alphabet
Syllables: al·pha·betUK/ˈæl.fəˌbɛt/
alphabet noun: the set of letters used when writing in a language.
Noun
alphabet (plural alphabets)
- 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.
- 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.
- We realize the fact that the alphabet A has been used in many world scripts as a vowel with the others AEIOU.2002, Eugene E. Dike, African myth of creation in African form of writing, Monsenstein und Vannerdat, →ISBN, page 30
- The simplest rudiments; elements.
- The very alphabet of our law.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
- An agent of the FBI, the CIA, or another such government agency.
Verb
alphabet (third-person singular simple present alphabets, present participle alphabeting, simple past and past participle alphabeted)
- To designate by the letters of the alphabet; to arrange alphabetically.
- Synonyms:
- alphabetize
alphabet meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
alphabet in Hindi
- an ordered set of letters used in a language
- वर्णमाला varṇamālā, मूलाक्षर mūlākṣar, अक्षरमाला akṣarmālā
alphabet in Tamil
- an ordered set of letters used in a language
- அகரவரிசை akaravaricai, நெடுங்கணக்கு neṭuṅkaṇakku
alphabet in Marathi
- an ordered set of letters used in a language
- मुळाक्षरे muḷākṣare, वर्णमाला varṇamālā
alphabet in Urdu
- an ordered set of letters used in a language
- حَرُوفِ تَہَجی harūf-i tahajī, اَلِف با alif bā, اَبْجَد abjad
More languagesFewer languages
- alphabet in Bengali
- বর্ণমালা bornomala
- alphabet in Telugu
- అక్షరమాల akṣaramāla
- alphabet in Malayalam
- അക്ഷരമാല akṣaramāla
- alphabet in Kannada
- ಅಕ್ಷರಮಾಲೆ akṣaramāle
- alphabet in Punjabi
- ਵਰਨਮਾਲਾ varnamālā
- alphabet in Gujarati
- મૂળાક્ષર mūḷākṣar
- alphabet in Odia
- ବର୍ଣ୍ଣମାଳା barṇṇamāḷā
- alphabet in Sanskrit
- अक्षरसमाम्नाय akṣarasamāmnāya
- alphabet in Assamese
- বৰ্ণমালা bornomala
- alphabet in Nepali
- वर्णमाला varṇamālā
- alphabet in Pashto
- الفبې alefbé
- alphabet in Tagalog
- alpabeto, abakada
- alphabet in Arabic
- حُرُوف هِجَاء ḥurūf hijāʔ, أَبْجَد ʔabjad, أَلِفْبَاء ʔalifbāʔ, أَلِفْبَائِيَّة ʔalifbāʔiyya
- alphabet in Malay
- abjad, huruf, aksara
- alphabet in Indonesian
- abjad, alfabet, aksara
- alphabet in Thai
- ตัวอักษร dtuua-àk-sɔ̌ɔn, อักษร àk-sɔ̌ɔn
- alphabet in Vietnamese
- bảng chữ cái
- alphabet in Myanmar
- အက္ခရာ akhka.ra
- Dhivehi
- އަލިފުބާ alifubā
Examples of alphabet in a sentence
- Stevie intends to burp the alphabet at the school talent show.
- So Johnny has finally learned the alphabet - it's about time too, he's 6!
- The classroom had an alphabet frieze that showed an animal for each letter.
Synonyms of alphabet
Forms of alphabet
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | alphabets |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | alphabets |
| present participle | alphabeting |
| past participle | alphabeted |
| past | alphabeted |
Origin of alphabet
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").
Words formed from alphabet
- Bengali alphabet
- Glagolitic alphabet
- Gothic alphabet
- Greek alphabet
- international phonetic alphabet
- Latin alphabet
- Lorm alphabet
- Morse alphabet
- Proto-Canaanite alphabet
- Roman alphabet
- Shaw alphabet
- alphabetarian
- alphabeted
- alphabetic(-al) → alphabetically
- multi-
- poly-
- prealphabetic
- alphabetics
- alphabetiform
- alphabetism
- alphabetitis
- alphabetize
- -ise
- alphabetlike
- alphametic
- alphanumeric(-al)
- alphasort
- ARPAbet
- deaf-and-dumb alphabet
- multialphabet
- prealphabet
- semi-alphabet
- unalphabeted
- alphabet agency
- alphabet block
- alphabet book
- alphabet boy
- alphabet brick
- alphabet mafia
- alphabet of desire
- alphabet oracle
- alphabet soup
- Euclidean alphabet
- finger alphabet
- hand alphabet
- ICAO spelling alphabet
- manual alphabet
- mixed alphabet
- movable alphabet
- moveable alphabet
- NATO phonetic alphabet
- phonetic alphabet
- phonetic spelling alphabet
- radio alphabet
- Raguileo alphabet
- Shavian alphabet
- spelling alphabet
- telephone alphabet
- Theban alphabet
- voice procedure alphabet
Phrases with alphabet
Questions about alphabet
- What does alphabet mean?
- Alphabet means the set of letters used when writing in a language.
- What is alphabet in Hindi?
- Alphabet in Hindi is वर्णमाला (varṇamālā), मूलाक्षर (mūlākṣar), अक्षरमाला (akṣarmālā). See Alphabet meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is alphabet?
- Alphabet can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce alphabet?
- Alphabet is pronounced /ˈæl.fəˌbɛt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of alphabet?
- The plural of alphabet is alphabets.
Words near alphabet in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: alphabet (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-alphabet.ogg.
Cite this entry: “alphabet.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/alphabet. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.