Editing Hebrew alphabet (section)

==Description==
{{Hebrew alphabet navigation}}

===General===
In the traditional form, the Hebrew alphabet is an [[abjad]] consisting only of [[consonant]]s, [[Writing system#Directionality|written from right to left]]. It has 22 letters, five of which use different forms at the end of a word.

===Vowels===
{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2025}}
In the traditional form, vowels are indicated by the weak [[consonant]]s [[Aleph]] ({{Script/Hebrew|א}}), [[He (letter)|He]] ({{Script/Hebrew|ה}}), [[Waw (letter)|Waw/Vav]] ({{Script/Hebrew|ו}}), or  [[Yodh]] ({{Script/Hebrew|י}}) serving as vowel letters, or [[Mater lectionis|''matres lectionis'']]: the letter is combined with a previous vowel and becomes silent, or by imitation of such cases in the spelling of other forms. Also, a system of vowel points to indicate vowels (diacritics), called [[niqqud]], was developed. In modern forms of the alphabet, as in the case of [[Yiddish]] and to some extent [[Modern Hebrew]], [[vowel]]s may be indicated. Today, the trend is toward [[Ktiv hasar niqqud|full spelling]] with the weak letters acting as true vowels.

When used to [[Yiddish orthography|write Yiddish]], vowels are indicated, using certain letters, either with niqqud diacritics (e.g. {{Script/Hebrew|אָ}} or {{Script/Hebrew|יִ}}) or without (e.g. {{Script/Hebrew|ע}} or {{Script/Hebrew|י}}), except for Hebrew words, which in Yiddish are written in their Hebrew spelling.

To preserve the proper vowel sounds, scholars developed several different sets of vocalization and diacritical symbols called ''nequdot'' ({{Script/Hebrew|נקודות{{lrm}}}}, literally "points"). One of these, the [[Tiberian vocalization|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 [[Bible|Biblical]] books intended for study, in [[poetry]] or when teaching the language to children.  The Tiberian system also includes a set of [[cantillation marks]], called ''trope'' or {{transliteration|he|te'amim}}, used to indicate how scriptural passages should be chanted in synagogue recitations of scripture (although these marks do not appear in the scrolls). In everyday writing of modern Hebrew, ''niqqud'' are absent; however, patterns of how words are derived from [[Semitic root|Hebrew roots]] (called ''shorashim'' or ''triliterals'') allow Hebrew speakers to determine the vowel-structure of a given word from its consonants based on the word's context and part of speech.

===Alphabet===
Unlike the Paleo-Hebrew writing script, the modern Hebrew script has five [[letter (alphabet)|letters]] that have special [[final form]]s,{{ref label|Pronunciation_in_Different_Word_Positions|c|}} called '''sofit''' ({{langx|he|סופית}}, meaning in this context "final" or "ending") form, used only at the end of a word, somewhat as in the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] or in the [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] and [[Mandaic alphabet]]s.{{ref label|Variants_in_Arabic_Mandaic|b|}} These are shown below the normal form in the following table (letter names are [[List of Unicode characters#Hebrew|Unicode]] standard<ref name="unicode_names_of_hebrew_glyphs_at_unicode.org">{{cite web| url = https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0590.pdf| title = Hebrew |
format=character code chart |work=The Unicode Standard |publisher=Unicode, Inc. }}</ref><ref name="unicode_names_of_hebrew_glyphs_at_fileformat.info">[https://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/block/hebrew/list.htm Unicode names of Hebrew characters at fileformat.info].</ref>). Although Hebrew is read and written from right to left, the following table shows the letters in order from left to right:

