alphabet

[ al-fuh-bet, -bit ]

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.

alphabet

/ 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

Other Words From

• pre·alpha·bet adjective noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of alphabet¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of alphabet¹

C15: from Late Latin alphabētum, from Greek alphabētos, from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet; see alpha , beta

Example Sentences

Behind the keys was a lamp board showing the letters of the alphabet.

From Washington Post

After a few centuries of remaining at the margins, the alphabet from the Sinai swept through Europe and much of Asia and Africa, changing into the dizzying range we have today.

From Nautilus

They come in a million different colors and patterns including the alphabet, daisies, retro cars, and more.

From Popular-Science

There are 64 codons that can be spelled with the genetic alphabet, but only 20 amino acids to make.

From MIT Technology Review

If genetic sequencing is the new language for managing infectious-disease outbreaks, then the mutations that viruses generate are its alphabet.

From Time

“It sometimes seems like we have more contingency plans than there are letters in the alphabet,” he claims.

From The Daily Beast

Best Moment: "I heard your last name was even longer but you ate all the other letters of the alphabet."

From The Daily Beast

To the left was West Pakistan, where they ruled, and spoke Urdu, and wrote in an alphabet that flowed like water under wind.

From The Daily Beast

He falls in love with a girl named Zoe, who “seemed to come from that foreign end of the alphabet.”

From The Daily Beast

When Sendak made an alphabet book, he called it Alligators All Around.

From The Daily Beast

No law of that country must exceed in words the number of letters in their alphabet, which consists only in two-and-twenty.

From Project Gutenberg

If a husband were to see his wife drowning, what single letter of the alphabet would he name?

From Project Gutenberg

Whatever figure alphabet, however, is used, the main thing about it is to master it thoroughly.

From Project Gutenberg

If the pupil has mastered the Figure Alphabet he will proceed with the greatest satisfaction and profit.

From Project Gutenberg

For convenience of reference I now give the figure Alphabet tabulated.

From Project Gutenberg