Hebraization of English
Encyclopedia
The Hebraization of English (or Hebraicization) is the use of the Hebrew alphabet
to write English
. Because Hebrew uses an abjad
, it can render English words in multiple ways. There are many uses for hebraization, which serve as a useful tool for Israel
i learners of English by indicating the pronunciation of unfamiliar letters. An example would be the English name spelled "Timothy", which can be Hebraized as "טימותי" in the Hebrew alphabet.
, Mem, Tsadi, Pe/Fe
, and Kaf
, all have final or sofit (Hebrew: סוֹפִית sofit) forms. That means, that the letters' appearances change when they are at the end of words from כ, פ, צ, מ, נ to ך, ף, ץ, ם, ן respectively. Final forms are used in transliteration when appropriate, with the exception of foreign words ending in a [p] sound, which retain the non-final form of פ, such as "קטשופ" ("ketchup").
Hebrew has only 5 vowel sounds, with lack of discrimination in Hebrew between long and short vowels. In comparison, English which has around 12 vowel sounds (5 long, 7 short) depending on dialect. As a result, words such as sit/seat (/sɪt/ and /siːt/), hat/hut (/hæt/ and /hʌt/), and cop/cope (/kɒp/ and /koʊp/) are transliterated as the Hebrew vowels /i/, /a/ and /o/. The English pronunciation can be known through prior context.
Vowels will sometimes be put into Hebrew by their letters, and not by their sounds, even though it is less accurate phonetically. For example, any sort of "a" sound written with the letter "o", (ex. mom, monitor, soft), will often be transliterated as an "o" vowel, that is, with a vav (ו). The same is the case for an -or ending , it will also often be transliterated with a vav as well. If the word with the "a" sound (such as a or ah), as in "ta ta", or "spa", it will be treated as an "a".
For full spelling, the niqqudot (the "dots") is simply omitted, if partial vowelling is desired, especially for letters like Vav, then the niqqudot is retained.
The picture of the "O" represents whatever Hebrew letter is used.
by themselves would be assumed to be their consonant versions ("V" and "Y" respectively) and not their vowel versions.
If these same sounds (that is, vowels with no consonants before it) are made in the middle of a word, the same thing is done as shown below (or looking up, replace the "O" with the aleph
).
For full spelling, the niqqudot (the "dots") are simply omitted.
Hebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
to write English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Because Hebrew uses an abjad
Abjad
An abjad is a type of writing system in which each symbol always or usually stands for a consonant; the reader must supply the appropriate vowel....
, it can render English words in multiple ways. There are many uses for hebraization, which serve as a useful tool for Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i learners of English by indicating the pronunciation of unfamiliar letters. An example would be the English name spelled "Timothy", which can be Hebraized as "טימותי" in the Hebrew alphabet.
Consonants
For full spelling, when a reader is likely to err in the reading of a word, the use of niqqud or partial niqqud is recommended. This is especially true when writing foreign words, unfamiliar words, ambiguous words, or words that take a dagesh.| Single letters | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letter | Variations | Hebrew | English Examples | IPA | |
| a | |
||||
| b | none | (Bet Bet (letter) Bet, Beth, Beh, or Vet is the second letter of many Semitic abjads, including Arabic alphabet , Aramaic, Hebrew , Phoenician and Syriac... ) (full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
but, web | b | |
| | c | Hard C | (Kuf Qoph Qoph or Qop is the nineteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Syriac, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . Its sound value is an emphatic or . The OHED gives the letter Qoph a transliteration value of Q or a K and a final transliteration value as a ck... ), (Kaph Kaph Kaph is the eleventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Kaf , Arabic alphabet , Persian alphabet... ) (kaph not normally used for transliterations) (full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
cat, kill, skin, thick | k | |
| Soft C | (Samekh Samekh Samekh or Simketh is the fifteenth letter in many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Hebrew, and Aramaic, representing . The Arabic alphabet, however, uses a letter based on Phoenician šin to represent ; however, that glyph takes Samekh's place in the traditional Abjadi order of the Arabic... ), (Sin) (sin not normally used for transliterations) (full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
see, city, pass | s | ||
| d | none | (Dalet) | do, odd | d | |
| e | |
||||
| f | none | (Fe) | fool, enough, leaf, phone | f | |
| | g | Hard G | (Gimel) | go, get, beg | ɡ | |
| Soft G | (Gimel with geresh Geresh Geresh is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.#An apostrophe-like sign placed after a letter :... ) |
