Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
- the glottal stop consonant or, alternatively, long vowel represented by this letter.
noun
- the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet (א) articulated as a glottal stop and transliterated with a superior comma (`)
Hebrew and Phoenician letter, c.1300, from Semitic languages, pausal form of eleph “ox” (the character might have developed from a hieroglyph of an ox’s head); also see alphabet.