alif

[ ah-lif ]

noun
  1. the first letter of the Arabic alphabet.

  2. the glottal stop consonant represented by this letter.

Origin of alif

1
From Arabic; see origin at aleph

Words Nearby alif

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use alif in a sentence

  • The Irish title of the letter a or haw is alif, as also is the Arabian: the Greek alpha is either alpa or alfa.

    Archaic England | Harold Bayley
  • The wheel turns ever, and no pleasure of ours but is built on the shifting sand of some one's pain, even as alif told me.

    Margarita's Soul | Ingraham Lovell
  • The inner, Aditya-alif, however, was an eight-hundred-mile sphere; it had once been the planetary ship-station and shipyard-base.

    A Slave is a Slave | Henry Beam Piper
  • Orders to take over Aditya-alif and begin construction of a permanent naval base.

    A Slave is a Slave | Henry Beam Piper