Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The use of an alphabet as a stage in the development of written language; notation by means of an alphabet.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The expression of spoken sounds by an alphabet.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
initialism : anabbreviation which is read letter-by-letter, such as "U.N." - noun The ability to read an alphabet, a rudimentary form of
literacy . - noun Excessive reliance upon the alphabet or alphabetic structures.
- noun
Discrimination on the basis of the first letter of a name.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Just as pictorial phonetism was evolved from ideography, or picture-writing, so was alphabetism evolved from pictorial phonetism.
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Even when their civilization was at its height the Babylonians never came so near to alphabetism as the Egyptians.
A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria, v. 1 Georges Perrot 1873
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(link) they read the names of States at the Democrat Convention in random rather than alphabetical order because “alphabetism” was considered unfair.
sionnach commented on the word alphabetism
Discrimination against those with names beginning with a letter that comes later in the alphabet.
December 9, 2007
denvan commented on the word alphabetism
Term has broader uses, but as applied to nomenclature, this is the best definition I could find:
alphabetism (plural alphabetisms)
An initialism: an abbreviation which is read letter-by-letter, such as "U.N."
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/alphabetism
July 27, 2009