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; line-height:150%;" dir="ltr"
|-<!--
* Note to editors wishing to change He → Hei, Yod → Yud, Pe → Pei, Tsadi → Tsadiq, Qof → Quf, Tav → Taf:
* The letter names in this table are from the Unicode standard.
* Variants of letter names and their pronunciation, such as colloquial Hebrew pronunciation and Yiddish pronunciation, are listed extensively in the following section, "Pronunciation of letter names".
* Please do not change the Unicode names in this table without explaining your rationale and having it discussed on the talk page – thank you!
-->
!'''[[Aleph|Alef]]'''||'''<div dir="ltr">[[Beth (letter)|Bet]]</div>'''||'''[[Gimel]]'''||'''[[Dalet]]'''||'''<div dir="ltr">[[He (letter)|He]]</div>'''||'''<div dir="ltr">[[Waw (letter)|Waw/Vav]]</div>'''||'''[[Zayin]]'''||'''[[Heth|Chet]]'''||'''[[Teth|Tet]]'''||'''[[Yodh|Yod]]'''||'''[[Kaph|Kaf]]'''
|-
| rowspan="2" style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|א}}
| rowspan="2" style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ב}}
| rowspan="2" style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ג}}
| rowspan="2" style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ד}}
| rowspan="2" style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ה}}
| rowspan="2" style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ו}}
| rowspan="2" style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ז}}
| rowspan="2" style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ח}}
| rowspan="2" style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ט}}
| rowspan="2" style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|י}}
| style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|כ}}
|-
|style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ך}}
|-
!'''[[Lamed]]'''||'''[[Mem]]'''||'''<div dir="ltr">[[Nun (letter)|Nun]]</div>'''||'''[[Samech]]'''||'''[[Ayin]]'''||'''<div dir="ltr">[[Pe (Semitic letter)|Pe]]</div>'''||'''[[Tsade|Tsadi]]'''||'''[[Qoph|Qof]]'''||'''[[Resh]]'''||'''<div dir="ltr">[[Shin (letter)|Shin]]</div>'''||'''[[Taw|Tav]]'''
|-
| rowspan="2"style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ל}}
|style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|מ}}
|style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|נ}}
| rowspan="2"style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ס}}
| rowspan="2"style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ע}}
|style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|פ}}
|style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|צ}}
| rowspan="2"style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ק}}
| rowspan="2"style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ר}}
| rowspan="2"style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ש}}
| rowspan="2"style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ת}}
|-
|style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ם}}
|style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ן}}
|style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ף}}
|style="font-size:200%;" | {{script/Hebrew|ץ}}
|}

===Order<span class="anchor" id="ayin-pe reversal"></span>===
As far back as the 13th century BCE, ancient Hebrew [[abecedaries]] indicate a slightly different ordering of the alphabet. The [[Zayit Stone]],<ref>Tappy, Ron E., et al. "An Abecedary of the Mid-Tenth Century B.C.E. from the Judaean Shephelah." ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research'', no. 344, 2006, pp. 5–46. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25066976. Accessed 17 May 2024.</ref> Izbet Sartah [[ostracon]],<ref>A. Dotan. “The Alphabet Inscription of 'Izbet Ṣarṭah / כתובת הא"ב מעזבת צרטה.” ''Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies / ארץ-ישראל: מחקרים בידיעת הארץ ועתיקותיה'', vol. 16 (טז), 1982, pp. 62–69. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23619530. Accessed 17 May 2024.</ref> and one [[Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions|inscription from Kuntillet Ajrud]]<ref>{{cite book | last1=Renz | first1=Johannes | last2=Röllig | first2=Wolfgang | title=Handbuch der althebräischen Epigraphik | publisher=WBG (Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft) | publication-place=Darmstadt | date=2016 | isbn=978-3-534-26789-7 | language=de|page=62}}</ref> each contain a number of reverse letter orders; such as {{Transliteration|he|vav}}-{{Transliteration|he|he}}, {{Transliteration|he|chet}}-{{Transliteration|he|zayin}}, {{Transliteration|he|pe}}-{{Transliteration|he|ayin}}, etc.

A reversal to {{Transliteration|he|pe-ayin}} can be clearly seen in the [[Book of Lamentations]], whose first four chapters are ordered as alphabetical acrostics.  In the [[Masoretic text]], the first chapter has the now-usual {{Transliteration|he|ayin-pe}} ordering, and the second, third and fourth chapters exhibit {{Transliteration|he|pe-ayin}}.{{sfn|Berlin|2004|p=4}} In the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] version (4QLam/4Q111), reversed ordering also appears in the first chapter (i.e. in all the first four chapters).{{sfn|Goldingay|2022|p=75}} The fact that these chapters follows the pre-exilic {{Transliteration|he|pe-ayin}} order is evidence for them being written shortly after the events described, rather than being later, post-exilic compositions.{{sfn|First|2017}}{{sfn|First|2014}}{{sfn|Pitre|Bergsma|2018}}