Askaci- Home
- Armenian culture
- An alphabet created around 405, 39 letters today
Armenian culture
An alphabet created around 405, 39 letters today
The Armenian alphabet is over 1,600 years old, and still in use.
It was created around the year 405 by a monk, Mesrop Mashtots, so that Armenian could be written in its own letters.
It had 36 letters. Two were added in the Middle Ages, and one more was later counted separately: 39 today.
Did you know? The first two letters are called “ayb” and “ben”. Together they gave the word “aybuben”: the alphabet.
Words to listen to
| Audio | Romanization | Armenian | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| ayb | Ա ա | the first letter | |
| ben | Բ բ | the second letter | |
| fé | Ֆ ֆ | one of the two letters added in the Middle Ages |
Tap a row’s button to hear the word. Romanization and audio come from the app (Eastern Armenian).