alphabet
/ˈælfəbɪt/noun
1- a set of letters or symbols in a fixed order used to represent the basic set of speech sounds of a language, especially the set of letters from A to Z字母表（尤指从A到Z的一套字母）。
1.1
- the basic elements in a system which combine to form complex entities基本要素：
DNA's 4-letter alphabet.
DNA的四字母基本要素。
The origin of the alphabet goes back to the Phoenician system of the 2nd millennium BC, from which the modern Hebrew and Arabic systems are ultimately derived. The Greek alphabet, which emerged in 1000-900 BC, developed two branches, Cyrillic (which became the script of Russian) and Etruscan (from which derives the Roman alphabet used in the West).
词源
early 16th cent.: from late Latin alphabetum, from Greek alpha, bēta, the first two letters of the Greek alphabet.