alphabet

[ al-fuh-bet, -bit ]
/ ˈæl fəˌbɛt, -bɪt /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR alphabet ON THESAURUS.COM

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.

Origin of alphabet

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

OTHER WORDS FROM alphabet

pre·al·pha·bet, adjective, noun

Words nearby alphabet

alpha-particle scattering, alpha-receptor, alpha-stannic acid, alpha-test, alpha-tocopherol, alphabet, alphabet code, alphabet soup, alphabetical, alphabetize, alphanumeric

Content related to alphabet

Who Wrote The Alphabet Song? Whether you learned your ABCs while hanging out with the gang from Sesame Street, from someone in your family, or you were schooled in everything from A to Z in kindergarten, you probably learned the alphabet with the help of the alphabet song ...
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Easy As A, B, C: Fun Ways To Help Kids Learn Their Letters There’s more to learning the alphabet than the ABC song. Here’s the lowdown on learning about letters—and plenty of fun activities to help your children become alphabet experts.
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Words related to alphabet

fundamentals, morphemes, elements, syllabary, symbols, ideograph, rune, hieroglyphs, characters, phonemes, pictograph

Example sentences from the Web for alphabet

British Dictionary definitions for alphabet

alphabet
/ (ˈælfəˌbɛt) /

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