Latin alphabet

noun

: an alphabet that was used for writing Latin and that has been modified for writing many modern languages

Examples of Latin alphabet in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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The runic alphabet eventually evolved to reflect the transition from the Proto-Norse language to Old Norse in the 8th century, and it was used up until the 14th century, when Christianity — and by proxy, the Latin alphabet — had become widespread across Europe. Jack Knudson, Discover Magazine, 3 Feb. 2025 Some symbols look similar to the modern Latin alphabet used in English, Spanish and several other languages. Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 12 June 2024 Unlike the Latin alphabet of romance languages, Greek letters are indecipherable for English speakers, making the language more difficult to learn than Romance languages such as Spanish, Italian, and French. Karen I. Chen, Travel + Leisure, 1 Mar. 2022 Though many Indigenous languages are primarily oral, Portuguese colonizers transcribed them using the Latin alphabet in the 16th century. Cameron Pugh, The Christian Science Monitor, 21 Mar. 2024 Kasem said that in cases where signs featured multiple languages all based on the same alphabet – for instance, both Welsh and English are based on the Latin alphabet – greater care was needed to differentiate them, such as by using different colors or font sizes. Chris Lau, CNN, 29 July 2023 New learners, including Chinese children, pick up character pronunciation using Pinyin, which uses the Latin alphabet to spell out sounds of Standard Chinese characters. Jamie Dickman, Popular Science, 11 Apr. 2023 Part of the reason for the confusion is that Hebrew, unlike English, doesn't use the Latin alphabet, meaning words are often subject to less-than-perfect translations. Justin Klawans, The Week, 18 Dec. 2022 Garfinkel said that Canaanites were the first to use letters that represented sounds in their writing system, which subsequently evolved into the Phoenician, Greek and ultimately the Latin alphabet that’s most commonly used today. Katie Hunt, CNN, 8 Nov. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1823, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of Latin alphabet was in 1823

Dictionary Entries Near Latin alphabet

Cite this Entry

“Latin alphabet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Latin%20alphabet. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.

Kids Definition

Latin alphabet

noun
: an alphabet that was used for writing Latin and that has been modified for writing many modern languages (as English)

More from Merriam-Webster on Latin alphabet

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