ABSP - Alphabets, Scripts etc.

Alphabets, Scripts etc.

Words

Alphabets, Scripts etc.

Grammar and Semantics

Interjections

Non-standard Pl'ls (.PDF)

Non-stand' Verbs (.PDF)

abcee absey	the alphabet.
accent	a mark over a letter to indicate differences of stress, pitch, length etc.
acute	(noun) an acute ACCENT > ACUTES; (adj.) sharp > ACUTER, ACUTEST; ACUTELY.
aesc	an Old English RUNE used for AE.
agma	a phonetic symbol representing the sound ng, aka ENG.
ain ayin	a Hebrew letter.
aitch	the letter H.
alef aleph	the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
alif	an Arabic letter, corresponding to ALEPH.
alpha	the first letter of the Greek alphabet.
alphabet	a system of letters, esp when arranged in conventional set order; (verb) to ALPHABETIZE.
alphabetise alphabetize	to arrange in alphabetic order.
ampassy	an AMPERSAND.
ampersand amperzand	the and sign &.
and	(noun) the symbol AMPERSAND > ANDS.
ar	the letter R.
ascender	an ascending letter; a part or stroke projecting above letters such as x > ASCENDERS.
asterisk	a star-shaped mark (*) used as a reference to a note; (verb) to mark with an asterisk.
ayin	see AIN.
backslash	the character \.
bee	the letter B.
bes beth	a Hebrew letter > BESES, BETHS.
beta	the second letter of the Greek alphabet.
beth	see BES.
bloomer	a flowery initial letter.
boustrophedon	writing that alternates left-right then right-left. [Gk. boustrophedon, ox-turning -- mimicking the pattern of an ox trudging back and forth in a field].
boustrophedonic	having alternate lines written in opposite directions.
calligram	a design using the letters of a word.
capital	(of a letter) of the form or size which begins a sentence or name, upper-case.
caph kaph khaph khaf kaf	a Hebrew letter.
caract	a mark, a sign; an engraved or impressed character.
caret	a typographical mark (^) used to note an omission.
caron	another name for a hacek, an inverted circumflex.
cartouch cartouche	in Egyptian inscriptions, a circle with a horizontal bar at the bottom, elongated into an oval within which king's names are written.
cedilla	a mark placed under the letter c, to show that it is to be sounded like s, as in façade.
cee	the letter C.
ceriph serif seriph	a decorative stroke at the foot of a letter.
character	a letter, a symbol; (verb) to engrave, inscribe.
cheth heh heth het khet kheth	the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
chi khi	the twenty-second letter of the Greek alphabet.
chronogram	an inscription whose letters form a Roman numeral date.
circumflex	a mark (^) used over a vowel in certain languages or in phonetic keys to indicate quality of pronunciation.
colon	a punctuation mark (:).
comma	a punctuation mark (,).
copperplate	a plate of polished copper on which something has been engraved, hence a fine handwriting based on the style used in copperplate.
coronis	in Greek grammar, a sign ['] sometimes placed over a contracted syllable > CORONISES.
cue	the letter Q; (verb) to give an actor a cue.
cuneatic	of script, wedge-shaped.
cuneiform cuniform	(a script) shaped like a wedge.
curlicue	a fancy twist or curl, esp. in handwriting; (verb) to adorn with curlicues > CURLICUES, CURLICUING, CURLICUED.
curlycue	a fancy twist or curl, esp. in handwriting (= CURLICUE, but noun only).
cursive	(a script) with flowing characteristics > CURSIVES, CURSIVELY.
daled daledh daleth	a Hebrew letter.
dee	the fourth letter of the alphabet; (verb) to damn > DEES, DEEING, DEED.
descender	the part of the lowercase letters, such as g, p, and q, that extends below the other lowercase letters.
devanagari nagari	the character in which Sanskrit is usually printed.
diacritic	a mark or sign serving to distinguish different values or sounds of the same letter e.g. an acute accent.
diacritical	distinctive; capable of distinguishing; serving as a diacritic.
diesis	a sign used in printing to indicate a reference, a double dagger > DIESES.
digamma	a letter of the Greek alphabet, which early fell into disuse.
digraph	two letters expressing a single sound, e.g. ch.
digraphic	of or pertaining to a DIGRAPH, two letters expressing a single sound.
diphone	a shorthand sign representing a diphthongal sound.
downstroke	a stroke made with a downward motion of the pen or pencil.
duckfoot	as in duckfoot quote, chevron-shaped quotation marks. No DUCKFEET*.
edh eth	a letter used in old English.
