Alphabet

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈæl.fəˌbɛt/

Definitions

1. A set of letters or symbols used in writing a language, arranged in a fixed order
2. A systematically arranged collection of characters or symbols that represent the basic sounds of a language is essential for written communication
3. A collection of letters or symbols representing the sound units of a language, organized in a specific sequence, serves as the foundation of written text

Etymology: The alphabet's name is simply its first two letters. Ancient Greek "alpha" and "beta" were the names of the letters we write as A and B, and "alphabētos" was formed by joining them. The Greek names themselves came from the Phoenician letters aleph and beth, meaning "ox" and "house," because the earliest forms of these signs were stylised pictures of those objects, descended from Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Greek compound passed into Classical Latin as "alphabētum," and Middle English took it up as "alphabete." English already had its own word for the same idea, "stæfrǣw," literally "staff-row," which is a native cousin of the concept rather than a direct ancestor. The two terms competed for a time before the Latin-derived form won out. The word "alfabeto" in Italian and Spanish is a doublet of the English form, having come into those languages by a separate route from the same Latin source.

Synonyms: letters, script