav/	v as invogue
ז‎	[z]	Zayin	זַיִן‎	/ˈzajin/,/ˈza.in/	/ˈzajɪn/	/ˈzajin/	z as inzoo
ח‎	[χ]	Chet	חֵית‎	/χet/	/χɛs/	/ħɛt/	ch as inBach
ט‎	[t]	Tet	טֵית‎	/tet/	/tɛs/	/tɛt/	t as intool
י‎	[j]	Yod	יוֹד‎	/jod/,/jud/	/jʊd/	/jud/	y as inyolk
כּ‎	[k]	Kaf	כַּף‎	/kaf/	/kɔf/	/kaf/	k as inking
כ‎	[χ]		כַף‎	/χaf/	/χɔf/	/χaf/	ch as inbach
ךּ‎	[k]		כַּף סוֹפִית‎	/kafsofit/	/ˈlaŋɡəkɔf/	/kafsofit/	k as inking
ך‎	[x]~[χ]		כַף סוֹפִית‎	/χafsofit/	/ˈlaŋɡəχɔf/	/χaf sofit/	ch as inbach
ל‎	[l]	Lamed	לָמֶד‎	/ˈlamɛd/	/ˈlaməd/	/ˈlamɛd/	l as inluck
מ‎	[m]	Mem	מֵם‎	/mem/	/mɛm/	/mɛm/	m as inmother
ם‎			מֵם סוֹפִית‎	/memsofit/	/ˈʃlɔsmɛm/	/mɛmsofit/
נ‎	[n]	Nun	נוּן‎	/nun/	/nʊn/	/nun/	n as innight
ן‎			נוּן סוֹפִית‎	/nunsofit/	/ˈlaŋɡənʊn/	/nunsofit/	n as innight
ס‎	[s]	Samekh	ְסָמֶךְ‎	/ˈsamɛχ/	/ˈsaməχ/	/ˈsamɛχ/	s as insight
ע‎	[ʔ]~[ʕ],[∅]	Ayin	עַיִן‎	/ajin/,/ʔa.in/	/ajɪn/	/ajin/	When ʔ, as inbutton[ˈbʌʔn̩] orclipboard[ˌklɪʔ⁠ˈbɔɹd]. When ʕ, no English equivalent.
פּ‎	[p]	Pe	פֵּא, פֵּה‎	/pe/,/pej/	/pɛɪ/	/pe/	p as inpool
פ‎	[f]		פֵא, פֵה‎	/fe/,/fej/	/fɛɪ/	/fe/	f as infull
ףּ‎	[p]		פֵּא סוֹפִית, פֵּה סוֹפִית‎	/pesofit/,/pejsofit/	/ˈlaŋɡəpɛɪ/	/pesofit/	p as inpool
ף‎	[f]		פֵא סוֹפִית, פֵה סוֹפִית‎	/fesofit/,/fejsofit/	/ˈlaŋɡəfɛɪ/	/fesofit/	f as infull
צ‎	[ts]	Tsadi	צָדִי‎	/ˈtsadi/	/ˈtsadi/,/ˈtsadɪk/	/ˈtsadik/	ts as incats
ץ‎			צָדִי סוֹפִית‎	/ˈtsadisofit/	/ˈlaŋɡəˈtsadɪk/,/ˈlaŋɡəˈtsadək/	/ˈtsadiksofit/
ק‎	[k]	Qof	קוֹף‎	/kuf/,/kof/	/kʊf/	/kuf/	k as inking
ר‎	[ʁ]	Resh	רֵישׁ‎	/ʁeʃ/	/ʁɛɪʃ/	/reʃ/	r as in French "r"
שׁ‎	[ʃ]	Shin	שִׁין‎	/ʃin/	/ʃɪn/	/ʃin/	sh as inshop
שׂ‎	[s]		שִׂין‎	/sin/	/sɪn/	/sin/	s as insight
תּ‎	[t]	Tav	תָּו‎	/tav/,/taf/	/tɔv/,/tɔf/	/tav/	t as intool
ת‎	[θ]		תָו‎		/sɔv/,/sɔf/	/θav/	th as inthin

By analogy with the other dotted/dotless pairs, dotless tav, ת, would be expected to be pronounced /θ/ (voiceless dental fricative), and dotless dalet ד as /ð/ (voiced dental fricative), but these were lost among most Jews due to these sounds not existing in the countries where they lived (such as in nearly all of Eastern Europe). Yiddish modified /θ/ to /s/ (cf.seseoin Spanish), but in modern Israeli Hebrew, it is simply pronounced /t/. Likewise, historical /ð/ is simply pronounced /d/.

Shin and sin

Further information:Shin (letter)

Shinandsinare represented by the same letter,ש‎, but are two separatephonemes.When vowel diacritics are used, the two phonemes are differentiated with ashin-dot orsin-dot; theshin-dot is above the upper-right side of the letter, and thesin-dot is above the upper-left side of the letter.

Symbol	Name	Transliteration	IPA	Example
שׁ‎(right dot)	shin	sh	/ʃ/	shower
שׂ‎(left dot)	sin	s	/s/	sour

Historically,left-dot-sincorresponds toProto-Semitic*ś,which in biblical-Judaic-Hebrew corresponded to thevoiceless alveolar lateral fricative/ɬ/(or /ś/).

