Hebrew alphabet

The Hebrew alphabet (Hebrew: אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי, alefbet ʿIvri), known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as of other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two script forms in use; the original old Hebrew script is known as the paleo-Hebrew script (which has been largely preserved, in an altered form, in the Samaritan script), while the present "square" form of the Hebrew alphabet is a stylized form of the Aramaic script and was known by Israel's sages as the Ashuri script (Assyrian script), since its origins were alleged to be from Assyria. Various "styles" (in current terms, "fonts") of representation of the letters exist. There is also a cursive Hebrew script, which has also varied over time and place.