Equivalence table — @latin ↔︎ Phoenician K'tav

Equivalence Table — @Latin Original ↔︎ K’tav Phoenician

Version 1.0 · 22 March 2026

#	Phoenician	@Latin	Name	Approximate sound
1	𐤀	@a / @’	Aleph	glottal stop — ’
2	𐤁	@b	Bet	b
3	𐤂	@g	Gimel	g
4	𐤃	@d	Dalet	d
5	𐤄	@h	He	soft h — breath
6	𐤅	@w	Waw	bilabial w — as in Spanish “huevo”
7	𐤆	@z	Zayin	z
8	𐤇	@kh	Jet	deep guttural kh — not the Spanish J
9	𐤈	@t’	Tet	emphatic pharyngeal t
10	𐤉	@y	Yod	y — as in “ya” — semiconsonant
11	𐤊	@k	Kaf	k
12	𐤋	@l	Lamed	l
13	𐤌	@m	Mem	m
14	𐤍	@n	Nun	n
15	𐤎	@s	Samek	s
16	𐤏	@’	Ayin	pharyngeal contraction — no English equivalent
17	𐤐	@p	Pe	p
18	𐤑	@ts	Tsade	ts — as in “tsunami”
19	𐤒	@q	Qof	deep uvular q
20	𐤓	@r	Resh	r
21	𐤔	@sh	Shin	sh — as in “show”
22	𐤕	@t	Tav	t — seal — final

Critical notes

The semiconsonants — they are not vowels:

Letter	Common error	Correct
𐤉 Yod	pronouncing it as the vowel “i”	pronounce as “y” in “ya”
𐤅 Waw	pronouncing it as the vowel “u” or as “v”	pronounce as “w” in Spanish “huevo”
𐤄 He	pronouncing it as a vowel	pronounce as “h” — soft breath

The sounds with no equivalent in English:

Letter	Description	Approximation
𐤀 Aleph	glottal stop	the pause in “uh-oh”
𐤇 Jet	velar guttural	the Arabic “j” — deeper than the Spanish J
𐤈 Tet	emphatic pharyngeal t	t with a tightened throat
𐤏 Ayin	pure pharyngeal	contraction of the pharynx — Arabic ع
𐤒 Qof	uvular	q pronounced from the uvula

The vowels are not written: The K’tav Phoenician is purely consonantal. The vowels are deduced from context. There are no original E or O — only A, I, U as the semiconsonants Yod and Waw. The E and the O were introduced by Babylon.

Examples of complete words

Phoenician	@Latin	Pronunciation
𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄	@ihuh	Yi-a-hua
𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤅𐤏	@Yiajushua	Yi-a-wu-shu-a’
𐤀𐤃𐤌	@adM	a-daM
𐤁𐤓𐤉𐤕	@brit	b-rit
𐤀𐤌𐤍	@amN	a-mN
𐤔𐤁𐤕	@sbt	sh-b-t
𐤃𐤁𐤓	@davar	da-var
𐤓𐤅𐤇	@ruach	ru-akh
𐤍𐤐𐤔	@nefesh	ne-fesh
𐤑𐤋𐤌	@tzelem	tse-lem
𐤑𐤅𐤓	@tsur	tsur
𐤀𐤕	@aleph-tav	aleph-tav

𐤀𐤌𐤍