alphabet

noun

1. The set of letters used when writing in a language.

   “The Greek alphabet has only twenty-four letters.”

   “In the first year of school, pupils are taught to recite the alphabet.”

2. 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.)
3. 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.)
4. A typically finite set of distinguishable symbols.

   “Let L be a regular language over the alphabet #92;Sigma.”

5. (Hong-Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore, dialectal, nonstandard)An individual letter of an alphabet; an alphabetic character.

   “The notes are named with the first seven alphabets.”

   “We realize the fact that the alphabet A has been used in many world scripts as a vowel with the others AEIOU.”

   “There are 26 alphabets in English.”

   “Tamil got 247 alphabets you know. Got two R-eh, got three L, got two N you know.”

6. The simplest rudiments; elements.

   “The very alphabet of our law.”

7. (Internet)An agent of the FBI, the CIA, or another such government agency.

verb

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