Pronunciation of letter names

See Hebrew phonology and Yiddish phonology for phonetic guides to the phonemic
transcriptions.
letter
Name of letter
Established
pronunciation
in English
[11]
standard
Israeli
pronunciation
colloquial Israeli
pronunciation (if
differing)
Yiddish /
Ashkenazi
pronunciation
!
[11]
"nicode
Aleph Alef
/lf/, /
lf/
/alef/ /alf/

eth et /b/, /bet/ /bet/

/bs/
! /vs/
" #imel #imel /ml/ /imel/ /iml/
$ %aleth %alet
/dl/, /
dlt/
/dalet/ /daled/ /dald/
& He He /he/ /he/ /hej/ /h/
' (aw )a* /vv/ /vav/ /vv/
+ ,ayin ,ayin /za.n/ /zajin/ /zain/ /zajin/
- Heth Het /h/, /xet/ /et/ /et/ / s/
. /eth /et /t/, /tet/ /tet/ /ts/
0 Yod Yod /jd/ /j!d/ /j"d/ /j"d/
1
2aph 2af /#f/ /#af/
/#f/
3 /f/
4
5inal
2af
/#af s!$t/ /la% f/
6 7amed 7amed /lmd/ /lamed/ /lamd/
8 9em 9em /mm/ /mem/ /mm/
:
5inal
9em

/mem
s!$t/
/&ls mm/
; <un <un /n"n/ /n"n/ /n"n/
=
5inal
<un
/n"n s!$t/ /la% n"n/
> Same?h Same?h /sm#/ /same/ /sam/
@ Ayin Ayin /a.n/ /'ajin/ /ain/ /ajin/
A
Be Be /(e/ /(e/ /(ej/
/(/
C /f/
D 5inal Be /(e s!$t/ /(ej s!$t/ /la% f/
E Sadhe /sadi /sd/, /
sdi/
/tsadi/ /tsadi#/ /tsdi/, /
tsdi#/, /
tsad#/
F
5inal
/sadi

/tsadi
s!$t/
/tsadi#
s!$t/
/la%
tsad#/
G Hoph Hof /#f/ /#!f/ /#"f/ /#"f/
I Jesh Jesh /)&/, /)e&/ /)e&/ /)ej&/ /)&/
K Shin Shin /&in/, /&n/ /&in/ /&in, sin/
L
/a* /a* /tf/, /tv/ /tav/ /taf/
/tv/, /tf/
M /sv/, /sf/
#edit$ %rthographic &ariants
5urther informationN SOuare hebrewP Qursi*e HebrewP Jashi scriptP Ashuri alphabet
/he following table displays orthographic *ariants of each letter. 5or the fi*e letters
that ha*e a different final form used at the end of wordsP the final forms are displayed
beneath the regular form.
/he three lettering *ariants currently in use are bloc?P cursi*e and Jashi. loc? and
Jashi are used in boo?s. loc? lettering dominatesP with Jashi lettering typically used
for certain editorial inserts Ras in the glosses of Ssserles to the Shulchan AruchT or
biblical commentaries Ras in the commentary of JashiT in *arious standard literary
wor?s. Qursi*e is used almost eUclusi*ely when handwritingP unless bloc? lettering is
desired for stylistic purposes Ras in signageT.
5or additional ancestral scriptsP see Ancestral scripts and script *ariants.
'etter
name
("nicode)
(ariants
odern )ebre* Ancestral
+erif +ans, ono, -ursi&e .ashi Phoenician Paleo, Aramaic
serif spaced )ebre*
Alef


et
!

#imel
"

%alet
$

He
&

)a*
'

,ayin
+

Het
-

/et
.

Yod
0

2af
3

5inal 2af
4

7amed
6

9em
8

5inal 9em
:

<un
;

5inal <un
=

Same?h
>

Ayin
@

Be
C

5inal Be
D

/sadi
E

P
5inal /sadi
F

Hof
G

Jesh
I

Shin
K

/a*
M

#edit$ Yiddish s/mbols
+/mbol E0planation
* +
, -
/hese are intended for Yiddish. /hey are not used in Hebrew
[1V]
. See:
Yiddish orthography.
. /
/he rafe R012T niqqud is no longer used in Hebrew. St is still seen in
Yiddish. Sn masoretic manuscriptsP the soft fricati*e consonants are
indicated by a small line on top of the letter. Sts use has been largely
discontinued in printed teUts.
#edit$ Numeric &alues of letters
9ain articleN Hebrew numerals
Hebrew letters are also used to denote numbersP nowadays used only in specific
conteUtsP e.g. denoting dates in the Hebrew calendarP denoting grades of school in
SsraelP other listings Re.g. W! !6K PW !6K X Yphase aP phase bYTP commonly in 2abbalah
RZewish mysticismT in a practice ?nown as gematriaP and often in religious conteUts.
letter numeric &alue letter numeric &alue letter numeric &alue
1 0 1[ G 1[[
! V 3 V[ I V[[
" \ 6 \[ K \[[
$ ] 8 ][ M ][[
& ^ ; ^[ 4 ^[[
' _ > _[ : _[[
+ ` @ `[ = `[[
- a C a[ D a[[
. b E b[ F b[[
/he numbers ^[[P _[[P `[[P a[[ and b[[ are often represented by the cuUtapositions
MdM PMdK PMdI PMdGP and MMdG respecti*ely. Adding a geresh RYWYT to a letter multiplies its
*alue by one thousandP for eUampleP the year ^`_b is portrayed as .d>KMW&P where &
represents ^[[[P and .d>KM represents `_b.