gin, joy, edge | dʒ | ||
| French soft G | (Zayin Zayin Zayin is the seventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Aramaic , Hebrew , Syriac and Perso-Arabic alphabet... with geresh Geresh Geresh is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.#An apostrophe-like sign placed after a letter :... ) |
beige, massage, pleasure, vision | ʒ | ||
| h | none | (He He (letter) He is the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician , Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic . Its sound value is a voiceless glottal fricative .... ) |
hen | h | |
| | j | Affricative Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :... J > (Gimel with geresh Geresh Geresh is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.#An apostrophe-like sign placed after a letter :... ) |
joy, gin, edge | dʒ | ||
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... J |
(Zayin Zayin Zayin is the seventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Aramaic , Hebrew , Syriac and Perso-Arabic alphabet... with geresh Geresh Geresh is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.#An apostrophe-like sign placed after a letter :... ) |
Jacques, beige, pleasure, vision | ʒ | ||
| k | none | (Kuf Qoph Qoph or Qop is the nineteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Syriac, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . Its sound value is an emphatic or . The OHED gives the letter Qoph a transliteration value of Q or a K and a final transliteration value as a ck... ), (Kaph Kaph Kaph is the eleventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Kaf , Arabic alphabet , Persian alphabet... ) (kaph not normally used for transliterations) (full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
cat, kill, skin, thick | k | |
| l | none | (Lamed) | left, bell | l | |
| m | none | (Mem) | man, tam | m | |
| n | none | (Nun Nun (letter) Nun is the fourteenth letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . It is the third letter in Thaana , pronounced as "noonu"... ) |
no, tin, know | n | |
| o | |
||||
| p | none | (Pe) (full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
pen, spin, tip | p | |
| | q | Q followed by U | (Kuf Qoph Qoph or Qop is the nineteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Syriac, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . Its sound value is an emphatic or . The OHED gives the letter Qoph a transliteration value of Q or a K and a final transliteration value as a ck... -Vav) (full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
quick, quite | kw | |
| Q not followed by U | (Kuf Qoph Qoph or Qop is the nineteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Syriac, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . Its sound value is an emphatic or . The OHED gives the letter Qoph a transliteration value of Q or a K and a final transliteration value as a ck... ), (Kaph Kaph Kaph is the eleventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Kaf , Arabic alphabet , Persian alphabet... ) (kaph not normally used for transliterations) (full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
qwerty | k | ||
| r | none | (Reish Resh Resh is the twentieth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . Its sound value is one of a number of rhotic consonants: usually or , but also or in Hebrew.... ) |
(guttural R) (closest to letter "r R R is the eighteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The original Semitic letter may have been inspired by an Egyptian hieroglyph for tp, "head". It was used for by Semites because in their language, the word for "head" was rêš . It developed into Greek Ρ and Latin R... ") ex. run |
ʁ | |
| | s | Voiceless Voiceless alveolar fricative The voiceless alveolar sibilant is a common consonant sound in spoken languages. It is the sound in English words such as sea and pass, and is represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet as . It has a characteristic high-pitched, highly perceptible hissing sound... S |
(Samekh Samekh Samekh or Simketh is the fifteenth letter in many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Hebrew, and Aramaic, representing . The Arabic alphabet, however, uses a letter based on Phoenician šin to represent ; however, that glyph takes Samekh's place in the traditional Abjadi order of the Arabic... ), (Sin) (sin not normally used for transliterations) (full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
see, city, pass | s | |
| Voiced Voiced alveolar fricative The voiced alveolar fricatives are consonantal sounds. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on whether a sibilant or non-sibilant fricative is being described.... S (Z sound) |
(Zayin Zayin Zayin is the seventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Aramaic , Hebrew , Syriac and Perso-Arabic alphabet... ) |
rose, catches, monkeys, Moses, zoo, xylophone |
z | ||
| Voiceless postalveolar Voiceless postalveolar fricative The voiceless palato-alveolar fricative or voiceless domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in many spoken languages, including English... S (SH sound) |
