Yiddish Orthography - The Yiddish Alphabet

The Yiddish Alphabet

This table lists the Yiddish alphabet as described in the Uriel Weinreich English-Yiddish-English Dictionary (Weinreich 1968), with a few variants that may be seen in readily available literature. The YIVO romanizations are taken from the same source, where they are presented as "sound equivalents". The romanizations indicated in Harkavy 1898 are included for comparison. The IPA transcriptions correspond to the examples provided by YIVO at http://yivo.org/about/index.php?tid=57&aid=275 (also with a few added variants). The phonetic transcriptions have been extrapolated from the LCAAJ. It is important to note that the elements of the two transcription systems appear in this table as appropriate to the standard pronunciation discussed under the next heading. The same elements, particularly those indicating vowels and diphthongs, are associated with other Yiddish letters when other pronunciations are being transcribed.

The table also includes several digraphs and a trigraph that are standard elements of the Yiddish writing system. They appear here in normal alphabetic order but are also commonly collated separately at the end of a listing of the basic single-character alphabet.

Symbol	YIVO Romanization	Harkavy Romanization	IPA Transcription	Phonetic Transcription	Name	Notes
א	(none)	(none)	(none)	(none)	shtumer alef	Indicates that a syllable starts with the vocalic form of the following letter. Neither pronounced nor transcribed.
אַ	a	a	a	a	pasekh alef	As a non-YIVO equivalent, an may also be indicated by an unpointed alef.
אָ	o	o	ɔ	o	komets alef	As a non-YIVO equivalent, an may also be indicated by an unpointed alef.
ב	b	b	b	b	beys
בּ	(none)	(none)	b	(b)	beys	Non-YIVO alternative to ב.
בֿ	v	v	v	v	veys	Used only in words of Semitic origin.
ג	g	g	ɡ	g	giml
ד	d	d	d	d	daled
דזש	dzh	(none)	d͡ʒ	dž	daled zayen shin
ה	h	h	h	h	hey
ו	u	u	ʊ	u	vov
וּ	u	(none)	ʊ	u	melupm vov	Used only adjacent to ו or before י.
וֹ	(none)	(none)	ɔ, ɔj	(o,oj)	khoylem	Non-YIVO alternative to אָ and וי.
וו	v	v	v	v	tsvey vovn
וי	oy	oi	ɔj	oj	vov yud
ז	z	z	z	z	zayen
זש	zh	zh	ʒ	ž	zayen shin
ח	kh	ch	x	x	khes	Used only in words of Semitic origin.
ט	t	t	t	t	tes
טש	tsh	tsh	t͡ʃ	č	tes shin
י	y, i	y, i	j, i	j, i	yud	Consonantal when the first character in a syllable. Vocalic otherwise.
יִ	i	(none)	i	i	khirik yud	Used only following a consonantal י or adjacent to another vowel.
יי	ey	ei, ai	ɛj	ej	tsvey yudn
ײַ	ay	(none)	aj	aj	pasekh tsvey yudn
כּ	k	k	k	k	kof	Used only in words of Semitic origin.
כ	kh	ch	x	x	khof
ך	kh	ch	x	x	lange khof	Final form. Used only at the end of a word.
ל	l	l	l, ʎ	l	lamed
מ	m	m	m	m	mem
ם	m	m	m	m	shlos mem	Final form. Used only at the end of a word.
נ	n	n	n	n	nun
ן	n, m	n, m	n, ŋ, m	n, m	lange nun	Final form. Used only at the end of a word.
ס	s	s	s	s	samekh
ע	e	e	ɛ, ə	e	ayin
פּ	p	p	p	p	pey	Has no separate final form.
פֿ	f	f	f	f	fey
פ	(none)	f	f	(f)	fey	Non-YIVO alternative to פֿ.
ף	f	f	f	f	lange fey	Final form. Used only at the end of a word.
צ	ts	tz	ts	c	tsadek
ץ	ts	tz	ts	c	lange tsadek	Final form. Used only at the end of a word.
ק	k	k	k	k	kuf
ר	r	r	ʀ	r	reysh
ש	sh	sh	ʃ	š	shin
שׂ	s	s	s	s	sin	Used only in words of Semitic origin.
תּ	t	t	t	t	tof	Used only in words of Semitic origin.
ת	s	s	s	s	sof	Used only in words of Semitic origin.