WThe Armenian alphabet is an alphabetic writing system used to write Armenian. It was developed around 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader. The system originally had 36 letters; eventually, three more were adopted. The alphabet was also in wide use in the Ottoman Empire around the 18th and 19th centuries. The Armenian word for "alphabet" is այբուբեն, named after the first two letters of the Armenian alphabet: ⟨Ա⟩ Armenian: այբ ayb and ⟨Բ⟩ Armenian: բեն ben. Armenian is written horizontally, left-to-right.
WThe Armeno-Turkish alphabet is a version of the Armenian alphabet sometimes used to write Ottoman Turkish until 1928, when the Latin-based modern Turkish alphabet was introduced. The Armenian script was not just used by ethnic Armenians to write the Turkish language, but also by the non-Armenian Ottoman Turkish elite.
WAyb is the first letter of the Armenian alphabet. It has a numerical value of 1. It represents the open back unrounded vowel (/ɑ/) in both variants of the Armenian language. This letter and the letter Ben 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.
WSe or Seh is the twenty-ninth letter of the Armenian alphabet. It has a numerical value of 2000. It represents the voiceless alveolar sibilant (/s/) in both Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian. Created by Mesrop Mashtots in the 5th century AD, it is homoglyphic to the Latin letter U.
WT'o or To is the ninth letter of the Armenian alphabet. It has a numerical value of 9. It is created by Mesrop Mashtots in the 5th century AD. It represents the aspirated voiceless alveolar plosive (/tʰ/) on both Eastern and Western Armenian.
WTyun, Tyown, or Tiwn is the thirty-first letter of the Armenian alphabet. It has a numerical value of 4000.
WVo is the twenty-fourth letter of the Armenian alphabet. It has a numerical value of 600. It was created by Mesrop Mashtots in the 5th century AD. It represents the open-mid back rounded vowel (/ɔ/), but when it occurs isolated or word-initially, it represents /vɔ/. It is one of the two letters that represent the sound O, the other being Օ which was not created by Mashtots.
WYech is the fifth letter of the Armenian alphabet. It is created by Mesrop Mashtots in the 5th century AD. It has a numerical value of 5. Word-initially, it represents the open-mid front unrounded vowel ([ɛ]), but it occurs word-initially, it was pronounced as [jɛ].