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aleph

American

[ah-lif, ah-lef] / ˈɑ lɪf, ˈɑ lɛf /

noun

the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
the glottal stop consonant or, alternatively, long vowel represented by this letter.

aleph British

/ ˈaːlɛf, ˈɑːlɪf /

noun

the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet (א) articulated as a glottal stop and transliterated with a superior comma (`)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of aleph

1250–1300; Middle English < Hebrew āleph, akin to eleph ox

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Sinai, God’s voice, in midrash, was heard communally, but was so overwhelming that only the first letter, aleph, was sounded.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 1, 2017

In fact, the word alphabet comes directly from the first two letters of the Phoenician alphabet: aleph and beth.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2012

The first three letters of the Hebrew alphabet, for example, are named, respectively, aleph which means ox, beth which means house, and gimmel which means camel.

From Introduction to the Science of Sociology by Park, Robert Ezra

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023