Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The letters of a language, arranged in the order fixed by custom.
- noun A system of characters or symbols representing sounds or things.
- noun A set of basic parts or elements.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To arrange in the order of an alphabet; mark by the letters of the alphabet.
- noun The letters of a language arranged in the customary order; the series of letters or characters which form the elements of written language. See the articles on the different letters, A, B, C, etc.
- noun Any series of characters intended to be used in writing instead of the usual letters, as the series of dashes, dots, etc., used in the transmission of telegraphic messages.
- noun First elements; simplest rudiments: as, not to know the alphabet of a science.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The letters of a language arranged in the customary order; the series of letters or signs which form the elements of written language.
- noun The simplest rudiments; elements.
- noun See
Dactylology . - transitive verb rare To designate by the letters of the alphabet; to arrange alphabetically.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The set of
letters used when writing in alanguage . - noun A
writing system in whichletters representphonemes . (Contrast e.g.logography , a writing system in which each character represents a word, andsyllabary , in which each character represents a syllable.) - noun computer science A typically
finite set of distinguishablesymbols . - noun India One particular letter used in writing a language.
- verb To
designate by theletters of the alphabet; toarrange alphabetically.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the elementary stages of any subject (usually plural)
- noun a character set that includes letters and is used to write a language
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word alphabet.
Examples
-
The term alphabet is explained by the fact that the alphabetical name of the note was attached to each slide.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 11: New Mexico-Philip 1840-1916 1913
-
Draftsman Scott Teplin has released a series of limited color prints of an imaginary city where every letter of the alphabet is an architectural drawing of a building.
The Alphabet City, by Scott Teplin « Third Point of Singularity 2009
-
Draftsman Scott Teplin has released a series of limited color prints of an imaginary city where every letter of the alphabet is an architectural drawing of a building.
-
Draftsman Scott Teplin has released a series of limited color prints of an imaginary city where every letter of the alphabet is an architectural drawing of a building.
-
As McLimans says in the introduction, In a way, this alphabet is a return to picture writing.
-
And when I can't fall asleep, I play what I call the alphabet game.
NPR Topics: News 2011
-
Is there a field where authors-by-alphabet is standard, or is this some librul/Marxist/communist egalitarian thing? mattheww says:
-
(My only comnplaint — that cyrillic alphabet is a bitch.)
-
There is always someone's band playing on Ludlow Street, or a friend's one man show in alphabet city, or a comedy club desperate to pull you in off the sidewalk.
Lily Blau: The Temple and Tony Kushner: Worshiping Art and the Art of Worship Lily Blau 2010
-
The pronunciation of detailed and complex Chinese characters must be memorized, rather than sounded out like words in alphabet-based languages.
brtom commented on the word alphabet
She, she, she. What she? The virgin at Hodges Figgis' window on Monday looking in for one of the alphabet books you were going to write. Keen glance you gave her.
Joyce, Ulysses, 3
December 30, 2006
Prolagus commented on the word alphabet
Suggestion for a simpler alphabet.
September 21, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
a
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
b
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
c
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
d
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
e
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
f
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
g
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
h
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
i
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
j
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
k
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
l
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
m
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
n
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
o
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
p
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
q
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
r
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
s
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
t
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
u
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
v
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
w
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
x
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
y
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word alphabet
z
October 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word alphabet
ä
October 18, 2008
seanahan commented on the word alphabet
Artificially inflating your comment count, Gangerh?
October 20, 2008
plethora commented on the word alphabet
ß
October 20, 2008
tbtabby commented on the word alphabet
Hollywood slang for ABC.
August 26, 2009
marky commented on the word alphabet
Rock Alphabet
June 28, 2011
blafferty commented on the word alphabet
Awesome link, marky!
June 29, 2011
marky commented on the word alphabet
its weird she found all these rocks to make the whole alphabet. haha. thx
June 29, 2011
hernesheir commented on the word alphabet
Railroad telegraphers' shorthand for "likely to reach an agreement. --US Railway Association, Standard Cipher Code, 1906.
January 19, 2013