Dagesh

Main article:Dagesh

Historically, the consonantsב‎bet,ג‎gimmel,ד‎daleth,כ‎kaf,פ‎peandת‎taveach had two sounds: one hard (plosive), and one soft (fricative), depending on the position of the letter and other factors. When vowel diacritics are used, the hard sounds are indicated by a central dot calleddagesh(דגש‎), while the soft sounds lack adagesh.In modern Hebrew, however, thedageshonly changes the pronunciation ofב‎bet,כ‎kaf,andפ‎pe,and does not affect the name of the letter. The differences are as follows:

Name	With dagesh				Without dagesh
	Symbol	Transliteration	IPA	Example	Symbol	Transliteration	IPA	Example
bet/vet	בּ‎	b	/b/	bun	ב‎	v, ḇ	/v/	van
kaf	כּ ךּ‎	k	/k/	kangaroo	כ ך‎	kh, ch, ḵ, x	/χ/	loch
pe	פּ ףּ‎	p	/p/	pass	פ ף‎	f, p̄, ph	/f/	find

In other dialects (mainly liturgical) there are variations from this pattern.

• In someSephardiandMizrahidialects,betwithout dagesh is pronounced[b],likebetwith dagesh
• InSyrianandYemenite Hebrew,gimelwithout dagesh is pronounced[ɣ].
• In Yemenite Hebrew, and in the Iraqi pronunciation of the word "Adonai",daletwithout dagesh is pronounced[ð]as in "these"
• InAshkenazi Hebrew,as well asKrymchaki Hebrew,tavwithout dagesh is pronounced[s]as in "silk"
• In Iraqi andYemenite Hebrew,and formerly in some other dialects,tavwithout dagesh is pronounced[θ]as in "thick"

Sounds represented with diacritic geresh

Main articles:GereshandHebraization of English

The sounds[t͡ʃ],[d͡ʒ],[ʒ],written ⟨צ׳‎⟩, ⟨ג׳‎⟩, ⟨ז׳‎⟩, and[w],non-standardly sometimes transliterated ⟨וו‎⟩, are often found in slang and loanwords that are part of the everyday Hebrew colloquial vocabulary. The symbol resembling an apostrophe after the Hebrew letter modifies the pronunciation of the letter and is called ageresh.

Hebrew slang and loanwords
Name	Symbol	IPA	Transliteration	Example
Gimel with a geresh	ג׳‎	[d͡ʒ]	ǧ	ǧáḥnun	[ˈd͡ʒaχnun]	גַּ׳חְנוּן‎
Zayin with a geresh	ז׳‎	[ʒ]	ž	koláž	[koˈlaʒ]	קוֹלַאז׳‎
Tsadi with a geresh	צ׳‎	[t͡ʃ]	č	čupár (treat)	[t͡ʃuˈpar]	צ׳וּפָּר‎
Vav with a geresh or double Vav	וו‎orו׳‎(non standard)[]	[w]	w	awánta (boastful act)	[aˈwanta]	אַוַונְטַה‎

The pronunciation of the following letters can also be modified with the geresh diacritic. The represented sounds are however foreign toHebrew phonology,i.e., these symbols mainly represent sounds in foreign words or names when transliterated with the Hebrew Alpha bet, and notloanwords.

Transliteration of non-native sounds
Name	Symbol	IPA	Arabic letter	Example		Comment
Dalet with a geresh	ד׳‎	[ð]	Dhāl(ذ) Voicedth	Dhū al-Ḥijjah(ذو الحجة)‎	ד׳ו אל-חיג׳ה‎	* Also used for English voiced th * Often a simpleד‎ is written.
Tav with a geresh	ת׳‎	[θ]	Thāʼ(ﺙ) Voicelessth	Thurston	ת׳רסטון‎
Chet with a geresh	ח׳‎	[χ]	Khāʼ(خ‎)	Sheikh(شيخ)‎	שייח׳	* Unlike the other sounds in this table, the sound[χ]represented byח׳‎ is indeed a native sound in Hebrew; the geresh is however used only when transliteration must distinguish between[χ]and[ħ],in which caseח׳‎ transliterates the former and ח the latter, whereas in everyday usage ח without geresh is pronounced[ħ]only dialectically but[χ]commonly.
Ayin with a geresh or Resh with a geresh	ע׳‎ or ר׳‎	[ʁ]	Ghayn(غ)	Ghajar(غجر); Ghalib(غالب)	ע׳ג׳ר‎‎ ר׳אלב‎‎	The guidelines specified by the Academy of the Hebrew Language prefer Resh with a geresh (ר׳‎); however, this guideline is not universally followed

Gereshis also used to denote an abbreviation consisting of a single Hebrew letter, whilegershayim(a doubledgeresh) are used to denoteacronymspronounced as a string of letters;gereshandgershayimare also used to denoteHebrew numeralsconsisting of a single Hebrew letter or of multiple Hebrew letters, respectively. Geresh is also the name of a cantillation mark used forTorahrecitation, though its visual appearance and function are different in that context.

