abjad

Meaning

Noun

• A writing system for Arabic, historically also employed as a numeral system, in which there is one glyph (symbol or letter) for each consonant but vowels are not specified.
• Any writing system in which glyphs are used to represent consonants or consonantal phonemes, but not vowels.
• The system of abjad numerals; a numeral system in which the letters of the Arabic abjad are interpreted as numerals, typically used to enumerate lists and nested lists, as well as in numerology.

Related

Similar words

• consonantary

Broader meaning words

• signary

Origin

• From Arabic أبجد, the term for the traditional ordering of the Arabic script (from the first four letters: أ, ب, ج, د). Compare English ABC and alphabet.
• Linguistics sense coined by Peter T. Daniels.