Ayb (Armenian letter)

Not to be confused with Щ, ש, ш, or ա.

Ayb (majuscule: Ա; minuscule: ա; Armenian: այբ) is the first letter of the Armenian alphabet.^[1] It has a numerical value of 1.^[2][3] It represents the [ɑ] sound in both variants of the Armenian language. This letter and the letter Ben (Բբ) are the two first letters in the Armenian alphabet and forms the etymology of the Armenian word այբուբեն (aybuben), meaning "alphabet." It is one of the letters originally created by Mesrop Mashtots in the 5th century.

Armenian letter Ayb
Ա ա
Usage
Writing system	Armenian script
Type	Alphabetic
Language of origin	Armenian language
Sound values	ɑ
In Unicode	U+0531, U+0561
Alphabetical position	1
History
Development	Possibly, Α α Ա ա
Time period	405 to present
Other
Associated numbers	1
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Khachkar in the shape of letter Ա

Its prototype is considered to be the Greek letter α (alpha) with the upper arc cut off. A number of Armenian letters are formed in a similar fashion^{[citation needed]}.

It is homoglyphic to the IPA symbol for the close back unrounded vowel, the Cyrillic letter Sha (Шш), the former Zhuang letter Ɯɯ used from 1957 to 1986, and the Nushkuri form of the Georgian letter oni ().

Distribution

The letter Ա is the most common letter in the Armenian alphabet. It occurs mainly in initial or medial word positions and very rarely in final position. This is explained by the fact that the Proto-Armenian language lost word-final vowels in multisyllabic words.

Meanings

As a unit, it is a symbol of God. This is because the words God—"Աստված", ⟨Astvadz(W.A.), Astvac'(E.A.)⟩—and Creator—"Արարիչ", ⟨Ararich⟩—begin with it. Thus, the symbolism of it corresponds to the Greek letter "alpha" in the Book of Revelation, where the Lord says, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." (Revelation 1:8).^{[citation needed]}

Computing codes

Character information

Preview	Ա		ա
Unicode name	ARMENIAN CAPITAL LETTER AYB		ARMENIAN SMALL LETTER AYB
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	1329	U+0531	1377	U+0561
UTF-8	212 177	D4 B1	213 161	D5 A1
Numeric character reference	Ա	Ա	ա	ա

Related characters and other similar characters

Similar characters

• ⴍ : Nuskhuri variant of the Georgian letter Oni
• Ш ш : Cyrillic letter Sha
• Ɯ ɯ : Turned M
• ɯ : Close back unrounded vowel

Related letters:

• A a : Latin letter A
• А а : Cyrillic letter A
• ა : Georgian letter Ani
• Α α : Greek alpha

Gallery

Various historic fonts

• 
  Rounded Erkat'agir
• 
  Angular Erkat'agir
• 
  Bolorgir
• 
  Notrgir
• 
  Shghagir
• 
  Typographic form
• 
  Handwritten form
• 
  Braille form Dots-1

See also

• Armenian alphabet
• Mesrop Mashtots
• Ben (letter)