The Armenian alphabet was developed around 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and leader. It is believed the script was developed for the Armenian language and is still in use. It was likely derived from the Pahlavi alphabet of Persia with Greek influences, shown by the presence of letters for vowels and its writing direction. The oldest surviving documents in Armenian script date around the 9th or 10th century AD.
The Armenian alphabet originally had 36 letters. Armenian script is a system of 38 letters— 31 consonants and seven vowels. The Armenian word for "alphabet" is այբուբեն (aybuben), named after the first two letters of the Armenian alphabet: ⟨Ա⟩ Armenian: այբ ayb and ⟨Բ⟩ Armenian: բեն ben. Armenian is written horizontally from left to right.
Armenian Alphabet | English Sound | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Ա | ɑ | Like the 'ah' in 'father' |
| Բ | b | like the 'b' in 'boat' |
| Գ | ɡ | like the 'k' in 'key' or 'g' in 'goat' |
| Դ | d | like the 'd' in 'dog' |
| Ե | (j)ɛ | like the 'ye' in 'yet' or 'eh' in 'bet' |
| Զ | z | like the 'z' in 'zebra' |
| Է | ɛ | Like the 'e' in 'end' |
| Ը | ə | Like the 'u' in 'but' |
| Թ | tʰ | Like the 't' in 'tomorrow' |
| Ժ | ʒ | Like the 's' in 'measure' |
| Ի | i | Like the 'ee' in 'meet' |
| Լ | l | Like the 'l' in 'lily' |
| Խ | χ | Like guttural 'ch' in 'Bach' |
| Ծ | ts | Like the 'tz' in 'Mitzi' |
| Կ | k | Like the 'ck' in 'Micky' |
| Հ | h | Like the 'h' in 'hello' |
| Ձ | dz | Like the 'ds' in 'kids' |
| Ղ | ʁ | Like a guttural French 'r' |
| Ճ | tʃ | Like a hard, clipped 'j' |
| Մ | m | Like the 'm' in 'mom' |
| Յ | j | Like the 'y' in 'year' or 'y' in 'buy' |
| Ն | n | Like the 'n' in 'number' |
| Շ | ʃ | Like the 'sh' in 'shower' |
| Ո | (v)o | Like the 'vo' in 'vocal' (beginning) or 'o' in 'low' (within a word) |
| Չ | tʃʰ | Like the 'ch' in 'church' |
| Պ | p | Like the 'p' in 'pizza' |
| Ջ | dʒ | Like the 'j' in 'jeans' |
| Ռ | r | Like the rolled Spanish 'r' |
| Ս | s | Like the 's' in 'sand' |
| Վ | v | Like the 'v' in 'Victor' |
| Տ | t | Like a hard 't' in 'but' |
| Ր | ɾ | Like the 'r' in 'red' or 'rh' in 'bother' (word endings) |
| Ց | tsʰ | Like the 'ts' in 'bits' |
| Ւ | v | like the 'oo' in 'cool' |
| Փ | pʰ | like the 'p' in 'pear' |
| Ք | kʰ | like the 'k' in 'kite' |
| Օ | o | like the 'o' in 'bone' |
| Ֆ | f | like the 'f' in 'life' |
| Ու | u | like the 'oo' in 'cool' |
| և | (j)ɛv | Combination of sounds 'ye' and 'v' |
| : | : | Full stop or period. |