Alfabet

Alfabet is the term used in several languages to denote a standard set of letters used to write a language. In most alphabets, each basic sound of the language is represented by a separate symbol, and the set typically includes both vowels and consonants. Some alphabets use diacritics to indicate pronunciation, tone, or stress. Other writing systems, such as abjads, abugidas, or syllabaries, differ in how they represent sounds and are sometimes contrasted with alphabets.

Most widely used today is the Latin alphabet, derived from the Greek via the Phoenician and adapted by the Romans. It evolved into a large family with uppercase and lowercase forms and numerous diacritics for many languages. Other major alphabets include Cyrillic, used for Russian and many Slavic languages and descended from Greek; the Greek alphabet itself; and writing systems for Hebrew and Arabic, which are typically classified as abjads and have their own phonetic conventions.

In the digital era, alphabets are encoded in computer standards such as Unicode, which assigns a unique code point to each letter and symbol. The choice of alphabet, the use of diacritics, ligatures, or digraphs, and orthographic conventions shape literacy practices in different languages. The term alfabet appears in several languages, including Dutch and Afrikaans, denoting the same concept as the English word alphabet.