ד

See also: ד־, ד׳, and Appendix:Variations of "d"

Hebrew

Letter

ד • (d)

1. Dalet, daleth: the fourth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
2. The numeral 4 in Hebrew numbering.

Usage notes

• The letter ד represents the phoneme /d/. In Modern Israeli Hebrew, this phoneme is pronounced [d] (like the <d> in English dog).
• In the Masoretic Text, the letter ד takes a dagesh (דּ) not only when geminated, but also at the start of a word or after a consonant. In Yemenite Hebrew, it is pronounced [d] in those contexts, and [ð] (like the <th> in English this) in other contexts; it is commonly believed that the same was true in Classical Hebrew.
• In Modern Israeli Hebrew, the sound /ð/ (like the <th> in English that), which occurs in various foreign phrases and proper nouns, is commonly written ד׳ (dh).
• The letter ד does not have many "grammatical" uses — it mostly occurs only in the "main" part of a word — but one exception is in hitpa'el verbs (and derived nouns) where the first letter of the root is ז (z); for example, we say הִזְדַּקֵּן (hizdakén, “to grow old”) rather than *הִתְזַקֵּן (hitzaken).

Coordinate terms

• (Hebrew script letters) א,‏ ב,‏ ג,‏ ד,‏ ה,‏ ו,‏ ז,‏ ח,‏ ט,‏ י,‏ כך,‏ ל,‏ מם,‏ נן,‏ ס,‏ ע,‏ פף,‏ צץ,‏ ק,‏ ר,‏ ש,‏ ת

Derived terms

• בְּד׳ אַמּוֹת (bedálet amót, “with four limb”)