Definitions
Wiktionary
- n. linguistics A writing system, similar to a syllabary, in which there is one glyph (that is a symbol or letter) for each consonant or consonantal phoneme. Some languages that use abjads are Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Urdu. Abjads differ from syllabaries (such as the Japanese hiragana) in that the vowel quality of each letter is left unspecified, and must be inferred from context and grammar.
Etymologies
- Coined by Peter T. Daniels from the first four letters of the Arabic alphabet, a-b-j-d: أبجد (ʔábjad). Compare Greek α,β,γ,δ... (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Arabic uses a writing system that we haven't seen yet: an abjad, which is basically an alphabet that doesn't have any vowels-the reader must supply them.”
“According to the abjad system of reckoning, the numerical value of Tá is nine, which equals the numerical value of the name Bahá.”
“According to the abjad reckoning, the numerical value of each of these letters is 6, 1 and 6 respectively.”
“The abjad numerical value of this Arabic letter is five, which corresponds to the potential number of intercalary days.”
“Tá", which is its equivalent in the abjad notation (see Glossary).”
“The term "alphabet" is something of a misnomer here, though, as Hebrew script is not in fact an alphabet, but an abjad; that is, a script with only consonants.”
“However, the Hebrew script is not a pure abjad, either, and the characters alef, he, vav, and yod are sometimes (in the case of vav and yod, frequently) used to represent vowels.”
“There are actually excellent calligraphic examples of another middle-eastern abjad.”
“This contrasts with an alphabet proper (in which vowels have a status equal to that of consonants) and with an abjad”
“What we call ktav ivri is a cuneiform script, is an abjad offshoot of the ancient Semitic alphabet, barely discernible from the Phoenician alphabet from which it was derived.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘abjad’.
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Word Words
This used to be my nym list, but there are so many words about words, I think it's time to expand and open.
acronym, antonym, aptronym, autoantonym, autonym, bacronym, capitonym, contranym, contronym, eponym, exonym, heteronym and 120 more...
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Bits and pieces
neverwasbian, proddywoddy, militant relativism, cverglan, điđe-miđe, goomba, churlsome, skancewards, luftmensch, šmizla, sbc, villayet and 567 more...
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SimonW11's Words
rodomontadizing, skeevy, skelfy, bloviate, ephebophilia, carmagnole, copacetic, redacted, lexiphanic, wingnuttery, outlier, prolegomena and 23 more...
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dbmag9's Words
petrichor, blurb, pneumoultramicros..., soliloquy, effervescence, floccinaucinihili..., spelunking, mellisma, susurrus, filibuster, schadenfreude, chutzpah and 10 more...
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Wonders of the word
optic to coptic
alphabit, betamaximum, glammar, iota jot set, deltidium, kappale, chicane, chide, inusitate, pazend, abjad, Pinyin and 20 more...
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Words about Words, Language, Writing
dis legomenon, hapax legomenon, tris legomenon, tetrakis legomenon, longueur, mot juste, incunabula, incunabulum, portmanteau, mawkish, mawkishness, rhotic and 47 more...
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Conceptions
Ideas of interesting things.
gharial, ungulate, glossolalia, druze, bultitude, maraschinos, pfifltriggi, borscht, electrifying, instrumentality, lion-eating poet ..., landsknecht and 60 more...
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words about words
aposiopesis, hendiadys, litotes, meiosis, auxesis, paradiastole, anaphora, epistrophe, catachresis, malapropism, interrobang, palimpsest and 8 more...
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Verba volant, Scripta manent
abecedarium, alphabet, abjad, abugida, syllabary, logograph, cuneiform, heiroglyph, rebus, qipu, rune, tetragrammaton and 17 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for abjad.
Judith an alphabet that includes only consonants, indicating vowel sounds (if at all) by other kinds of marks. Hebrew and Arabic alphabets are adbjads. Jul 24, 2009
seanahan Is the same as alpeh and alpha.
Ba, bet and beta.
Ga, gimel, and gamma.
The alphabet is fun. Dec 2, 2006
dbmag9 Formed from the first three letters of the Arabic one, this is a system of writing which includes only consonants. In the Semitic languages the abjad is fundamentally entwined with the novel grammar: the consonants in a word indicate its meaning, whilst the vowels (along with pre- or postfixes) indicate its form). Dec 2, 2006