What is an abjad writing system?

An abjad is a type of writing system where each symbol represents a consonant, leaving readers to infer the vowel sounds. The term was coined in 1990 by Peter T. Daniels to distinguish these scripts from true alphabets that provide dedicated graphemes for both vowels and consonants. Many historical and modern scripts, such as Phoenician, Arabic, and Hebrew, function as abjads.

What we know

• An abjad is a writing system in which only consonants are represented by letter signs. [1, 2]
• The term abjad was introduced in 1990 by scholar Peter T. Daniels. [2]
• Impure abjads, such as modern Arabic and Hebrew, can represent vowels using optional diacritics, distinct vowel graphemes, or consonant letters acting as matres lectionis. [2, 5]
• The Phoenician script was an early abjad utilizing 22 consonant letters and a fixed right-to-left writing direction. [3]

Where to go next

• how it workedHow do impure abjads represent vowels?
• a case in pointWhat is the history of the Phoenician alphabet?
• what caused itHow did the Hebrew alphabet evolve from Aramaic scripts?
• compared withWhat differentiates an abjad from a true alphabet?
• the bigger pictureWhat are the core categories of phonetic writing systems?
• an unexpected connectionHow do Egyptian hieroglyphs connect to modern writing systems?Egyptian hieroglyphs served as the ultimate ancestor of the Proto-Sinaitic script, which directly led to the Phoenician abjad from which most living alphabetic writing systems descend.

Sources

• [1]abjad (Wikidata Q185087) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Abjad · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Phoenician alphabet · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Egyptian hieroglyphs · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Hebrew alphabet · CC BY-SA 4.0