ef	the letter F.
el	the letter L.
em	the letter M.
emma	formerly, a signaller's name for the letter M.
en	the letter N
eng	a phonetic symbol.
episemon	one of three extra Greek numeral-letters > EPISEMONS.
epsilon	a letter of the Greek alphabet.
epsilonic	relating to the Greek letter EPSILON.
es ess	the letter S > ESES, ESSES.
estrangelo estranghelo	a cursive form of the old Syrian alphabet.
eta	a letter of the Greek alphabet.
eth	see EDH.
ex	the letter X; someone no longer in a previous relationship > EXES; (verb) to delete.
feh pe peh	a Hebrew letter.
freehand	of a script, executed by the unguided hand.
futharc futhark futhorc futhork	the runic alphabet.
gamma	the third letter of the Greek alphabet.
gammadion gammation	a figure comprised of capital gammas; a swastika > GAMMADIA, GAMMATIA.
gee	the letter G; (verb) to make a horse go faster.
gimel	the third letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
grapheme	a letter of the alphabet; all the combinations of letters that may be used to express one phoneme.
graphemic	a GRAPHEME, a letter of the alphabet.
graphemics	the study of systems of representing speech in writing.
grave	a grave accent.
greeking	representation of text as random characters just to give an overall impression.
guillemet	a quotation mark.
hacek	in Slavonic languages, a diacritic.
hamza hamzah	in Arabic, the sign used to represent the glottal stop.
handwrite	to write by hand > HANDWRITES, HANDWRITING, HANDWROTE, HANDWRITTEN, HANDWRIT.
hangul	an alphabetic script for Korean. [Korean han kul, Korea alphabet]. No —S.
hashmark	the symbol #.
heh	see CHETH.
het	see CHETH.
heth	see CHETH.
hieroglyph	a character used in a system of hieroglyphic writing.
hieroglyphic	a HIEROGLYPH.
hierogram	a sacred or hieroglyphic symbol.
hiragana	one of two sets of Japanese syllabaries, having a cursive form. Cf. KATAKANA.
homographic	of a writing system, having a different symbol for each sound.
hyphen	a mark of punctuation; (verb) to connect words or syllables with a hyphen > HYPHENS, HYPHENING, HYPHENED.
hyphenate hyphenise hyphenize	to put a hyphen in.
hyphenic	relating to a hyphen.
hyphenise	see HYPHENATE.
hyphenism	the practice of inserting hyphens.
hyphenize	see HYPHENATE.
iconomatic	using pictures to represent sounds of words.
ideogram	a symbol that stands for a concept rather than a word.
ideograph	a symbol in picture-writing representing the idea of a thing.
ideographic	in the form of an IDEOGRAPH.
ideography	the representation of ideas independently of sounds, or in an ideographic manner, as sometimes is done in shorthand writing, etc.
idiograph	a private mark, a trademark.
incipit	an inscription meaning 'here begins' > INCIPITS.
india	in international radio communication, a code word for the letter i.
indicial	of or like an INDICIUM, an indicating mark or sign.
indicium	an indicating mark or sign > INDICIA or INDICIUMS.
interabang interrobang	a punctuation mark {?!} designed for use esp. at the end of an exclamatory rhetorical question.
iota	a Greek letter.
italic	a slanting style of writing or print.
italicise italicize	to print in italic characters.
izzard	the letter Z.
jay	the letter J.
kaf kaph	see CAPH.
kana	Japanese syllabic writing.
kanji	the characters in Japanese orthography which originate from written Chinese.
kaph	see CAPH.
kappa	the tenth letter of the Greek alphabet.
katakana	a Japanese writing system. Cf. HIRAGANA.
kay	the letter K.
khaf	see CAPH.
khaph	see CAPH.
khet	see CHETH.
kheth	see CHETH.
khi	see CHI.
koph qoph	the nineteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
koppa	a Greek letter, between PI and RHO.
kue	the letter Q
labda lambda	the Greek letter L.
lamed lamedh	a Hebrew letter.
letter	a written symbole representing a speech sound; (verb) to mark with letters > LETTERS, LETTERING, LETTERED.
lexigram	a sign which represents a word.
lithoglyph	an engraving on stone.
logogram logograph	a written symbol representing an entire spoken word without expressing its pronunciation; for example, for 4 read "four" in English, "quattro" in Italian. Cf. IDEOGRAM.
longhand	ordinary handwriting, as distinguished from shorthand or typing or printing.
lowercase	small as distinct from capital; (verb) to make lower case.
macron	the horizontal line above a vowel used to symbolize a long sound. [Gk. makron neut. of makros long.]
majuscular	of letter, capital.
