Middle Bronze Age 18–15th c. BC Note: This article contains special characters.
The Hebrew alphabet (Hebrew: אָלֶף־בֵית עִבְרִי‎ , alefbet ivri) is a set of 22 letters used for writing the Hebrew language. Five of these letters have a different form when appearing as the last letter in a word. The Hebrew letters are used in mildly adapted forms for writing several languages of the Jewish diaspora, most famously Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic (for a full and detailed list, see Jewish languages). Hebrew is written from right to left.
The Hebrew word for "alphabet" is אלףבית (alefbet), named after the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew alphabet is an abjad, having letters for consonants, but means were later devised to indicate vowels by separate vowel points or niqqud. In rabbinic Hebrew, the alefbet is used as an alphabet by using the consonant letters אהוי as matres lectionis.
The number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, their order, their names, and their phonetic values are virtually identical to those of the Aramaic alphabet, as both Hebrews and Arameans borrowed the Phoenician alphabet for their uses during the end of the 2nd millennium BC.
The modern script used for writing Hebrew (usually called the Jewish script by scholars, and also traditionally known as the square script, block script, or Assyrian script — not to be confused with the Eastern variant of the Syriac alphabet) evolved during the 3rd century BC from the Aramaic script, which was used by Jews for writing Hebrew since the 6th century BC. Prior to that, Hebrew was written using the old Hebrew script, which evolved during the 10th century BC from the Phoenician script; the Samaritans still write Hebrew in a variant of this script for religious works (see Samaritan alphabet).

Ugaritic 15th c. BC
Proto-Canaanite 14th c. BC

• Phoenician 11th c. BC
  
  
  
  • Paleo-Hebrew 10th c. BC
    Aramaic 8th c. BC
    
    
    
    • Brāhmī & Indic 6th c. BC
      
      
      
      • Tibetan 7th c.
        Khmer/Javanese 9th c.
        Hebrew 3rd c. BC
        Syriac 2nd c. BC
        
        
        
        • Nabatean 2nd c. BC
          
          
          
          • Arabic 4th c.
            Pahlavi 3nd c. BC
            
            
            
            • Avestan 4th c.
              Greek 9th c. BC
              
              
              
              • Etruscan 8th c. BC
                
                
                
                • Latin 7th c. BC
                  Runes 2nd c.
                  Ogham 4th c.
                  Gothic 3th c.
                  Armenian 405
                  Glagolitic 862
                  Cyrillic 10th c.
                  Samaritan 6th c. BC
                  Iberian 4th c. BC
                  Epigraphic South Arabian 9th c. BC
                  
                  
                  
                  • Ge'ez 5–6th c. BC History
                    The Hebrew alphabet consists of the following letters. Five letters have a different form (known as the final form) at the ends of words: these are shown in the table below the normal form.
                    
                    Short table
                    Both the old Hebrew script and the modern Hebrew script have only one case, but in the modern script some letters have special final forms, also called Sofit form, used only at the end of a word. This is similar to the Arabic alphabet, although much simpler.
                    The Hebrew alphabet is an abjad: vowels are normally not indicated. Where they are, it is because a weak consonant such as א alef, ה hey, ו vav or י yod has combined with a previous vowel and become silent, or by imitation of such cases in the spelling of other forms. When used to write Yiddish, the Hebrew writing system uses consonants to indicate all the vowels (see Yiddish orthography), except where Hebrew words are written in Yiddish.
                    To preserve the proper vowel sounds, scholars developed several different sets of vocalisation and diacritical symbols called niqqud (ניקוד; literally: "applying points"). One of these, the Tiberian system, eventually prevailed. Aaron ben Moses ben Asher, and his family for several generations, are credited for refining and maintaining the system. These points are normally used only for special purposes, such as Biblical books intended for study, in poetry or when teaching the language to children. The Tiberian system also includes a set of cantillation marks used to indicate how scriptural passages should be chanted, used in synagogue recitations of scripture (although these marks do not appear in the scrolls), called "Trope".
                    Hebrew letters may also be used as numbers; see the entry on Hebrew numerals. This use of letters as numbers is common in Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) in a practice known as gematria.
                    