Identical pronunciation

In much ofIsrael's general population, especially whereAshkenazicpronunciation is prevalent, many letters have the same pronunciation. They are as follows:

Letters				Transliteration	Pronunciation (IPA)
א‎ Alef*	ע‎ Ayin*			not transliterated	Usually when in medial word position: /./ (separation of vowels in ahiatus)
					When in initial or final word position, sometimes also in medial word position: silent
				alternatingly
				ʼ	/ʔ/ (glottal plosive)
ב‎ Bet(withoutdagesh) Vet	ו‎ Vav			v	/v/
ח‎ Chet*	כ‎ Kaf(withoutdagesh) Khaf*			kh/ch/h	/χ/
ט‎ Tet	תּ‎ Tav			t	/t/
כּ‎ Kaf(withdagesh)	ק‎ Qof			k	/k/
ס‎ Samekh	שׂ‎ Sin(with left dot)			s	/s/
צ‎ Tsadi*	תס‎ Tav-Samekh*	and	תשׂ‎ Tav-Sin*	ts/tz	/ts/
צ׳‎ Tsadi (with geresh)	טשׁ‎ Tet-Shin*	and	תשׁ‎ Tav-Shin*	ch/tsh (chair)	/tʃ/

* Varyingly

Ancient Hebrew pronunciation

Some of the variations in sound mentioned above are due to a systematic feature of Ancient Hebrew. The six consonants/bɡdkpt/were pronounced differently depending on their position. These letters were also calledBeGeD KeFeTletters/ˌbeɪɡɛdˈkɛfɛt/.The full details are very complex; this summary omits some points. They were pronounced asplosives[bɡdkpt]at the beginning of a syllable, or when doubled. They were pronounced asfricatives[vɣðxfθ]when preceded by a vowel (commonly indicated with a macron, ḇ ḡ ḏ ḵ p̄ ṯ). The plosive and double pronunciations were indicated by thedagesh.In Modern Hebrew the sounds ḏ and ḡ have reverted to[d]and[ɡ],respectively, and ṯ has become[t],so only the remaining three consonants/bkp/show variation.ר‎reshmay have also been a "doubled" letter, making the listBeGeD KePoReT.(Sefer Yetzirah,4:1)

• ח‎chetandע‎ayinrepresented thepharyngealfricatives/ħ/and/ʕ/,respectively,צ‎tsadirepresented theemphatic consonant/sˤ/,ט‎tetrepresented the emphatic consonant/tˤ/,andק‎qofrepresented theuvular plosive/q/.All these are commonSemiticconsonants.
• שׂ‎sin(the/s/variant ofש‎shin) was originally different from bothשׁ‎shinandס‎samekh,but had become/s/the same asס‎samekhby the time the vowel pointing was devised. Because ofcognateswith otherSemitic languages,this phoneme is known to have originally been alateral consonant,most likely thevoiceless alveolar lateral fricative/ɬ/(the sound of modernWelshll) or thevoiceless alveolar lateral affricate/tɬ/(likeNáhuatltl).

Regional and historical variation

The following table contains thepronunciationof the Hebrew letters in reconstructed historical forms anddialectsusing theInternational Phonetic Alphabet.The apostrophe-looking symbol after some letters is not ayudbut ageresh.It is used for loanwords with non-native Hebrew sounds. The dot in the middle of some of the letters, called a "dageshkal ", also modifies the sounds of the lettersב,כandפinmodern Hebrew(in some forms of Hebrew it modifies also the sounds of the lettersג,דand/orת;the "dagesh chazak" – orthographically indistinguishable from the "dagesh kal" – designatesgemination,which today is realized only rarely – e.g. in biblical recitations or when usingArabicloanwords).

Symbol	Pronunciation
	Israeli	Ashkenazi	Sephardi	Yemenite	Reconstructed			Arabic equivalent
					Tiberian	Mishnaic	Biblical
א‎	[ʔ,-]	[ – ]	[ʔ,-]	[ʔ,-]	[ʔ,-]	[ʔ,-]	[ʔ]	ا‎/ء‎
בּ‎	[b]	[b]	[b]	[b]	[b]	[b]	[b]	ب‎
ב‎	[v]	[v~v̥]	[b~β~v]	[β]	[v]	[β]	[β]	ﭪ‎
גּ‎	[ɡ]	[ɡ~ɡ̊]	[ɡ]	[dʒ]	[ɡ]	[ɡ]	[ɡ]	ج‎
ג‎			[ɡ~ɣ]	[ɣ]	[ɣ]	[ɣ]	[ɣ]	غ‎
דּ‎	[d]	[d~d̥]	[d̪]	[d̪]	[d̪]	[d̪]	[d̪]	د‎
ד‎			[d̪~ð]	[ð]	[ð]	[ð]	[ð]	ذ‎
ה‎	[h~ʔ,-]	[h,-]	[h,-]	[h,-]	[h,-]	[h,-]	[h]	ه‎
ו‎	[v]	[v~v̥]	[v]	[w]	[w]	[w]	[w]	و‎
וּ‎	[uː]	[uː]	[uː]	[əw]	?	?	?	ـُو‎
וֹ‎	[o̞ː]	[əʊ,ɐʊ]	[oː]	[œː]	?	?	?	ـو‎
ז‎	[z]	[z~z̥]	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]	ز‎
ח‎	[x~χ]	[x]	[ħ]	[ħ]	[ħ]	[ħ]	[ħ,χ]	ح‎
ט‎	[t]	[t]	[t̪]	[t̴̪](1)	[t̴̪]	[t̪ˤ](2)	[t̪ʼ](3)	ط‎
י‎	[j]	[j]	[j]	[j]	[j]	[j]	[j]	ي‎
ִי‎	[iː]	[iː]	[iː]	[iː]	?	?	?	ـِي‎
כּ ךּ‎	[k]	[k]	[k]	[k]	[k]	[k]	[kʰ]	ك‎
כ ך‎	[x~χ]	[x]	[x]	[x]	[x]	[x]	[x]	خ‎
ל‎	[l]	[l~ɫ]	[l]	[l]	[l]	[l]	[l]	ل‎
מ ם‎	[m]	[m]	[m]	[m]	[m]	[m]	[m]	م‎
נ ן‎	[n]	[n]	[n̪]	[n̪]	[n̪]	[n̪]	[n̪]	ن‎
ס‎	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]	س‎/ض‎
ע‎	[ʕ,- ]	[ – ]	[ʕ,ŋ,- ]	[ʕ]	[ʕ]	[ʕ]	[ʕ,ʁ]	ع‎
פּ ףּ‎	[p]	[p]	[p]	[p]	[p]	[p]	[p]	پ‎
פ ף‎	[f]	[f]	[f]	[f]	[f]	[ɸ]	[ɸ]	ف‎
צ ץ‎	[t͡s]	[t͡s]	[t͡s]	[s̴](1)	[s̴]	[sˤ](2)	[sˤ]	ص‎
ק‎	[k]	[k]	[k]	[ɡ],[ɢ],[q]	[q]	[q]	[q]	ق‎
ר‎	[ɣ~ʁ]	[ɹ]~[ʀ]	[r]~[ɾ]	[r]~[ɾ]	[ʀ]	[r]	[ɾ]	ر‎
שׁ‎	[ʃ]	[ʃ]	[ʃ]	[ʃ]	[ʃ]	[ʃ]	[ʃ]	ش‎
שׂ‎	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]	[ɬ]	س‎
תּ‎	[t]	[t]	[t]	[t̪]	[t̪]	[t̪]	[t̪]	ت‎
ת‎		[s]		[θ]	[θ]	[θ]	[θ]	ث‎

