alphabet

[al-fuh-bet, -bit]

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noun

the letters of a language in their customary order.

any system of characters or signs with which a language is written: the Greek alphabet.

any such system for representing the sounds of a language: the phonetic alphabet.

first elements; basic facts; simplest rudiments: the alphabet of genetics.

the alphabet, a system of writing, developed in the ancient Near 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 alphabetical scripts are derived.

Nearby words

Origin of alphabet

1375–1425; late Middle English alphabete < Late Latin alphabētum, alteration of Greek alphábētos. See alpha, beta

Related formspre·al·pha·bet, adjective, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for alphabet

“It sometimes seems like we have more contingency plans than there are letters in the alphabet,” he claims.
Lost Ocean Rover Leaves Gap in Biology and Alzheimer's Research|Beenish Ahmed|June 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Best Moment: "I heard your last name was even longer but you ate all the other letters of the alphabet."
Justin Bieber, Jon Hamm & the Best of 'Between Two Ferns' (VIDEO)|Anna Klassen|September 26, 2013|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.
Bangladesh’s Midnight Children: Philip Hensher’s ‘Scenes From Early Life’|Lucy Scholes|January 9, 2013|DAILY BEAST
He falls in love with a girl named Zoe, who “seemed to come from that foreign end of the alphabet.”
The New Wallace Stegner: Ivan Doig’s ‘The Bartender’s Tale’|Malcolm Forbes|August 22, 2012|DAILY BEAST

When Sendak made an alphabet book, he called it Alligators All Around.
Maurice Sendak Knew Enough to Put the Bite Back in Children’s Stories|Andrew Romano|May 8, 2012|DAILY BEAST
And the doctrines of the Church are but as the stones in a building, the letters of an alphabet, or the words of a language.
Is Life Worth Living?|William Hurrell Mallock
What letter in the Dutch alphabet will name an English lady of title?
How to Solve Conundrums|Anonymous
Indeed, we had among us one girl who knit into a single pair of mittens, the alphabet and a verse of poetry in four lines.
Ruth of Boston|James Otis
A month passed, and he had apparently made no progress, and the alphabet was still almost a troublesome maze to him.
A Gallant Grenadier|F.S. Brereton
Now, if we had an alphabet that was adequate and competent, instead of inadequate and incompetent, things would be different.
Mark Twain's Speeches|Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

British Dictionary definitions for alphabet

alphabet

noun

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

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

basic principles or rudiments, as of a subject

Word Origin for alphabet

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

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

Word Origin and History for alphabet

alphabet

1570s, from Late Latin alphabetum (Tertullian), from Greek alphabetos, from alpha + beta. Alphabet soup first attested 1907. Words for it in Old English included stæfræw, literally "row of letters," stæfrof "array of letters."

It was a wise though a lazy cleric whom Luther mentions in his "Table Talk,"--the monk who, instead of reciting his breviary, used to run over the alphabet and then say, "O my God, take this alphabet, and put it together how you will." [William S. Walsh, "Handy-Book of Literary Curiosities," 1892]