(full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
mission | ʃ | ||
| Voiced postalveolar Voiced postalveolar fricative The voiced palato-alveolar fricative or voiced domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is Z. An alternative symbol used in some... S |
(Zayin Zayin Zayin is the seventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Aramaic , Hebrew , Syriac and Perso-Arabic alphabet... with geresh Geresh Geresh is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.#An apostrophe-like sign placed after a letter :... ) |
pleasure, vision | ʒ | ||
| t | none | (Tet), (Tav) (tav not normally used for transliterations) |
two, sting, bet | t | |
| u | |
||||
| v | none | (Vav) (at beginning of a word or in the middle, when not next to a vav acting as a vowel [/o/ or /u/]) (full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... : Vav is doubled in the middle of a word but not at the beginning except if initial affix letter except "and" prefix), (Vet) (at end of a word or in the middle, when next to a vav acting as a vowel [/o/ or /u/]) |
voice, have | v | |
| w | none | (Vav) (transliterated as a 'v' sound, but often pronounced with 'w' sound though prior knowledge), (full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... : follows rule for Vav above) (Vav with geresh Geresh Geresh is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.#An apostrophe-like sign placed after a letter :... ) (non-standard (indicates 'w' sound), and not used in general transliterations) |
we | w | |
| | y | Consonant | (Yud Yud Yud may refer to:*Yud, the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets*YUD, the IATA airport code for Umiujaq Airport in Quebec, Canada*YUD, the ISO 4217 three letter code for the New Yugoslavian Dinar currency... ) (full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... : Yud is doubled in the middle of a word for /ei, ai/ but not at the beginning or after affix letters) |
yes, yellow | j | |
| Vowel | |
||||
| | x | Z sound | (Zayin Zayin Zayin is the seventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Aramaic , Hebrew , Syriac and Perso-Arabic alphabet... ) |
xylophone | z | |
| KS sound | (Kuf Qoph Qoph or Qop is the nineteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Syriac, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . Its sound value is an emphatic or . The OHED gives the letter Qoph a transliteration value of Q or a K and a final transliteration value as a ck... -Samekh Samekh Samekh or Simketh is the fifteenth letter in many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Hebrew, and Aramaic, representing . The Arabic alphabet, however, uses a letter based on Phoenician šin to represent ; however, that glyph takes Samekh's place in the traditional Abjadi order of the Arabic... ) |
chicken pox, text | ks | ||
| EX sound | (Aleph Aleph * Aleph or Alef is the first letter of the Semitic abjads descended from Proto-Canaanite, Arabic alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet-People:*Aleph , an Italo disco artist and alias of Dave Rodgers... with segol-Kuf Qoph Qoph or Qop is the nineteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Syriac, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . Its sound value is an emphatic or . The OHED gives the letter Qoph a transliteration value of Q or a K and a final transliteration value as a ck... with sh'va-Samekh Samekh Samekh or Simketh is the fifteenth letter in many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Hebrew, and Aramaic, representing . The Arabic alphabet, however, uses a letter based on Phoenician šin to represent ; however, that glyph takes Samekh's place in the traditional Abjadi order of the Arabic... ) (full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
X-ray | eks | ||
| z | none | (Zayin Zayin Zayin is the seventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Aramaic , Hebrew , Syriac and Perso-Arabic alphabet... ) |
zoo | z | |
| Multiple letters | |||||
| Letters | Variations | Hebrew | English Examples | IPA | |
| ng | none | (Nun Nun (letter) Nun is the fourteenth letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . It is the third letter in Thaana , pronounced as "noonu"... -Gimel), |
ringer, sing, drink | ŋ | |
| | ch | Normal CH | (Tsadi with geresh Geresh Geresh is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.#An apostrophe-like sign placed after a letter :... ) |
chair, nature, teach | tʃ | |
| K sound | (Chaph) (transliterated as an (like German CH below), because a 'ch' making a 'k' sound is from the Greek Greek language Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;... letter Chi Chi (letter) Chi is the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet, pronounced as in English.-Greek:-Ancient Greek:Its value in Ancient Greek was an aspirated velar stop .-Koine Greek:... which also makes the /x/ sound.), (Kuf Qoph Qoph or Qop is the nineteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Syriac, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . Its sound value is an emphatic or . The OHED gives the letter Qoph a transliteration value of Q or a K and a final transliteration value as a ck... ) (indicates 'k' sound, only used for a direct transliteration) |