1. velarizedorpharyngealized
2. pharyngealized
3. sometimes said to beejectivebut more likelyglottalized.

Vowels

Matres lectionis

Main article:Mater lectionis

א‎alef,ע‎ayin,ו‎waw/vavandי‎yodare letters that can sometimes indicate a vowel instead of a consonant (which would be, respectively,/ʔ/,/ʕ/,/v/and/j/). When they do,ו‎ andי‎ are considered to constitute part of the vowel designation in combination with a niqqud symbol – a vowel diacritic (whether or not the diacritic is marked), whereasא‎ andע‎ are considered to be mute, their role being purely indicative of the non-marked vowel.

Letter	Name of letter	Consonant indicated when letter consonantal	Vowel designation	Name of vowel designation	Indicated Vowel
א‎	alef	/ʔ/	—	—	ê, ệ, ậ, â, ô
ע‎	ayin	/ʔ/or/ʕ/	—	—	ê, ệ, ậ, â, ô
ו‎	waw/vav	/w/or/v/	וֹ‎	ḥolám malé	ô
			וּ‎	shurúq	û
י‎	yud	/j/	ִ י‎	ḥiríq malé	î
			ֵ י‎	tseré malé	ê, ệ

Vowel points

Niqqudis the system of dots that help determine vowels and consonants. In Hebrew, all forms ofniqqudare often omitted in writing, except for children's books, prayer books, poetry, foreign words, and words which would be ambiguous to pronounce. Israeli Hebrew has five vowel phonemes,/ieaou/,but many more written symbols for them:

Name	Symbol	Written Position	Israeli Hebrew
			IPA	Transliteration	English example
Hiriq		vowel written below consonant	[i]	i	meet
Tsere		vowel written below consonant	[e̞],([e̞j]with succeedingyod)	eh (precise pronunciation); ei (imprecise due to modern pronunciation, even if with succeeding yod – seeNote 2)	bed, penguin
Segol		vowel written below consonant	[e̞]	e	men
Patach		vowel written below consonant	[ä]	a	father
Kamatz		vowel written below consonant	[ä],(or[o̞])	ah, (or oh)	father, loɡin
Holam Haser		vowel written above consonant	[o̞]	o	home
Holam Male	וֹ‎	isolated vowel written on its own
Shuruk	וּ‎	isolated vowel written on its own	[u]	u	food
Kubutz		vowel written below consonant

Note 1:The circle represents whatever Hebrew letter is used.
Note 2:The pronunciation oftsereand sometimessegol– with or without the letteryod– is sometimeseiin Modern Hebrew. This is not correct in the normative pronunciation and not consistent in the spoken language.
Note 3:Thedagesh,mappiq,andshurukhave different functions, even though they look the same.
Note 4:The letter ו (waw/vav) is used since it can only be represented by that letter.

Meteg

Main article:Meteg

By adding a vertical line (calledMeteg) underneath the letter and to the left of the vowel point, the vowel is made long. Themetegis only used inBiblical Hebrew,notModern Hebrew.

