Hebrew alphabet

The Hebrew alphabet is a special way of writing used for the Hebrew language. It is also called the Jewish script, square script, or block script. This alphabet has 22 letters and is used to write several other languages, such as Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, and Judeo-Persian.

Unlike many other alphabets, the Hebrew alphabet does not normally show vowels. Special marks called niqqud can be added above or below the letters to show vowel sounds.

Hebrew is written from right to left, which is different from many other languages. Five of the letters change shape when they appear at the end of a word. In modern times, more writers in Israel are adding vowels to make writing easier to read.

The Hebrew alphabet comes from an old writing style called the Imperial Aramaic alphabet. It is related to the Phoenician alphabet because they share some similarities from the same ancient roots. Today, the Hebrew alphabet is very important for writing and reading in Israel and for people who speak languages that use this writing system.

History

Main article: History of the Hebrew alphabet

The Hebrew alphabet has very old beginnings. It started with early writing used by the Canaanite people around 1000 BCE. One of the oldest examples is the Gezer calendar, which may be in Hebrew or Phoenician.

Over time, a Hebrew version of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet developed. This was called the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. People in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah used it. After the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BCE, Jews began using a form of the Imperial Aramaic alphabet. Later, around the 3rd century BCE, they started using a "square" style of writing. This is the form we use today. This alphabet was also used for many Jewish languages spoken around the world.

Description

The Hebrew alphabet is a special way of writing that only uses consonants, called an abjad. It is written from right to left. It has 22 letters, and five of these letters change shape when they appear at the end of a word.

In the past, vowels were shown using certain weak consonants like Aleph (א‎), He (ה‎), Waw/Vav (ו‎), or Yodh (י‎). Later, small marks called niqqud were created to show vowels clearly. Today, especially in modern Hebrew and Yiddish, vowels are sometimes written out more fully using these letters. These vowel marks are mostly used for special books, poetry, or when teaching children. In everyday writing, most people just use the consonant letters and guess the vowels from the word’s context.

Pronunciation

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

The descriptions below are based on how modern standard Israeli Hebrew is spoken.

Alphabet

The Hebrew alphabet has special pairs of letters without dots and with dots. For example, the letter ת‎ (tav) without a dot would normally sound different, but this sound was lost in many places where Jewish people lived. In modern Hebrew, it is simply said as "t". Similarly, the sound for ד‎ (dalet) without a dot is now just "d".

Shin and sin

Further information: Shin (letter)

The letter ש‎ represents two different sounds, shin and sin. When small marks (called dots) are added, they help show which sound is meant: a dot above the upper-right side for shin, and a dot above the upper-left side for sin.

Dagesh

Main article: Dagesh

See also: Begadkefat

Some letters in Hebrew can have two sounds, a hard sound and a soft sound, depending on where they appear in a word. A small dot in the middle of the letter, called a dagesh, shows the hard sound. Without the dot, the soft sound is used. In modern Hebrew, this only changes the sounds for ב‎ (bet), כ‎ (kaf), and פ‎ (pe).

Sounds represented with diacritic geresh

Main articles: Geresh and Hebraization of English

Special marks called geresh can change the sound of a letter, used mostly for foreign words or names. For example, צ׳‎ makes the “ch” sound as in “church”.

Identical pronunciation

In much of Israel, many letters sound the same today.

Ancient Hebrew pronunciation

Ancient Hebrew had special rules for how some letters sounded depending on their place in a word. These letters were called BeGeD KeFeT. Over time, these sounds changed, and today only a few letters still have this difference.

Regional and historical variation

The table below shows how Hebrew letters were pronounced in the past and in different regions.

Vowels

Matres lectionis

Main article: Mater lectionis

Some letters like א‎ (alef), ע‎ (ayin), ו‎ (waw/vav) and י‎ (yod) can sometimes act like vowels instead of consonants.

Vowel points

Niqqud is a system of dots that help show the vowels. In everyday writing, these dots are often left out, except in books for children, prayers, poems, or when a word could be hard to read.

Meteg

Main article: Meteg

A small line under a letter, called meteg, makes the vowel sound longer. This is used only in ancient Hebrew texts.

Sh'va

Main article: Sh'va

Two small dots under a letter, called sh'va, make the vowel very short or sometimes remove the vowel sound completely.

Comparison table

Gershayim

Main article: Gershayim

The symbol ״‎ is called a gershayim and is used to show that a word is an acronym. It is written before the last letter of the acronym. It is also a special mark used when reading the Torah.

Stylistic variants

Further information: Cursive Hebrew, Rashi script, Ashuri alphabet, and History of the Hebrew alphabet

This section shows how the letters of the Hebrew alphabet can look different. The block, or square form, is used in printed words. The cursive form is used when people write by hand. There is also a special form called Rashi, used in some old books.

Yiddish symbols

Main article: Yiddish alphabet

The Yiddish language uses Hebrew letters and has its own special symbols.

Numeric values of letters

Main article: Hebrew numerals

Hebrew letters can stand for numbers. This started around the late 2nd century BCE and lasted for a long time. Today, we use letters for numbers when we talk about dates in the Hebrew calendar, school grades in Israel, or special listings like "phase a" or "phase b". They are also used in Kabbalah, a kind of Jewish mysticism, in a practice called gematria.

To show bigger numbers like 500 or 600, special combinations of letters are used. Adding a symbol called a geresh makes the letter’s value a thousand times bigger. For example, the year 5778 is written as ה׳תשע״ח‎, where ה׳‎ means 5000 and תשע״ח‎ means 778.

Transliterations and transcriptions

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

This section explains how Hebrew letters are written using the Latin alphabet. It shows different ways to write Hebrew sounds. Some letters have special ways to be written.

The section also talks about symbols used in writing Hebrew. It explains how certain sounds are shown, like the soft "ch" sound in words such as "loch." In modern Hebrew, some letters are always written in a specific way, even at the end of words.

Religious use

The letters of the Hebrew alphabet are very important in Jewish religious writings. Some believe the letters have special powers. In Kabbalah, each letter can be studied to find deeper meanings. The letters are also mentioned in stories that teach about ethics and beliefs.

Mathematical use

In math, the symbol ℵ₀ (called aleph-naught) is used to show the size of a set with a countable number of elements, like all whole numbers. This helps mathematicians talk about different sizes of infinity.

Another symbol, ℶ_α (beth number), is used for even larger infinite sets. These symbols help mathematicians study and compare the sizes of infinite collections.

Unicode and HTML

Main articles: Unicode and HTML for the Hebrew alphabet and Hebrew keyboard

The Hebrew alphabet has special codes called Unicode. These codes help computers show Hebrew letters and symbols correctly. The codes include letters, special shapes, marks for speaking words, and punctuation. They work well on the internet and help web browsers display Hebrew letters.

Hebrew keyboards have 101 keys. They are arranged like old Hebrew typewriters, similar to how English keyboards are set up.