# Abjad · Concept

> An alphabet that writes consonants only and leaves vowels to the reader.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DEEBDB6Z0HG/abjad  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Concepts](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts)Abjad

Concept · writing systems · in 1 mystery

# Abjad

An alphabet that writes consonants only and leaves vowels to the reader.

[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)[2 sources]

An abjad is a writing system in which each sign stands for one consonant and vowels are not written. Proto-Sinaitic, Phoenician, early Hebrew and Aramaic are abjads; Greek added vowel letters when it borrowed the Phoenician signs. Because vowels are missing, a short abjad text can often be read as several different words, which is one reason the brief Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions resist secure translation even though the consonant values are known [@hamilton2006origins] [@haring2025egyptian].

## Where it comes up

**[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)**

No open digital corpus exists: the photographs of the West Semitic Research Project are for study only, and the IFAO supplementary catalogue of 2012 is in print . ::: artifact A-SINAI-345 A-WADI-EL-HOL The script is an…

## Sources 2

[The Origins of the West Semitic Alphabet in Egyptian Scripts](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHWQG7RQQ/the-origins-of-the-west-semitic-alphabet-in-egyptian-scripts)

SRC

[The Egyptian Background of Early Alphabetic Writing](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK30BF9Y0/the-egyptian-background-of-early-alphabetic-writing)

SRC

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Abjad [Concept CPT0DEEBDB6Z0HG]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/CPT0DEEBDB6Z0HG
```

Key

**CPT** 0DEEBDB6Z0HG

Record

Concept

Field

Writing systems

Related

[Syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW02C55EK/syllabary)

Version

1

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[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

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[Syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW02C55EK/syllabary)

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