Tetragrammaton

American  

[te-truh-gram-uh-ton] / ˌtɛ trəˈgræm əˌtɒn /

noun

1. the Hebrew word for God, consisting of the four letters yod, he, waw, and he, transliterated consonantally usually as YHWH, now pronounced as Adonai or Elohim in substitution for the original pronunciation forbidden since the 2nd or 3rd century b.c.

---

Tetragrammaton British  

/ ˌtɛtrəˈɡræmətən /

noun

1. Sometimes shortened to: Tetragram.  Bible the Hebrew name for God revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 3), consisting of the four consonants Y H V H (or Y H W H) and regarded by Jews as too sacred to be pronounced. It is usually transliterated as Jehovah or Yahweh

---

Etymology

Origin of Tetragrammaton

1350–1400; Middle English < Greek tetragrámmaton, noun use of neuter of tetragrámmatos having four letters, equivalent to tetra- tetra- + grammat- (stem of grámma ) letter + -os adj. suffix

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Tetragrammaton

In mine, it is the Tetragrammaton, the Name so holy that those who know it dare not say it.

From Time Magazine Archive

Tetragrammaton expressed triangularly a symbol of Creation, 698-l.

From Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Albert Pike

The four consonants yhvh, pronounced Yahveh, constituted the sacred Tetragrammaton, or four lettered name of the Most High.

From The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations by Zelia Nuttall

But the Messiah had pronounced the Tetragrammaton, and God and the Creation were One again.

From Dreamers of the Ghetto by Israel Zangwill

Tetragrammaton, the mystic number "four," symbolical of deity, whose name in different languages is composed of four letters.

From The Nuttall Encyclopædia Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge by P. Austin Nuttall