Sh'va

Main article:Sh'va

By adding two vertical dots (calledSh'va) underneath the letter, the vowel is made very short. When sh'va is placed on the first letter of the word, mostly it is "è" (but in some instances, it makes the first letter silent without a vowel (vowel-less): e.g.וְwèto "w" )

Name	Symbol	Israeli Hebrew
		IPA	Transliteration	English example
Shva		[e̞]or∅	apostrophe,e, or silent	met or silent
Reduced Segol		[e̞]	e	met
Reduced Patach		[ä]	a	cat
Reduced Kamatz		[o̞]	o	on

Comparison table

Vowel comparison table

Vowel length (phonetically not manifested in Israeli Hebrew)			IPA	Transliteration	English example
Long	Short	Very Short
ָ‎	ַ‎	ֲ‎	[ä]	a	fall
ֵ‎	ֶ‎	ֱ‎	[e̞]	e	men
וֹ‎	ֹ‎	ֳ‎	[o̞]	o	joke
וּ‎	ֻ‎		[u]	u	duty
ִ י‎	ִ‎		[i]	i	media
Note I:		By adding two vertical dots (sh'va)ְ‎ the vowel is made very short.
Note II:		The shortoand longahave the sameniqqud.
Note III:		The shortois usually promoted to a longo in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation
Note IV:		The shortuis usually promoted to a longu in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation

Gershayim

Main article:Gershayim

The symbol״‎ is called agershayimand is a punctuation mark used in the Hebrew language to denote acronyms. It is written before the last letter in the acronym, e.g.ר״ת‎. Gershayim is also the name of acantillation markin the reading of theTorah,printed above the accented letter, e.g.א֞‎.

Stylistic variants

Further information:Cursive Hebrew,Rashi script,Ashuri Alpha bet,andHistory of the Hebrew Alpha bet

The following table displays typographic and chirographic variants of each letter. For the five letters that have a different final form used at the end of words, the final forms are displayed beneath the regular form.

The block (square, or "print" type) and cursive ( "handwritten" type) are the only variants in widespread contemporary use. Rashi is also used, for historical reasons, in a handful of standard texts.

Letter name (Unicode)	Variants
	Contemporary			Early modern	Ancestral
	Blockserif	Blocksans-serif	Cursive	Rashi	Phoenician	Paleo-Hebrew	Aramaic
Alef	א	א			𐤀
Bet	ב	ב			𐤁
Gimel	ג	ג			𐤂
Dalet	ד	ד			𐤃
He	ה	ה			𐤄
Vav (Unicode)/ Waw	ו	ו			𐤅
Zayin	ז	ז			𐤆
Chet	ח	ח			𐤇
Tet	ט	ט			𐤈
Yod	י	י			𐤉
Kaf	כ	כ			𐤊
Final Kaf	ך	ך
Lamed	ל	ל			𐤋
Mem	מ	מ			𐤌
Final Mem	ם	ם
Nun	נ	נ			𐤍
Final Nun	ן	ן
Samekh	ס	ס			𐤎
Ayin	ע	ע			𐤏
Pe	פ	פ			𐤐
Final Pe	ף	ף
Tsadi	צ	צ			𐤑		,
Final Tsadi	ץ	ץ
Qof	ק	ק			𐤒
Resh	ר	ר			𐤓
Shin	ש	ש			𐤔
Tav	ת	ת			𐤕

Yiddish symbols

Symbol	Explanation
װ ױ ײ ײַ‎	These are intended forYiddish.They are not used in Hebrew, aside from in loan words[d].They are possible to visually recreate using a sequence of letters,וו וי יי‎, except when a diacritic is inserted underneath that would not appear in the middle.
בֿ‎	Therafe(רפה‎)diacriticis no longer regularly used in Hebrew. InMasoretic Textsand some other older texts,lenitedconsonants and sometimesmatres lectionisare indicated by a small line on top of the letter. Its use has been largely discontinued in modern printed texts. It is still used to mark fricative consonants in theYIVOorthography ofYiddish.

Numeric values of letters

Main article:Hebrew numerals

Following the adoption of Greek Hellenistic Alpha betic numeration practice, Hebrew letters started being used to denote numbers in the late 2nd century BC,and performed this arithmetic function for about a thousand years. Nowadays Alpha numeric notation is used only in specific contexts, e.g. denoting dates in theHebrew calendar,denoting grades of school in Israel, other listings (e.g. שלב א׳, שלב ב׳ – "phase a, phase b" ), commonly inKabbalah(Jewishmysticism) in a practice known asgematria,and often in religious contexts.

The lower clock on theJewish Town Hallbuilding inPrague,with Hebrew numerals in counterclockwise order.

letter	numeric value	letter	numeric value	letter	numeric value
א	1	י	10	ק	100
ב	2	כ	20	ר	200
ג	3	ל	30	ש	300
ד	4	מ	40	ת	400
ה	5	נ	50
ו	6	ס	60
ז	7	ע	70
ח	8	פ	80
ט	9	צ	90

The numbers 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900 are commonly represented by the juxtapositionsק״ת, ר״ת, ש״ת, ת״ת, and ק״תתrespectively. Adding ageresh( "׳" ) to a letter multiplies its value by one thousand, for example, the year 5778 is portrayed as ה׳תשע״ח, where ה׳ represents 5000, and תשע״ח represents 778.

Transliterations and transcriptions

Main articles:Romanization of Hebrew,Biblical Hebrew,Biblical Hebrew orthography,Yiddish,andYiddish orthography

The following table lists transliterations and transcriptions of Hebrew letters used inModern Hebrew.

Clarifications:

• For some letters, theAcademy of the Hebrew Languageoffers aprecisetransliteration that differs from theregularstandard it has set. When omitted, no such precise alternative exists and the regular standard applies.
• TheIPAphonemictranscription is specified whenever it uses a different symbol from the one used for theregularstandard Israeli transliteration.
• TheIPAphonetictranscription is specified whenever it differs from IPAphonemictranscription.

