Hebrew spelling Hebrew spelling Hebrew spelling ( , "Hebrew spelling") refers to the way words are spelled in the Hebrew language. The Hebrew alphabet contains 22 letters, all of which are primarily consonants. This is because the Hebrew script is an abjad, that is, its letters indicate consonants, not vowels or syllables. An early system to overcome this, still used today, is "matres lectionis", where four of these letters, alef, he, waw and yodh also serve as vowel letters. Later, a system of vowel points to indicate vowels (diacritics), called niqqud, was developed. Throughout history, there have been two main systems of
Arabic alphabet Arabic alphabet The Arabic alphabet ( ', or ') or Arabic abjad is the Arabic script as it is codified for writing Arabic. It is written from right to left in a cursive style and includes 28 letters. Most letters have contextual letterforms. Originally, the alphabet was an abjad, with only consonants, but it is now considered an "impure abjad". As with other "abjads", such as the Hebrew alphabet, scribes later devised means of indicating vowel sounds by separate vowel diacritics. The basic Arabic alphabet contains 28 letters. Adaptations of the Arabic script for other languages added and removed some