                    Description
                    Further information: Romanization of Hebrew, Hebrew numerals, Cursive Hebrew, Rashi script
                    The following table is a breakdown of each letter in the Hebrew alphabet, describing its written glyph or glyphs, its name or names, its numerical values, and its Latin script transliteration values used in academic work. If two glyphs are shown for a letter, then the left-most glyph is the terminal form of the letter (or right-most glyph if your browser doesn't support right-to-left text layout).
                    
                    unwritten in initial and final positions, though often not written at all
                    unwritten in final positions
                    "h" initial or after consonants, "ch" everywhere else
                    "i" in final positions or before consonants
                    often not written at all Main table
                    Further information: Hebrew phonology
                    The following table contains the pronunciation of the Hebrew letters in reconstructed historical forms and dialects using the International Phonetic Alphabet.
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    

                    Symbol	Pronunciation (IPA)
                    	Israeli	Ashkenazi	Sephardi	Yemenite	Tiberian	Reconstructed
                    						Mishnaic	Biblical
                    א	[ʔ]	[ - ]	[ʔ, -]	[ʔ, -]	[ʔ, -]	[ʔ, -]	[ʔ]
                    ב	[b, v]	[b, v~v̥]	[b, b~β~v]	[b]	[b, v]	[b, β]	[b]
                    ג	[g]	[g~g̊]	[g, g~ɣ]	[ʤ, ɣ]	[ɡ, ɣ]	[ɡ, ɣ]	[ɡ]
                    ד	[d]	[d~d̥]	[d̪~ð]	[d̪, ð]	[d̪, ð]	[d̪, ð]	[d̪]
                    ה	[h~ʔ, -]	[h, -]	[h, -]	[h, -]	[h, -]	[h, -]	[h]
                    ו	[v]	[v~v̥]	[v]	[w]	[w]	[w]	[w]
                    ז	[z]	[z~z̥]	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]	[dz]
                    ח	[χ~ħ]	[x]	[ħ]	[ħ]	[ħ]	[ħ, x]	[ħ, x]
                    ט	[t]	[t]	[t̪]	[t̴̪] (1)	[t̴̪]	[t̪ˁ] (2)	[t̪ʼ] (3)
                    י	[j]	[j]	[j]	[j]	[j]	[j]	[j]
                    ך כ	[k, χ]	[k, x]	[k, x]	[k, x]	[k, x]	[k, x]	[k]
                    ל	[l]	[l~ɫ]	[l]	[l]	[l]	[l]	[l]
                    ם מ	[m]	[m]	[m]	[m]	[m]	[m]	[m]
                    ן נ	[n]	[n]	[n̪]	[n̪]	[n̪]	[n̪]	[n̪]
                    ס	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]
                    ע	[ʔ~ʕ, – ]	[ - ]	[ʕ, ŋ, – ]	[ʕ]	[ʕ]	[ʕ, ɣ]	[ʕ, ɣ]
                    ף פ	[p, f]	[p, f]	[p, f]	[f]	[p, f]	[p, ɸ]	[p]
                    ץ צ	[ʦ]	[ʦ]	[ʦ]	[s̴] (1)	[s̴]	[sˁ] (2)	[ʦʼ, ʧʼ, tɬʼ] (3)
                    ק	[k]	[k]	[k]	[ɡ]	[q]	[q]	[kʼ] (3)
                    ר	[ʁ]	[ʀ]	[r~ɾ]	[r~ɾ]	[ɾ]	[ɾ]	[ɾ]
                    ש	[ʃ, s]	[ʃ, s]	[ʃ, s]	[ʃ, s]	[ʃ, s]	[ʃ, s]	[ʧ, tɬ, s]
                    ת	[t]	[t, s]	[t̪, θ]	[t̪, θ]	[t̪, θ]	[t̪, θ]	[t̪]

