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
Cursive Hebrew a manuscript of Elias Levita. The accompanying specimen presents Sephardi script. In this flowing cursive alphabet the ligatures appear more often. They occur especially in letters which have a sharp turn to the left (ג, ז, כ, נ, צ, ח), and above all in נ, whose great open bow offers ample space for another letter "(see Figure 2)". The following are the successive stages in the development of each letter: Cursive Hebrew Cursive Hebrew ( ', "Flowing Hebrew Writing", or כתב יד עברי ', "Hebrew Handwriting", often called simply כתב "", "Writing") is a collective designation for several styles of