majuscule	a capital or other large letter, especially one used in ancient manuscripts.
medial	in the middle > MEDIALLY; (noun) a medial letter; a form of a letter used in the middle of a word > MEDIALS.
mem	a Hebrew letter.
miniscule	erroneous but acceptable for MINUSCULE.
minuscule	small, insignificant; (noun) a small cursive script. [L. minusculus, rather small].
monogram	a device composed of two or more letters (esp. the initials of a person's name) interwoven together; (verb) to mark with a monogram > MONOGRAMS, MONOGRAMING or MONOGRAMMING, MONOGRAMED or MONOGRAMMED.
monomark	a particular combination of letters, figures etc. as a mark of identification.
mu	a letter of the Greek alphabet.
nagari	see DEVANAGARI.
nastalik	a Persian cursive script, having long horizontal strokes and rounded characters. [Arabic naskhi, cursive script, + talik, hanging].
november	in international radio communication, a code word for the letter n.
nu	a letter in the Greek alphabet.
nun	the fourteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
obelise obelize	to mark with an OBELUS; especially to mark as spurious.
obelism	the act of OBELIZING.
obelus	a dagger sign used in referring to footnotes > OBELI.
octothorp	the symbol # on a telephone or keyboard (hash mark, pound sign, number sign).
ogam ogham	a 6th C. Irish writing alphabet.
ogamic oghamic ogmic	of or like OGAM.
oghamist	one who practises OGAM writing. N.B. no OGAMIST*.
omega	a Greek letter.
omicron omikron	a Greek letter.
paraph	a flourish at the end of a signature; (verb) to append a paragraph to, to initial > PARAPHS, PARAPHING, PARAPHED.
pasigraphy	a system of universal ideographic writing.
pe	see FEH.
pee	the letter P; (verb) to urinate.
peh	see PE.
period	a punctuation mark, a full stop; (verb) to come or bring to and end.
petroglyph	an ancient rock-carving.
petroglyphy	the art of carving on rocks.
phi	a letter of the Greek alphabet.
phonogram	a letter, character, or mark used to represent a particular sound.
phonograph	a character or symbol used to represent a sound, esp. one used in phonography; also, a gramophone.
phonography	a system of spelling or shorthand based on speech sounds.
phonetic phonetical	of, concerning, according to, or representing the sounds of spoken language.
pi	a letter in the Greek alphabet.
pictograph	a picture used as a symbol for a word or phrase; a pictorial representation of values, statistics, etc.
pictogram	a pictograph; a graphical representation.
pilcrow	a paragraph-mark.
pinyin	a system for romanizing Chinese ideograms in which tones are indicated by diacritics and unaspirated consonants are transcribed as voiced. No —S.
pling	an interjection mark.
polyphon polyphone	a character or vocal sign representing more than one sound, as in read, which is pronounced red.
pothook	a curved or hooked stroke in handwriting, esp. made when learning to write.
psi	a letter of the Greek alphabet.
punctator	someone who marks something with dots, esp. applied to the Massoretes, who invented the Hebrew vowel points.
quebec	in international radio communication, a code word for the letter q.
qoph	see KOPH.
quipo quipu quippu	a device of knotted cords, used by Incas of Peru to calculate or order information
resh	a Hebrew letter > RESHES.
rho	a letter of the Greek alphabet > RHOS.
romaji	a system of transliterating Japanese into the Latin alphabet > ROMAJIS.
romanise romanize	to write in the Roman alphabet.
ronde	a script printing-type. [Fr. ronde, round].
roundhand	a style of penmanship in which the letters are well-rounded and free.
rubric	a heading, guiding rule, entry or liturgical direction, orig one in red ink.
rubrical	colored in, or marked with, red; placed in rubrics > RUBRICALLY.
rune	a letter of an ancient alphabet.
runecraft	skill with runes.
runed	bearing runes.
runelike	like a rune.
runic	pertaining to a RUNE.
sade sadhe sadi tsade tsadi tzaddi	a Hebrew letter.
sagitta	the middle stroke of the letter EPSILON.
samech samek samekh	the 15th letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
sampi	the supposed name of a Greek numerical character representing 900 > SAMPIS.
sanserif	(a typeface) without serifs > SANSERIFS.
schwa shwa	a vowel sound, like "a" in alone or "e" in linen, that in English often appears unstressed.
scrawl	barely legible writing; (verb) to write hastily or illegibly.
