Phoenician alphabet

noun

1

: an extinct northern Semitic alphabet used by the Phoenicians of Syria and their Carthaginian colonists from the 13th century b.c. and the immediate ancestor of the Greek alphabet

2

: the ancestor of the alphabets used by the Phoenicians and other contemporary Semitic inhabitants of western Syria that is held to be the earliest system of alphabetic writing

3

: the oldest Hebrew alphabet as distinguished from the square Hebrew or Aramaic alphabet

Love words?

You must — there are over 200,000 words in our free online dictionary, but you are looking for one that’s only in the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary.

Start your free trial today and get unlimited access to America's largest dictionary, with:

• More than 250,000 words that aren't in our free dictionary
• Expanded definitions, etymologies, and usage notes
• Advanced search features
• Ad free!