yod

Yod, also spelled Yodh, is the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In modern Hebrew, it is a consonant that typically represents the palatal approximant /j/, as in the English word yes. It can also function as a mater lectionis, indicating the vowels i or e in certain spellings of Hebrew words.

The letter has a numeric value of 10 in gematria, a system of Jewish numerology used in religious and scholarly contexts. Yod originates from the Phoenician letter Yodh, which likely depicted a hand. The Hebrew form is the single-story letter י, and unlike several other Hebrew letters, Yod does not have a distinct final form when it appears at the end of a word.

In everyday Hebrew, Yod appears in many common words, such as yom (day) and yad (hand). It also serves a grammatical function as the prefix ye- (or yo-) in certain imperfect verb forms, signaling tense or aspect in Biblical Hebrew.

Linguistically, Yod influenced other writing systems. The Greek letter iota derives from Yodh, and in turn, the Latin letters I and J trace their origins to that lineage. In modern usage, Yod continues to represent the consonant sound /j/ and participates in transliteration and orthographic contexts for names and loanwords.

Beyond its phonetic and orthographic roles, Yod holds cultural and symbolic significance in Jewish tradition, where it is often associated with the divine name and with themes of creation and wisdom due to its status as the first letter of the Tetragrammaton in certain spellings.