chaos, character, psychology | k | ||
| German CH | (Het Heth -People:* Children of Heth, a Canaanite nation in the Hebrew Bible, purportedly named after Heth, son of Canaan, son of Ham, son of Noah* figures in the Book of Mormon:** Heth , an early Jaredite** Heth a later Jaredite... ), (Chaph) (chaph not normally used for transliterations) |
Scottish loch, chanukah | x | ||
| | th | Voiceless Voiceless dental fricative The voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is familiar to English speakers as the 'th' in thing. Though rather rare as a phoneme in the world's inventory of languages, it is encountered in some of the most widespread and influential... dental fricative Voiceless dental fricative The voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is familiar to English speakers as the 'th' in thing. Though rather rare as a phoneme in the world's inventory of languages, it is encountered in some of the most widespread and influential... |
(Tav Taw Taw may refer to:* Taw , the twenty-second letter in many Semitic alphabets* Taw , the collection of all cardinal numbers* the shooter marble in a game of marbles* The River Taw in Devon, England* a method to produce white leather... ) (transliterated as a 't' sound), (Tav Taw Taw may refer to:* Taw , the twenty-second letter in many Semitic alphabets* Taw , the collection of all cardinal numbers* the shooter marble in a game of marbles* The River Taw in Devon, England* a method to produce white leather... with geresh Geresh Geresh is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.#An apostrophe-like sign placed after a letter :... ) (more accurate (indicates 'th' sound), but not used in general transliterations) |
thing, teeth | θ | |
| Voiced Voiced dental fricative The voiced dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound, eth, is . The symbol was taken from the Old English letter eth, which could stand for either a voiced or unvoiced... dental fricative Voiced dental fricative The voiced dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound, eth, is . The symbol was taken from the Old English letter eth, which could stand for either a voiced or unvoiced... |
(Dalet Dalet Dalet is the fourth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic... ) (transliterated as a 'd' sound), (Dalet Dalet Dalet is the fourth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic... with geresh Geresh Geresh is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.#An apostrophe-like sign placed after a letter :... ) (more accurate (indicates 'th' sound), but not used in general transliterations) |
this, breathe, father | ð | ||
| sh | none | (Shin Shin (letter) Shin literally means "Sharp" ; It is the twenty-first letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Aramaic/Hebrew , and Arabic .... ) (full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
she, sure, emotion, leash, schmaltz |
ʃ | |
| ts | none | (Tsadi), (Tav Taw Taw may refer to:* Taw , the twenty-second letter in many Semitic alphabets* Taw , the collection of all cardinal numbers* the shooter marble in a game of marbles* The River Taw in Devon, England* a method to produce white leather... -Samekh Samekh Samekh or Simketh is the fifteenth letter in many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Hebrew, and Aramaic, representing . The Arabic alphabet, however, uses a letter based on Phoenician šin to represent ; however, that glyph takes Samekh's place in the traditional Abjadi order of the Arabic... ) (tav-samekh not normally used for transliterations) (Tav Taw Taw may refer to:* Taw , the twenty-second letter in many Semitic alphabets* Taw , the collection of all cardinal numbers* the shooter marble in a game of marbles* The River Taw in Devon, England* a method to produce white leather... -Sin) (tav-sin not normally used for transliterations) (full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
tsunami, tsar, pizza | ts | |
Final letters
Five letters in Hebrew, NunNun (letter)
Nun is the fourteenth letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . It is the third letter in Thaana , pronounced as "noonu"...
, Mem, Tsadi, Pe/Fe
Pe (letter)
Pe is the seventeenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Pei and Persian, Arabic ....
, and Kaf
Kaph
Kaph is the eleventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Kaf , Arabic alphabet , Persian alphabet...
, all have final or sofit (Hebrew: סוֹפִית sofit) forms. That means, that the letters' appearances change when they are at the end of words from כ, פ, צ, מ, נ to ך, ף, ץ, ם, ן respectively. Final forms are used in transliteration when appropriate, with the exception of foreign words ending in a [p] sound, which retain the non-final form of פ, such as "קטשופ" ("ketchup").