Note:SBL'stransliteration system, recommended in itsHandbook of Style,differs slightly from the 2006precisetransliteration system of the Academy of the Hebrew Language; for "צ"SBL uses" ṣ "(≠ AHL" ẓ "), and forבג״ד כפ״תwith no dagesh, SBL uses the same symbols as for with dagesh (i.e. "b", "g", "d", "k", "f", "t" ).

Click "show" to view extended table including examples.
Hebrew letter	example	Translation		Standard Israeli transliteration –regular	example		standard Israeli transliteration –precise	example		IPAphonemic transcription	example		IPAphonetic transcription	example
א consonantal, in initial word positions	אִם	if		none[A1]	im								[ʔ]	[ʔim]
א consonantal, in non initial word positions	שָׁאַל	asked		'	sha'ál		ʾ	shaʾál		/ʔ/	/ʃaˈʔal/
א silent	רִאשׁוֹן	first		none[A2]	rishón
בּ	בֵּן	son		b	ben
ב	טוֹב	good		v	tov
גּ	גַּג	roof		g	gag		g	gaḡ
ג							ḡ
ג׳	ג׳וּק	roach		ǧ[B1]	ǧuk					/d͡ʒ/	/d͡ʒuk/
דּ	דּוּד	boiler		d	dud		d	duḏ
ד							ḏ
ה consonantal	הֵד	echo		h	hed
ה silent	פֹּה	here		none[A3]	po
ו consonantal	וָו	hook		v	vav		w	waw
וּ	הוּא	he		u	hu
וֹ	לוֹ	to him		o	lo								[o̞]or[ɔ̝]	[lo̞,lɔ̝]
ז	זֶה	this		z	ze
ז׳	זָ׳רְגוֹן	jargon		ž[B2]	žargón					/ʒ/	/ʒarˈɡon/
ח	חַם	hot		ẖ[C1]	ẖam		ḥ	ḥam		/x/or/χ/	/xam/		[χ]	[χam]
										dialectical [ħ]	[ħam]
ט	קָט	tiny		t	kat		ṭ	kaṭ
י consonantal	יָם	sea		y	yam					/j/	/jam/
י part of hirik male (/i/ vowel)	בִּי	in me		i	bi
י part of tsere male (/e/ vowel or /ei/ diphthong)	מֵידָע	information		e	medá		é	médá		/e/or/ej/	/meˈda/or/mejˈda/		[e̞]or/e̞j/	[me̞ˈda]or[me̞jˈda]
כּ, ךּ	כֹּה	so		k	ko
כ, ך	סְכָךְ	branch-roofing		kh[C2]	skhakh		ḵ	sḵaḵ		/x/or/χ/	/sxax/		[χ]	[sχaχ]
ל	לִי	to me		l	li
מ, ם	מוּם	defect		m	mum
נ, ן	נִין	great-grandson		n	nin
ס	סוֹף	end		s	sof
ע in initial or final word positions	עַדְלֹאיָדַע	Purim-parade		none[A4]	adloyáda		ʿ	ʿadloyádaʿ					only in initial word position [ʔ]	[ˌʔadlo̞ˈjada]
										dialectical /ʕ/	/ˌʕadloˈjadaʕ/
ע in medial word positions	מוֹעִיל	useful		'	mo'íl		ʿ	moʿíl		/ʔ/	/moˈʔil/
										dialectical /ʕ/	/moˈʕil/
פּ[D]	טִיפּ	tip		p	tip
פ, ף	פִסְפֵס	missed		f	fisfés
צ, ץ	צִיץ	bud		ts	tsits		ẓ	ẓiẓ		/t͡s/	/t͡sit͡s/
צ׳, ץ׳	ריצ׳רץ׳	zip		č[B3]	ríčrač					/t͡ʃ/	/ˈrit͡ʃrat͡ʃ/
ק	קוֹל	sound		k	kol		q	qol
ר	עִיר	city		r	ir								[ʀ]or[ʁ]	[iʀ]or[iʁ]
													dialectical [r]or[ɾ]	[ir]or[iɾ]
שׁ	שָׁם	there		sh	sham		š	šam		/ʃ/	/ʃam/
שׂ	שָׂם	put		s	sam		ś	śam
תּ	תּוּת	strawberry		t	tut		t	tuṯ
ת							ṯ