scriptory	by, in or relating to writing.
scribble	barely legible writing; (verb) to write hastily or illegibly.
scrive	to write, esp. with copious fluency.
scytale	a Spartan form of secret writing on a strip wound round a stick.
seghol segol	a vowel-point in Hebrew.
semeiotic semiotic	relating to signs or symbols, esp. spoken or written signs > SEMEIOTICALLY.
semeiotics semiotics	a philosophical theory of signs and symbols.
semicolon	a punctuation mark.
separatrix	a solidus; a separating line > SEPARATRICES.
serif	see CERIPH.
serifed	with a SERIF, a decorative stroke at the foot of a letter. Also SERIFFED.
seriffed	with a SERIF, a decorative stroke at the foot of a letter. Also SERIFED.
seriph	see CERIPH.
sheva	in Hebrew grammar, a point placed under a consonant to indicate absence of a vowel.
shin	the twenty-first letter of the Hebrew alphabet; (verb) to climb quickly.
shorthand	a system of writing used for recording speech at speaking pace.
shwa	see SCHWA.
sigla	(a list of) abbreviations, symbols, etc. denoting words > SIGLAS.
siglum	a symbol used in a book > SIGLA.
sigma	the Greek letter S.
sigmatic	characterised by the Greek letter sigma.
sigmation	the addition of a SIGMA at the end of a syllable.
signary	a system of symbols; an alphabet.
skywrite	to trace words on the sky using smoke from an aircraft > SKYWRITES, SKYWRITING, SKYWROTE, SKYWRITTEN.
stenotypy	a type of SHORTHAND using ordinary characters.
stigme	a dot used as a punctuation mark.
subfix	a distinguishing symbol or letter written below another letter.
subindex	a number or mark placed opposite the lower part of a letter or symbol to distinguish the symbol > SUBINDEXES or SUBINDICES.
subscript	a number or letter written below or underneath; as, iota subscript.
superscript	something written above the line.
syllabarium	a syllabary > SYLLABARIA.
syllabary	a system of writing composed of a set of symbols representing syllables.
tachygraphy	a system of quick writing, SHORTHAND.
tau	a letter of the Greek alphabet.
tav	a Hebrew letter.
tee	the letter T; (verb) to place a golf ball on a tee.
tet teth	a Hebrew letter.
tetragram	a word or inscription of four letters.
tetragrammaton	a sacred word or acronym of four letters > TETRAGRAMMATONS.
theta	a letter of the Greek alphabet corresponding to th in English.
thorn	the Old English and Old Norse letter þ (th).
tilde	the diacritical sign used over n in Spanish to indicate the sound ny.
toc	telecommunications code for the letter T.
trema	a DIAERESIS, two dots placed as a mark of separate pronunciation over a vowel-letter.
trigram	a figure of three lines; an inscription of three letters.
trigrammatic trigrammic	relating to a TRIGRAM.
trigraph	three letters having one sound, as eau.
trigraphic	of three letters, having one sound.
triphone	a shorthand sign representing a triphthongal sound.
tsade	see SADE.
tsadi	see SADE.
tzaddi	see SADE.
umlaut	a diacritical sign placed over a vowel; (verb) to place an umlaut over > UMLAUTS, UMLAUTING, UMLAUTED.
uncial	a form of writing used in Latin and Greek manuscripts; a letter in uncial script > UNCIALS; (adj.) in uncial form > UNCIALLY.
unquote	to close a quotation, to mark the end of a quoted passage.
uppercase	capital as distinct from small; (verb) to convert to uppercase.
upsilon	a Greek letter.
upstroke	an upward stroke, especially in writing.
vau	an obsolete letter in the Greek alphabet.
vav vaw waw	a Hebrew letter.
vee	the letter V.
versal	an ornamental letter at the beginning of a section, e.g. in an illuminated manuscript.
virgule	a slanting line, an old form of comma, a solidus.
waw	see VAW.
wen wyn wynn	a RUNE having the value of modern English W.
writable	that can be written.
write	to form characters or symbols on a surface with an instrument > WRITES, WRITING, WROTE or (obs.) WRIT or (obs.) WRATE, WRITTEN.
writing	a written composition > WRITINGS.
wye	the letter Y.
wyn wynn	see WEN.
xi	a letter in the Greek alphabet.
xray	in international radio communication, a code word for the letter x.
yankee	in international radio communication, a code word for the letter y.
yod yodh	a Hebrew letter.
yogh	the Middle English letter representing a velar or partial fricative.
ypsilon	a Greek letter.
zayin	a Hebrew letter.
zed	the letter Z.
zee	the American form of ZED.
zeta	a Greek letter.

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