Vowels and diphthongs
Since vowels are not consistent in English, they are more difficult to transliterate into other languages. Sometimes they are just transcribed by the actual English letter, and other times by its actual pronunciation (which also varies). For the most accurate transliteration, below is a table describing the different vowel sounds and their corresponding letters.Hebrew has only 5 vowel sounds, with lack of discrimination in Hebrew between long and short vowels. In comparison, English which has around 12 vowel sounds (5 long, 7 short) depending on dialect. As a result, words such as sit/seat (/sɪt/ and /siːt/), hat/hut (/hæt/ and /hʌt/), and cop/cope (/kɒp/ and /koʊp/) are transliterated as the Hebrew vowels /i/, /a/ and /o/. The English pronunciation can be known through prior context.
Vowels will sometimes be put into Hebrew by their letters, and not by their sounds, even though it is less accurate phonetically. For example, any sort of "a" sound written with the letter "o", (ex. mom, monitor, soft), will often be transliterated as an "o" vowel, that is, with a vav (ו). The same is the case for an -or ending , it will also often be transliterated with a vav as well. If the word with the "a" sound (such as a or ah), as in "ta ta", or "spa", it will be treated as an "a".
For full spelling, the niqqudot (the "dots") is simply omitted, if partial vowelling is desired, especially for letters like Vav, then the niqqudot is retained.
The picture of the "O" represents whatever Hebrew letter is used.
| Vowels | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letter | Hebrew | English Examples | IPA | IPA after trans. Transliteration Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another... |
|
| | a | (letter with kamatz), (letter with patah), (Alef Aleph * Aleph or Alef is the first letter of the Semitic abjads descended from Proto-Canaanite, Arabic alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet-People:*Aleph , an Italo disco artist and alias of Dave Rodgers... with kamatz or patach) (Not part of ordinary Hebrew spelling but sometimes used in transliterations) |
run, enough | a/ʌ | a | |
| Note for below: This sound (æ) (ex. hat) does not exist in Hebrew. As a result, it is always transliterated as if it were an (a) sound (ex. hut). |
mat, hat | æ | |||
| (letter with kamatz), (letter with patah), (Alef Aleph * Aleph or Alef is the first letter of the Semitic abjads descended from Proto-Canaanite, Arabic alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet-People:*Aleph , an Italo disco artist and alias of Dave Rodgers... with kamatz or patach) (Not part of ordinary Hebrew spelling but sometimes used in transliterations) |
|||||
| Note for below: These sounds (ɑ/ɒ) (ex. pawn) do not exist in Hebrew. As a result, it is transliterated as if it were an (a) sound (ex. pun). |
spa, pawn, caught | ɑː/ɒː | |||
| (letter with kamatz), (letter with patah), (Alef Aleph * Aleph or Alef is the first letter of the Semitic abjads descended from Proto-Canaanite, Arabic alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet-People:*Aleph , an Italo disco artist and alias of Dave Rodgers... with kamatz or patach) (Not part of ordinary Hebrew spelling but sometimes used in transliterations) |
|||||
| e | (letter with segol), (letter with zeire) (more ambiguous Ambiguity Ambiguity of words or phrases is the ability to express more than one interpretation. It is distinct from vagueness, which is a statement about the lack of precision contained or available in the information.Context may play a role in resolving ambiguity... ) |
bed, lead, said | e | e | |
| | i | (Yud Yud Yud may refer to:*Yud, the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets*YUD, the IATA airport code for Umiujaq Airport in Quebec, Canada*YUD, the ISO 4217 three letter code for the New Yugoslavian Dinar currency... preceded by letter with hirik), (letter with hirik) (not used in full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
city, see, ski, leaf | iː | i | |
| Note for below: This sound (ɪ) (ex. mitt) does not exist in Hebrew. As a result, it is always transliterated as if it were an (i) sound (ex. meet). |
skid, mitt | ɪ | |||
