Categories: Romanization | Hebrew language

Romanization of Hebrew

For more details, see Hebrew alphabet and Romanization#Hebrew.

The two most common standards for romanization of modern Hebrew are those of the United Nations and the Library of Congress. They are identical in most respects, but there are some significant differences.

In romanizing ancient Hebrew texts there is greater ambiguity, and though the tables here will usually provide reasonable approximations, it can be difficult for the layperson to reconstruct an approximate pronunciation. (For example, see Tetragrammaton.)

LOC	Name	Number	LOC	UN	IPA (Modern Israeli)
א	Alef	1	’ or disregard	, -	[ ]
בּ	Bet	2	b	b
ב	Bet	2	v	v	[ b, v ]
ג	Gimel	3	g	g	[ ɡ ]
ד	Dalet	4	d	d	[ d ]
ה	He	5	h	h	[ h~ʔ, - ]
ו	Vav	6	•v	w	[ v ]
װ	Vav	6	•v (only if a consonant)
ז	Zayin	7	z	z	[ z ]
ח	Het	8	•h	h	[ x~ħ ]
ט	Tet	9	•t	t	[ t ]
י	Yod	10	y (only if a consonant	y	[ j ]
כּ, ךּ	Yod	10	k	k
כ, ך	Kaf	20	kh	kh	[ k, x ]
ל	Lamed	30	l	l	[ l ]
מ, ם	Mem	40	m	m	[ m ]
נ, ן	Nun	50	n	n	[ n ]
ס	Samekh	60	s	s	[ s ]
ע	Ayin	70	‘	‘	[ ʔ ~ ʕ, - ]
פּ, ףּ	Pe	80	p	p
פ, ף	Pe	80	f	f	[ p, f ]
צ, ץ	Tsadi	90	ts	z	[ t͡s ]
ק	Qof	100	•k	q	[ k ]
ר	Resh	200	r	r	[ ʁ ]
שׁ	Shin	300	sh	sh	[ ʃ, s ]
שׂ	Shin	300	`s	s
תּ	Tav	400	t	t
ת	Tav	400	t (in Yiddish, `s)	t	[ t ]
ַ			a	a
ָ			a or o	a or o
ֶ			e	e
ֵ			e	e
ִ			i	i
ֹ			o	o
ֻ			u	u
י ֶ			e	e
י ַ			ai	a
י ֵ			e	e
י ִ			i	i
וֹ			o	o
וּ			u	u
ְ			e or disregarded	e or disregarded
ֲ			a	a
ֱ			e	e
ֳ			o	o

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Categories: Romanization | Hebrew language