Hebrew letter		Standard Israeli transliteration –regular		standard Israeli transliteration –precise		IPAphonemic transcription		IPAphonetic transcription
א consonantal, in initial word positions		none[A1]						[ʔ]
א consonantal, in non initial word positions		'		ʾ		/ʔ/
א silent		none[A2]
בּ		b
ב		v
גּ		g		g
ג				ḡ
ג׳		ǧ[B1]				/d͡ʒ/
דּ		d		d
ד				ḏ
ה consonantal		h
ה silent		none[A3]
ו consonantal		v		w
וּ		u
וֹ		o						[o̞]or[ɔ̝]
ז		z
ז׳		ž[B2]				/ʒ/
ח		ẖ[C1]		ḥ		/x/or/χ/		[χ]
						dialectical [ħ]
ט		t		ṭ
י consonantal		y				/j/
י part of hirik male (/i/ vowel)		i
י part of tsere male (/e/ vowel or /ei/ diphthong)		e		é		/e/or/ej/		[e̞]or[e̞j]/
כּ, ךּ		k
כ, ך		kh[C2]		ḵ		/x/or/χ/		[χ]
ל		l
מ, ם		m
נ, ן		n
ס		s
ע in initial or final word positions		none[A4]		ʿ				only in initial word position [ʔ]
						dialectical /ʕ/
ע in medial word positions		'		ʿ		/ʔ/
						dialectical /ʕ/
פּ[D]		p
פ, ף		f
צ, ץ		ts		ẓ		/t͡s/
צ׳, ץ׳		č[B3]				/t͡ʃ/
ק		k		q
ר		r						[ʀ]or[ʁ]
								dialectical [r]or[ɾ]
שׁ		sh		š		/ʃ/
שׂ		s		ś
תּ		t		t
ת				ṯ

Notes

^{A1^2^3^4^}In transliterations of modern Israeli Hebrew, initial and final ע (in regular transliteration), silent or initial א, and silent ה arenottransliterated. To the eye of readers orientating themselves on Latin (or similar) Alpha bets, these letters might seem to be transliterated as vowel letters; however, these are in fact transliterations of the vowel diacritics – niqqud (or are representations of the spoken vowels). E.g., in אִם ( "if",[ʔim]), אֵם ( "mother",[ʔe̞m]) and אֹם ( "nut",[ʔo̞m]), the letter א always represents the same consonant:[ʔ](glottal stop), whereas the vowels /i/, /e/ and /o/ respectively represent the spoken vowel, whether it is orthographically denoted by diacritics or not. Since the Academy of the Hebrew Language ascertains that א in initial position is not transliterated, the symbol for the glottal stopʾis omitted from the transliteration, and only the subsequent vowels are transliterated (whether or not their corresponding vowel diacritics appeared in the text being transliterated), resulting in "im", "em" and "om", respectively.

^{B1^2^3^}Thediacriticgeresh– "׳" – is used with some other letters as well (ד׳, ח׳, ט׳, ע׳, ר׳, ת׳), but only to transliteratefromother languagestoHebrew – never to spell Hebrew words; therefore they were not included in this table (correctly translating a Hebrew text with these letters would require using the spelling in the language from which the transliteration to Hebrew was originally made). The non-standard "ו׳" and "וו"^[e1]are sometimes used to represent/w/,which like/d͡ʒ/,/ʒ/and/t͡ʃ/appears in Hebrew slang and loanwords.

^{C1^2^}The Sound/χ/(as "ch" inloch) is often transcribed "ch", inconsistently with the guidelines specified by the Academy of the Hebrew Language: חם/χam/→ "cham"; סכך/sχaχ/→ "schach".

^{D^}Although the Bible does include a single occurrence of a final pe with a dagesh (Book of Proverbs30, 6: "אַל-תּוֹסְףְּ עַל-דְּבָרָיו: פֶּן-יוֹכִיחַ בְּךָ וְנִכְזָבְתָּ.‎ "), in modern Hebrew/p/is always represented bypein its regular, not final, form "פ", even when in final word position, which occurs with loanwords (e.g. שׁוֹפּ/ʃop/"shop"), foreign names (e.g. פִילִיפּ/ˈfilip/"Philip") and some slang (e.g. חָרַפּ/χaˈrap/"slept deeply").

Religious use

The letters of the Hebrew Alpha bet have played varied roles in Jewish religious literature over the centuries, primarily in mystical texts. Some sources in classicalrabbinical literatureseem to acknowledge the historical provenance of the currently used Hebrew Alpha bet and deal with them as a mundane subject (theJerusalem Talmud,for example, records that "the Israelites took for themselves square calligraphy", and that the letters "came with the Israelites from Ashur [Assyria]" );others attribute mystical significance to the letters, connecting them with the process of creation orthe redemption.In mystical conceptions, the Alpha bet is considered eternal, pre-existent to the Earth, and the letters themselves are seen as having holiness and power, sometimes to such an extent that several stories from theTalmudillustrate the idea that they cannot be destroyed.

The idea of the letters' creative power finds its greatest vehicle in theSefer Yezirah,orBook of Creation,a mystical text of uncertain origin which describes a story of creation highly divergent from that in theBook of Genesis,largely through exposition on the powers of the letters of the Alpha bet. The supposed creative powers of the letters are also referenced in the Talmud andZohar.

The four-prongedShin

Another book, the 13th-centuryKabbalistictextSefer HaTemunah,holds that a single letter of unknown pronunciation, held by some to be the four-pronged shin on one side of theteffilinbox, is missing from the current Alpha bet. The world's flaws, the book teaches, are related to the absence of this letter, the eventual revelation of which willrepair the universe.Another example of messianic significance attached to the letters is the teaching of Rabbi Eliezer that the five letters of the Alpha bet with final forms hold the "secret of redemption".

In addition, the letters occasionally feature inaggadicportions of non-mystical rabbinic literature. In such aggada the letters are often givenanthropomorphicqualities and depicted as speaking to God. Commonly their shapes are used in parables to illustrate points of ethics or theology. An example from theBabylonian Talmud(a parable intended to discourage speculation about the universe before creation):

Why does the story of creation begin with bet?... In the same manner that the letter bet is closed on all sides and only open in front, similarly you are not permitted to inquire into what is before or what was behind, but only from the actual time of Creation.

Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Hagigah, 77c

Extensive instructions about the proper methods of forming the letters are found in Mishnat Soferim, withinMishna BeruraofYisrael Meir Kagan.

Mathematical use

Inset theory,$\aleph _{0}$,pronounced aleph-naught or aleph-zero, is used to mark thecardinal numberof an infinitecountable set,such as$\mathbb {Z}$,the set of all integers. More generally, the$\aleph _{\ Alpha }$aleph numbernotation marks the ordered sequence of all distinct infinite cardinal numbers.

Less frequently used, the$\beth _{\ Alpha }$beth numbernotation is used for the iteratedpower setsof$\aleph _{0}$.The second element$\beth _{1}$is thecardinality of the continuum.Very occasionally, agimel functionis used in cardinal notation.

Unicode and HTML

Main articles:Unicode and HTML for the Hebrew Alpha betandHebrew keyboard

An example of a Hebrew keyboard.

TheUnicodeHebrew block extends from U+0590 to U+05FF and from U+FB1D to U+FB4F. It includesletters,ligatures,combining diacritical marks(Niqqudandcantillation marks) andpunctuation.TheNumeric Character Referencesis included for HTML. These can be used in many markup languages, and they are often used in Wiki to create the Hebrewglyphscompatible with the majority of web browsers.

Standard Hebrew keyboards have a 101-key layout. Like the standardQWERTYlayout, the Hebrew layout was derived from the order of letters on Hebrewtypewriters.

See also

• Hebrew braille
• Hebrew diacritics
• Cursive Hebrew
• Hebrew punctuation
• Hebrew spelling
• Help:Hebrew
• Inverted nun
• Koren Type
• Ktiv hasar niqqud( "spelling lacking niqqud" )
• Significance of numbers of Judaism

Notes

^{a^}"Alef-bet" is commonly written in Israeli Hebrew without themaqaf(מקף,"[Hebrew] hyphen" ),אלפבית עברי,as opposed to with the hyphen,אלף־בית עברי.

^{b^}TheArabic lettersgenerally (as six of the primary letters can have only two variants) have four forms, according to their place in the word. The same goes with theMandaic ones,except for three of the 22 letters, which have only one form.

^{c^}In forms of Hebrew older than Modern Hebrew,כ״ף,בי״תandפ״אcan only be readb,kandp,respectively, at the beginning of a word, while they will have the sole value ofv,khandfin asofit(final) position, with few exceptions.In medial positions, both pronunciations are possible. In Modern Hebrew this restriction is not absolute, e.g. פִיזִיקַאי/fiziˈkaj/and never/piziˈkaj/(= "physicist" ), סְנוֹבּ/snob/and never/snov/(= "snob" ). Adageshmay be inserted to unambiguously denote theplosivevariant: בּ =/b/,כּ =/k/,פּ =/p/;similarly (though today very rare in Hebrew and common only inYiddish) araféplaced above the letter unambiguously denotes thefricativevariant: בֿ =/v/,כֿ =/χ/and פֿ =/f/.InModern Hebreworthography,the sound[p]at the end of a word is denoted by the regular form "פ", as opposed to the final form "ף", which always denotes[f](seetable of transliterations and transcriptions,comment^[D]).

^{d^}However, וו (two separate vavs), used inKtiv male,is to be distinguished from theYiddish ligatureװ (also two vavs but together as one character).

^{e1^e2^e3^e4^e5^}The Academy of the Hebrew Language states that both[v]and[w]be indistinguishably represented in Hebrew using the letter Vav.Sometimes the Vav is indeed doubled, however not to denote[w]as opposed to[v]but rather, whenspelling without niqqud,to denote thephoneme/v/ at a non-initial and non-final position in the word, whereas a single Vav at a non-initial and non-final position in the word in spelling without niqqud denotes one of thephonemes/u/ or /o/. To pronounce foreign words andloanwordscontaining the sound[w],Hebrew readers must therefore rely on former knowledge and context.

Explanatory footnotes

Bibliography

• Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar,§5ff.
• Berlin, Adele (2004).Lamentations: A Commentary.Westminster John Knox Press.ISBN9780664229740.
• First, Mitchell (June 2014)."Using the Pe–Ayin Order of the Abecedaries of Ancient Israel to Date the Book of Psalms".Journal for the Study of the Old Testament.38(4): 471–485.doi:10.1177/0309089214536490.ISSN0309-0892.S2CID170926400.
• First, Mitchell (2017).Pe before Ayin in Biblical Pre-Exilic Acrostics.
• Hoffman, Joel M. 2004.In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language.New York: New York University Press.
• Pitre, Brant J.; Bergsma, John S. (2018).A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament.Ignatius Press. p. 280.ISBN978-1-58617-722-5.
• Saénz-Badillos, Angel (1993).A History of the Hebrew Language.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Steinberg, David.History of the Hebrew Language.

External links

General

• How to draw letters
• Official Unicode standards document for Hebrew
• Unicode collation charts—including Hebrew letters, sorted by shape

Keyboards

• LiteType– Virtual & Interactive Hebrew Keyboard
• Mikledet– For typing Hebrew with an English keyboard (Hebrew keyboard|Hebrew layout)
• Prize Find: Oldest Hebrew InscriptionArchived2012-02-29 at theWayback MachineBiblical Archaeology Review