| (Yud Yud Yud may refer to:*Yud, the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets*YUD, the IATA airport code for Umiujaq Airport in Quebec, Canada*YUD, the ISO 4217 three letter code for the New Yugoslavian Dinar currency... preceded by letter with hirik), (letter with hirik) (not used in full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
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| | o | (Vav with holam),סׁ (succeeding letter with cholom) (not used in full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
no, tow, moan, toll | o/əʊ | o | |
| Note for below: These sounds (ɑ/ɒ) (ex. cop) do not exist in Modern Hebrew. As a result, it is transliterated as if it were an (o) sound (ex. cope). |
mop, hot, bought | ɑː/ɒ/ɔː | |||
| (Vav with holam),סׁ (succeeding letter with cholom) (not used in full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
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| | uː | (Vav with shuruk), (letter with kubutz) (not used in full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
tube, soon, through | uː | u | |
| Note for below: This sound (ʊ) (ex. look) does not exist in Hebrew. As a result, it is always transliterated as if it were an (u) sound (ex. luke). |
look, put, book | ʊ | |||
| (Vav with shuruk), (letter with kubutz) (not used in full spelling Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... ) |
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| Diphthongs | |||||
| ei | (Yud-Yud) (used specifically in transliterations), (letter with segol-Yud) (not normally used for transliterations), (letter with zeire) (not normally used for transliterations, also more ambiguous Ambiguity Ambiguity of words or phrases is the ability to express more than one interpretation. It is distinct from vagueness, which is a statement about the lack of precision contained or available in the information.Context may play a role in resolving ambiguity... and used only in certain words) |
day, pain, table, frame | ej | ej | |
| ai | (Yud-Yud) (used specifically in transliterations), (letter with kamatz-Yud Yodh Yodh is the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Yud , Syriac and Arabic... ) (not normally used for transliterations), (letter with patah-Yud Yodh Yodh is the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Yud , Syriac and Arabic... ) (not normally used for transliterations) |
fine, why | aj | aj | |
| oi | (Vav with holam male-Yud) | loin, boy | oj | oj | |
| ui | (Vav with shuruk-Yud) | Foreign to English phonology ex. Spanish: muy bien! |
uj | uj | |
| ao | (Alef Aleph * Aleph or Alef is the first letter of the Semitic abjads descended from Proto-Canaanite, Arabic alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet-People:*Aleph , an Italo disco artist and alias of Dave Rodgers... -Vav) |
town, mouse, pout | aʊ | aʊ | |
| yu | (Yud-Vav with shuruk) | cute, beauty , circular | ju | ju | |
| Hiatus | |||||
| ui | (Vav with shuruk-Alef Aleph * Aleph or Alef is the first letter of the Semitic abjads descended from Proto-Canaanite, Arabic alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet-People:*Aleph , an Italo disco artist and alias of Dave Rodgers... -Yud Yodh Yodh is the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Yud , Syriac and Arabic... with hirik-Yud Yodh Yodh is the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Yud , Syriac and Arabic... ) |
chop suey, phooey | uːiː | u.i | |
At the beginning or end of a word
The following are special cases for vowels at the beginning or end of a word. The reason "O", "U", or "I" sound at the beginning of a word is different is because here these vowels have no consonants before them. Therefore, Vav and YudYodh
Yodh is the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Yud , Syriac and Arabic...
by themselves would be assumed to be their consonant versions ("V" and "Y" respectively) and not their vowel versions.
If these same sounds (that is, vowels with no consonants before it) are made in the middle of a word, the same thing is done as shown below (or looking up, replace the "O" with the aleph
Aleph
* Aleph or Alef is the first letter of the Semitic abjads descended from Proto-Canaanite, Arabic alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet-People:*Aleph , an Italo disco artist and alias of Dave Rodgers...
).
