Pe is the seventeenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet (in abjadi order).

The original sound represented by the letter is a voiceless bilabial plosive: IPA .

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Pi (Π), Latin P, and Cyrillic Pe.

Origins of Pe

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Pe is usually assumed to come from a pictogram of a mouth (in Hebrew pe; in Arabic, fem).

Pe in Hebrew:

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Hebrew Pronunciation:

This letter is pronounced like the English letter P (IPA: /p/) with a dagesh; when this letter appears without the dagesh in its center then it is usually pronounced like a voiceless labiodental fricative (IPA: /f/).

Variations on written form/pronunciation:

The letter Daleth is one of the six letters which can receive a Dagesh Kal. The six are Bet, Gimel, Daleth, Kaph, Pe, and Tav (see Hebrew Alphabet for more about these letters).

There are two orthographic variants of this letter which alter the pronunciation:

• פּ   Pe   /p/

and

• פ Phe   /f/

Pe with the dagesh

When the Pe has a "dot" in its center, known as a dagesh, then it is pronounced as Pe, making the same sound that the English P makes when pronounced. There are various rules in Hebrew grammar that stipulate when and why a dagesh is used. The ^* is a bilabial plosive.

Pe without the dagesh (Phe)

When this letter appears as פ without the dagesh ("dot") in its center then it is pronounced as Phe; this is pronounced as a voiceless labiodental fricative (IPA: /f/).

Final form of Phe

At the end of words the letter's written form changes to a Phe Sophit (Final Phe):

• ף This does not alter the pronunciation; it is pronounced as Phe (see above).

Significance of Pe:

In gematria, Pe represents the number 80. Its final form represents 800 but this is rarely used, Tav written twice (400+400) being used instead.

Phoenician alphabet | Arabic letters

פ | Pe (lizherenn) | Pe | Pei | Pe (lettre) | פ | Pee | Pe (kirjain)