PAGE NUMBERS are the pages in which Yiddish words begin with that letter.
NUMBER OF PAGES shows those starting with that letter. Alef is the most frequent and more than the next two combined. The reason is that words starting with a vowel, other than an ayin, start with a shtumer alef.
SPECIAL are letters unusual in that they are found only in words of Hebrew origin, or they have a final form different than at the beginning or middle of the word.
PRONUNCIATION is a form a mouth takes in pronunciation: guttural, uses the soft palate and back of the tongue; labial, sounded by closing or partially closing the lips; palatal, uses the front of the tongue; lingual, uses the tongue and other mouth parts; and dental, uses the tip of the tongue near or touches the top front teeth.
DIPHTHONG is used in transliteration when two Roman letters are required in representing one Yiddish letter. Der Bay uses the YIVO Standard Orthography (spelling). There is no letter c which has the k or s sound. khof and khes are spelled kh. Tsadik is spelled ts and shin as sh.
VOWELS are pronounced eh, and not in combination. In addition to a shtumer (silent) alef at the beginning of a word there are the patekh alef with the sound ah and the komets alef pronounces aw. Vov is written as a u pronounced oo and when combined with a yud is oy. At the beginning of a word a yud is used as a consonant. In the middle it is a short i as in it. Two yuds are a long a as in ate. Two yuds and a patekh are a long i as in ice.
| Letter | Page Numbers | # of Pages | Special | Pronunciation | Diphthong |
| Alef | Pg 3-78 | 76 | Vowel | Gutteral | |
| Beys | 79-108 | 30 | Labial | ||
| Veys | No words | 0 | Hebrew | ||
| Giml | 109-130 | 22 | Palatal | ||
| Daled | 131-146 | 16 | Lingual | ||
| Hey | 147-161 | 15 | Gutteral | ||
| Vov | 162-174 | 13 | Vowel | Labials | |
| Zayen | 175-182 | 8 | Dental | ||
| Khes | 183-189 | 7 | Hebrew | Gutteral | Diphthong |
| Tes | 190-202 | 13 | Lingual | ||
| Yud | 203-209 | 7 | Vowel | Palatal | |
| Kof | 210-214 | 5 | |||
| Khof | 215-217 | 3 | Final | Palatal | Diphthong |
| Lamed | 218-229 | 12 | Lingual | ||
| Mem | 230-257 | 28 | Final | Labials | |
| Nun | 258-268 | 11 | Final | Lingual | |
| Samekh | 269-279 | 11 | Dental | ||
| Ayin | 280-289 | 10 | Vowel | Gutteral | |
| Pey | 290-307 | 18 | Labials | ||
| Fey | 308-338 | 31 | Final | Labials | |
| Tsadik | 339-355 | 17 | Final | Dental | Diphthong |
| Kuf | 356-381 | 26 | Palatal | ||
| Reysh | 382-392 | 11 | Dental | ||
| Shin | 393-416 | 24 | Dental | Diphthong | |
| Sin | 417-417 | 1 | Hebrew | ||
| Tof | 418-420 | 3 | Hebrew | Lingual | |
| Sof | No words | 0 | Hebrew |
Last Updated on 10/5/2011
By PHIL Fishl KUTNER