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An '''alphabet''' is a series of symbols ([[letter]]s) which correlate to individual sounds, allowing the spoken word to be recorded for later use. The word "alphabet" is a combination of the first two letters ([[alpha]] and [[beta]]) of the [[Greek]] alphabet, which, itself was derived from the first two letters of the Phoenician and the Hebrew Aleph and Bet. Many ancient alphabets are believed to have been developed from even earlier writings, of ancient ''pictograms'' where a spoken sound or word was represented by small drawing of an object. These pictures eventually developed into formalised graphical symbols. By convention these symbols are written in a specific order ([[alphabetic]] order) when listed. The alphabet was a great impetus to literacy as there was no longer a need to learn myriads of pictures to represent the multitudinous concepts present in reality and thought. Now, with the alphabet, all that was needed was to learn the symbols to represent the rather limited sounds of any particular language.
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An '''alphabet''' is a series of symbols ([[letter]]s) which correlate to individual (and occasionally multiple) sounds, allowing the spoken word to be recorded for later use. The word "alphabet" is derived from the first two letters the [[Greek alphabet]], [[alpha]] and [[beta]], which were in turn derived from the first two letters of the Phoenician aleph and beth.
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Many ancient alphabets are believed to have been developed from even earlier writings, of ancient ''pictograms'' where a spoken sound or word was represented by small drawing of an object. These pictures eventually developed into formalized graphical symbols. By convention these symbols are written in a specific order ([[alphabetic]] order) when listed. The alphabet was a great impetus to literacy as there was no longer a need to learn myriads of pictures to represent the multitudinous concepts present in reality and thought. With an alphabet, all that was needed was to learn the symbols to represent the rather limited sounds of any particular language.
    
== Latin Alphabets ==
 
== Latin Alphabets ==
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== Arabic Alphabet ==
 
== Arabic Alphabet ==
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{{main|Arabic alphabet}}
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The Arabic alphabet is used to represent Arabic and other [[Middle East]]ern languages.
    
== Korean alphabet ==
 
== Korean alphabet ==
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