Abjad vs. Alphabet — What's the Difference?

An abjad (, Arabic: أبجد; also abgad) is a writing system in which only consonants are represented, leaving vowel sounds to be inferred by the reader. This contrasts with other alphabets, which provide glyphs for both consonants and vowels.

An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written symbols or graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syllable, for instance, and logographic systems use characters to represent words, morphemes, or other semantic units.The first fully phonemic script, the Proto-Canaanite script, later known as the Phoenician alphabet, is considered to be the first alphabet, and is the ancestor of most modern alphabets, including Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and possibly Brahmic.

A writing system for Arabic, historically also employed as a numeral system, in which there is one glyph (symbol or letter) for each consonant but vowels are not specified.

The letters of a language, arranged in the order fixed by custom.

(linguistics) Any writing system in which glyphs are used to represent consonants or consonantal phonemes, but not vowels.

A system of characters or symbols representing sounds or things.

The system of abjad numerals; a numeral system in which the letters of the Arabic abjad are interpreted as numerals, typically used to enumerate lists and nested lists, as well as in numerology.

A set of basic parts or elements

The set of letters used when writing in a language.

A writing system in which letters represent phonemes. Contrast e.g. logography, a writing system in which each character represents a word, and syllabary, in which each character represents a syllable.

A writing system in which there are letters for the consonant and vowel phonemes. Contrast e.g. abjad.

(computer science) A typically finite set of distinguishable symbols.

An individual letter of an alphabet; an alphabetic character.

The simplest rudiments; elements.

An agent of the FBI, the CIA, or another such government agency.

(rare) To designate by the letters of the alphabet; to arrange alphabetically.

The letters of a language arranged in the customary order; the series of letters or signs which form the elements of written language.

The simplest rudiments; elements.

To designate by the letters of the alphabet; to arrange alphabetically.

A character set that includes letters and is used to write a language

The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural);