alphabet

American  

[al-fuh-bet, -bit] / ˈæl fəˌbɛt, -bɪt /

noun

1. the letters of a language in their customary order.

2. any system of characters or signs with which a language is written.

   the Greek alphabet.

3. any system of characters or signs used to represent the sounds of a language.

   the phonetic alphabet.

4. first elements; basic facts; simplest rudiments.

   the alphabet of genetics.

5. the alphabet, a system of writing, developed in the ancient Middle East and transmitted from the northwest Semites to the Greeks, in which each symbol ideally represents one sound unit in the spoken language, and from which most alphabetic scripts are derived.

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alphabet British  

/ ˈælfəˌbɛt /

noun

1. a set of letters or other signs used in a writing system, usually arranged in a fixed order, each letter or sign being used to represent one or sometimes more than one phoneme in the language being transcribed

2. any set of symbols or characters, esp one representing sounds of speech

3. basic principles or rudiments, as of a subject

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Other Word Forms

• prealphabet adjective

Etymology

Origin of alphabet

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English alphabete from Late Latin alphabētum, alteration of Greek alphábētos; alpha, beta

Example Sentences

Throughout the novel - the cover of which is pastel pink with the title spelled out in children's alphabet blocks - the protagonist uses child-like language, wears children's clothing, and engages in child-like behaviour.

From BBC

At home, he had plastic alphabet letters that stuck to the refrigerator door.

From Literature

We want to know the world's most expensive footballer for each letter of the alphabet.

From BBC

Some of it was in the alphabet he knew, some of it in alphabets he had never seen, with pictures, or great hashed strokes of geometry.

From Literature

Now, 1099-R forms, which detail distributions from IRA accounts, have new additions to the alphabet code that distinguishes penalty-free distributions from ones that have a penalty.

From MarketWatch