                    
                    
                    
                    velarized or pharyngealized
                    pharyngealized
                    sometimes said to be ejective but more likely glottalized. Pronunciation
                    
                    
                    Main article: Mater lectionis Matres lectionis
                    
                    

                    Main article: Niqqud Niqqud
                    Further information: Shin (letter)
                    Shin and sin are represented by the same letter, ש, but are two separate phonemes. They are not mutually allophonic. When vowel diacritics are used, the two phonemes are differentiated with a shin-dot or sin-dot; the shin-dot is above the upper-right side of the letter, and sin-dot is above the upper-left side of the letter.
                    
                    Dagesh
                    Israeli Hebrew has five vowel phonemes, /i e a o u/, but many more written symbols for them:
                    Note Ⅰ: The letter "O" represents whatever Hebrew letter is used. Note Ⅱ: The dagesh, mappiq, and shuruk have different functions, even though they look the same . Note Ⅲ: The letter "ו" (vav) is used since it can only be represented by that letter.
                    
                    Vowel points
                    
                    

                    Main article: Sh'va Sh'va
                    
                    Comparison table
                    
                    Not used in Hebrew
                    
                    

                    Main article: Gershayim Gershayim
                    The sounds /tʃ, dʒ, ʒ, w/, written 'וו ,ז' , ג' , צ, are found in many loanwords that are part of the everyday Hebrew colloquial vocabulary, even among people who don't know the source languages. In addition, there are ways of writing some sounds in words that are truly foreign, not part of Israeli Hebrew:
                    
                    Loanwords
                    In Israel's general population, many consonants have merged to the same pronunciation. They are:
                    * Varyingly
                    
                    Same pronunciation
                    Further information: Biblical Hebrew
                    Some of the variations in sound mentioned above are due to a systematic feature of Ancient Hebrew. The six consonants /b g d k p t/ were pronounced differently depending on their position. These letters were also called BeGeDKePHeT (pronounced /beɪgɛd'kɛfɛt/) letters. (The full details are very complex; this summary omits some points.) They were pronounced as stops [b g d k p t] at the beginning of a syllable, or when doubled. They were pronounced as fricatives [p̄ ṯ ḵ ḇ ḏ ḡ] — IPA [f θ x v ð ɣ] when preceded by a vowel. The stop and double pronunciations were indicated by the dagesh. In Modern Hebrew the sounds [ḏ] and [ḡ] have reverted to [d] and [g] respectively, and [ṯ] has become [t], so only the remaining three consonants /b k p/ show variation.
                    
                    ו vav was a semivowel /w/ (as in English, not as in German).
                    ח het and ע ayin were pharyngeal fricatives, צ tsadi was an emphatic /s/, ט tet was an emphatic /t/, and ק qof was /q/. All these are common Semitic consonants.
                    שׂ sin (the /s/ variant of ש shin) was originally different from both שׁ shin and ס samekh, but had become /s/ the same as ס samekh by the time the vowel pointing was devised. Because of cognates with other Semitic languages, this phoneme is known to have originally been a lateral consonant, most likely IPA the fricative /ɬ/ (as in Welsh ll) or the affricate /tɬ/ (as in Náhuatl tl). Pronunciation of Ancient Hebrew
                    
                    

                    Main article: Unicode and HTML for the Hebrew alphabet Unicode and HTML
                    
                    In his science fiction novel The Forever War, author Joe Haldeman names collapsars after letters of the Hebrew alphabet (examples include Aleph and Yod-42).
                    In the Discworld novel Feet of Clay, a corrupted version of the Hebrew alphabet (altered slightly to look like roman letters) is used to represnt the writing of golems, creatures originating from Jewish mythology. See also