The 22 Hebrew Letters

Hebrew and Yiddish

The following romanization table attempts to represent the sound of Hebrew or Yiddish words but is applicable to all Hebraic languages. For Hebrew, it approximates the modern Israeli, primarily Sephardic, pronunciation. For Yiddish, the table follows the standardized, principally Lithuanian, pronunciation. In romanizing Yiddish, the etymology of the word is ignored.

Consonants

Vowels

A single prime ( ' ) is placed between two letters representing two distinct consonantal sounds when the combination might otherwise be read as a digraph.

RULES OF APPLICATION

In romanizing Hebrew, it is often necessary to consult dictionaries and other sources as an appendage to the romanization table presented here, primarily for the purpose of supplying vowels. The principle dictionary used is ha-Milon he-hadash (Jerusalem: Kiryat-sefer, 1966-1970) by Avraham Even-Shoshan. More detailed instructions on Romanization of Hebrew and Yiddish, including cataloging guidelines, can be found in Hebraica Cataloging (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service, 1987) by Paul Maher.

SPECIAL CHARACTERS AND CHARACTER MODIFIERS IN ROMANIZATION