Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. 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
Examples
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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.
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According to the abjad system of reckoning, the numerical value of Tá is nine, which equals the numerical value of the name Bahá.
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According to the abjad reckoning, the numerical value of each of these letters is 6, 1 and 6 respectively.
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The abjad numerical value of this Arabic letter is five, which corresponds to the potential number of intercalary days.
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"Tá", which is its equivalent in the abjad notation (see Glossary).
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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.
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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.
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There are actually excellent calligraphic examples of another middle-eastern abjad.
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This contrasts with an alphabet proper (in which vowels have a status equal to that of consonants) and with an abjad
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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.
Judith commented on the word abjad
an alphabet that includes only consonants, indicating vowel sounds (if at all) by other kinds of marks. Hebrew and Arabic alphabets are adbjads.
July 24, 2009
seanahan commented on the word abjad
Is the same as alpeh and alpha.
Ba, bet and beta.
Ga, gimel, and gamma.
The alphabet is fun.
December 3, 2006
dbmag9 commented on the word abjad
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).
December 3, 2006