For full spelling, the niqqudot (the "dots") are simply omitted.
| At the beginning of a word | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letter | Hebrew | English Examples | IPA | IPA after trans. Transliteration Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another... |
| o | (Aleph Aleph (letter) ' is the reconstructed name of the first letter of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, continued in descended Semitic alphabets as Phoenician ' , Syriac ' , Hebrew Aleph , and Arabic ' .... -Vav with holam) (Ayin Ayin ' or ' is the sixteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic . It is the twenty-first letter in the new Persian alphabet... -Vav with holam) (not normally used for transliterations) |
open | o | o |
| u | (Aleph Aleph (letter) ' is the reconstructed name of the first letter of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, continued in descended Semitic alphabets as Phoenician ' , Syriac ' , Hebrew Aleph , and Arabic ' .... -Vav with shuruk) (Ayin Ayin ' or ' is the sixteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic . It is the twenty-first letter in the new Persian alphabet... -Vav with shuruk) (not normally used for transliterations) |
Uma | u/ʊ | u |
| i/ee | (Aleph Aleph (letter) ' is the reconstructed name of the first letter of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, continued in descended Semitic alphabets as Phoenician ' , Syriac ' , Hebrew Aleph , and Arabic ' .... with hiriq-Yud) (Ayin Ayin ' or ' is the sixteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic . It is the twenty-first letter in the new Persian alphabet... with hiriq-Yud) (not normally used for transliterations) Note: The subsequent yud Yodh Yodh is the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Yud , Syriac and Arabic... in both the Aleph Aleph * Aleph or Alef is the first letter of the Semitic abjads descended from Proto-Canaanite, Arabic alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet-People:*Aleph , an Italo disco artist and alias of Dave Rodgers... -Yud Yodh Yodh is the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Yud , Syriac and Arabic... and Ayin Ayin ' or ' is the sixteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic . It is the twenty-first letter in the new Persian alphabet... -Yud Yodh Yodh is the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Yud , Syriac and Arabic... above is only necessary in full spelling. |
into, eel | ɪ/i | i |
| ei/ai | (Aleph Aleph (letter) ' is the reconstructed name of the first letter of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, continued in descended Semitic alphabets as Phoenician ' , Syriac ' , Hebrew Aleph , and Arabic ' .... -Yud-Yud) |
ice, ace | ej/aj | ej/aj |
| a | (Aleph Aleph * Aleph or Alef is the first letter of the Semitic abjads descended from Proto-Canaanite, Arabic alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet-People:*Aleph , an Italo disco artist and alias of Dave Rodgers... with kamatz), (Aleph Aleph * Aleph or Alef is the first letter of the Semitic abjads descended from Proto-Canaanite, Arabic alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet-People:*Aleph , an Italo disco artist and alias of Dave Rodgers... with patach) / (Ayin Ayin ' or ' is the sixteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic . It is the twenty-first letter in the new Persian alphabet... with kamatz or patach) (not normally used for transliterations) |
Albert | a | a |
| e | (Aleph Aleph (letter) ' is the reconstructed name of the first letter of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, continued in descended Semitic alphabets as Phoenician ' , Syriac ' , Hebrew Aleph , and Arabic ' .... with segol) (Ayin Ayin ' or ' is the sixteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic . It is the twenty-first letter in the new Persian alphabet... with segol) (not normally used for transliterations) |
Edward | e | e |
| At the end of a word | ||||
| a | (Letter with kamatz-He He (letter) He is the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician , Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic . Its sound value is a voiceless glottal fricative .... ), (Letter with patach-He He (letter) He is the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician , Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic . Its sound value is a voiceless glottal fricative .... ) or (Aleph Aleph * Aleph or Alef is the first letter of the Semitic abjads descended from Proto-Canaanite, Arabic alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet-People:*Aleph , an Italo disco artist and alias of Dave Rodgers... or Ayin) (not normally used for transliterations) |
cola | a | a |
| e | (Letter with segol-He He (letter) He is the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician , Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic . Its sound value is a voiceless glottal fricative .... ) |
meh | e | e |
See also
- International Phonetic AlphabetInternational Phonetic AlphabetThe International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
- Help:IPA for Hebrew
- Hebrew phonologyHebrew phonologyThis article is about the phonology of the Hebrew language based on the Israeli dialect. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof, including geographical variants....
- Hebrew alphabetHebrew alphabetThe Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
- Romanization of HebrewRomanization of HebrewHebrew uses the Hebrew alphabet with optional vowel points. The romanization of Hebrew is the use of the Latin alphabet to transliterate Hebrew words....
- Hebraization of surnamesHebraization of surnamesThe Hebraization of surnames is the process of adopting Hebrew family names ....
External links
- The International Phonetic Alphabet (revised to 2005) Symbols for all languages are shown on this one-page chart.