Dalet

Dalet (also spelled Daleth or Daled) is the fourth letter of many ancient languages. These include Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, and Arabic. In all of these, Dalet makes the “d” sound, like in the word "door".

The shape of the letter comes from a very old writing style called the Proto-Sinaitic script. That script used a picture of a door to show this letter. In modern Hebrew, a door is called “delet”. Over time, this picture turned into the letter we now know as Dalet.

Dalet appears in many old alphabets, such as Ancient North Arabian, South Arabian, and Ge'ez. It shows how different writing systems share similar beginnings and grow in alike ways.

For the designation as "untouchable" in the Hindu caste system, see Dalit. For other uses, see Dalet (disambiguation).

For the town in Myanmar, see Dalet, Myanmar.

Arabic dāl

Further information: Ḏāl

The letter is named dāl (دَالْ) and can look different depending on where it appears in a word. It makes the /d/ sound, like in the word "dog".

Phoenician

The Phoenician letter dālet influenced other important letters. It helped shape the Greek letter delta, the Latin letter D, and the Cyrillic letter Д.

Aramaic

Further information: Aramaic alphabet

The Aramaic language has a letter much like Dalet, named dālaṯ. It appears as 𐡃. This letter also says the "d" sound, similar to how Dalet works in Hebrew and Phoenician.

Hebrew dalet

Further information: Hebrew alphabet

In Hebrew, the letter ד‎ is called dalet. It sounds like the English letter D. Some people may call it dales or daleth.

The letter ד‎ can change its sound a little, depending on how it is written. With a special mark called a dagesh, it keeps the d sound. Without it, it can sound a bit softer in some dialects. In modern Hebrew, a special symbol can be added to ד‎ to show a different sound when writing foreign names.

In Jewish traditions, the letter dalet can represent the number four. It is also sometimes used in special ways to refer to sacred ideas without using direct names. The letter can appear at the start of some words in ancient Hebrew texts, giving them specific meanings.

Syriac daled/dolath

In the Syriac alphabet, the fourth letter is ܕ. It is called dolath in western pronunciation and dalath or daleth in eastern pronunciation (ܕܵܠܵܬ).

This letter can make two different sounds. When spoken with a hard sound (qûššāyâ), it makes the sound \ [d ]. When spoken with a soft sound (rûkkāḵâ), it makes the sound \ [ð ].

The letter is used often in Syriac because it is added to the start of many words as the relative pronoun.

The letter daleth or dolath is always written with a dot below it. This helps tell it apart from the letter resh (ܪ), which looks the same but has a dot above it.

As a number, daleth or dolath stands for the number four. With different marks of dots and lines, it can also stand for 4,000 and 40,000.

Other uses

Mathematics

In set theory, the dalet symbol can show the fourth transfinite cardinal number.

Character encodings

The letter Dalet is found in many old and new writing systems. It is the fourth letter in several languages that use similar alphabets, such as Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, and Arabic. In these languages, Dalet makes the “d” sound, like in the word “dog”. It is also linked to letters in other old writing systems from places like North Arabia, South Arabia, and Ge'ez.