Alphabetical

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˌæl.fəˈbɛt.ɪ.kəl/

Definitions

1. Arranged in the order of the letters of the alphabet from A to Z
2. Organized according to the sequence of letters found in the English alphabet from A through Z
3. Sorted based on the specific order of letters as established in the alphabet, beginning with A and ending with Z

Etymology: "Alphabetical" is built from "alphabet" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-al," and the chain behind it runs through Latin and Greek. The Greek roots are "alpha" and "beta," the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, which were themselves borrowed from Phoenician letter names. Latin took the compound and produced "alphabētum," and the adjective "alphabēticus" followed, passing into English as a description of anything arranged in the order of those letters. The word is a plain compound, so its story is mostly about the letters it names. Ancient Greek "alphabetos" was a noun for the whole sequence of letters, and the adjective form came later, when the idea of sorting things by letter order became a practical habit in libraries, dictionaries and lists. Because the ordering only makes sense for a fixed sequence of symbols, the adjective depends on the alphabet itself being a settled standard.

Synonyms: lexical, ordered, systematic, arranged, listed

Antonyms: unordered, chaotic, random, disorganized, haphazard