Pe (letter)

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Pe
Arabic	Syriac	Hebrew	Aramaic	Phoenician
ﻓ,ﻑ‎	ܦ	פ,ף‎
Phonemic representation (IPA):				p, f (was ɸ), w
Position in alphabet:				17
Gematria/Abjad value:				80

Pe is the seventeenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew פ‎ and Arabic alphabet fāʼ ﻑ‎ (in abjadi order).

The original sound value is a voiceless bilabial plosive: IPA /p/.

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Pi (Π), Latin P, and Cyrillic Pe.

Contents 1 Origins of Pe 2 Pe in Hebrew: 2.1 Variations on written form/pronunciation: 2.1.1 Pe with the dagesh 2.1.2 Pe without the dagesh (Phe) 2.1.3 Final form of Phe 2.2 Significance of Pe:

[edit] Origins of Pe

Pe is usually assumed to come from a pictogram of a mouth (in Hebrew pe; in Arabic, fem).

[edit] Pe in Hebrew:

Hebrew alphabet
א‎    ב‎    ג‎    ד‎    ה‎    ו‎
ז    ח‎    ט‎    י‎    כך‎
ל‎    מם‎    נן‎    ס‎    ע‎    פף‎
צץ‎    ק‎    ר‎    ש‎    ת‎
History · Transliteration Niqqud · Dagesh · Gematria Cantillation · Numeration

Arabic alphabet

ﺍ‎ || ﺏ‎ || ﺕ‎ || ﺙ‎ || ﺝ‎ || ﺡ‎ || ﺥ‎

ﺩ‎ || ﺫ‎ || ﺭ‎ || ﺯ‎ || ﺱ‎ || ﺵ‎ || ﺹ‎

ﺽ‎ || ﻁ‎ || ﻅ‎ || ﻉ‎ || ﻍ‎ || ﻑ‎ || ﻕ‎

ﻙ‎ || ﻝ‎ || ﻡ‎ || ﻥ‎ || هـ‎ || ﻭ‎ || ﻱ‎

History · Transliteration Diacritics · hamza ء‎ Numerals · Numeration

Syriac alphabet
	ܐ	ܒ	ܓ	ܕ
ܗ	ܘ	ܙ	ܚ	ܛ	ܝ
ܟܟ	ܠ	ܡܡ	ܢܢ	ܣ	ܥ
ܦ	ܨ	ܩ	ܪ	ܫ	ܬ

[edit] Variations on written form/pronunciation:

Main article: Hebrew phonology

The letter Pe is one of the six letters which can receive a Dagesh Kal. The six are Bet, Gimel, Daleth, Kaph, Pe, and Tav (see Hebrew Alphabet for more about these letters).

There are two orthographic variants of this letter which indicate a different pronunciation:

• פּ   Pe   /p/

and

• פ Phe or Fe   /f/

[edit] Pe with the dagesh

When the Pe has a "dot" in its center, known as a dagesh, it represents a voiceless bilabial plosive, /p/}. There are various rules in Hebrew grammar that stipulate when and why a dagesh is used.

[edit] Pe without the dagesh (Phe)

When this letter appears as פ without the dagesh ("dot") in its center then it usually represents a voiceless labiodental fricative /f/.

[edit] Final form of Phe

At the end of words the letter's written form changes to a Phe Sophit (Final Phe):

• ף This does not alter the pronunciation (see above).
• Some use to pronounce it Pe Sophit.

[edit] Significance of Pe:

In gematria, Pe represents the number 80. Its final form represents 800 but this is rarely used, Tav written twice (400+400) being used instead.