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{{Short description|Ninth letter of many Semitic abjads}}
{{about|the Semitic letter|the 5th-century Cornish saint also known as Teth|Saint Tetha|the planet from Star Wars|List of Star Wars planets and moons#Teth}}
{{Distinguish|teeth}}
{{Phoenician glyph|letname=Teth|previouslink=Heth|previousletter=Heth|nextlink=Yodh|nextletter=Yodh|archar=ط|sychar=ܛ|hechar=ט|amchar=𐡈|gechar=ጠ|phchar=𐤈|grchar=[[Θ]]||lachar=[[Latin theta|ϴ]]{{efn|The Latin letter theta was never included in one of the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet. The Latin letter theta is only used in certain languages.}}|cychar=[[Ѳ]]|ipa={{IPAlink|tˤ}}|num=9|gem=9}}

'''Teth''', also written as '''{{Transl|sem|Ṭēth}}''' or '''Tet''', is the ninth [[Letter (alphabet)|letter]] of the [[Semitic abjads]], including [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] ''ṭēt'' 𐤈, [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]], [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]] 
''ṭēṯ'' 𐡈, and [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac]] ''ṭēṯ'' ܛ, and [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] ''ṭāʾ'' {{Script|Arabic|ط}}. The Phoenician letter also gave rise to the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] [[theta]] ({{lang|el|Θ}}), originally an [[aspirated consonant|aspirated]] [[voiceless dental stop]] but now used for the [[voiceless dental fricative]]. The Arabic letter (ط) is sometimes transliterated as ''Tah'' in English,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/U+FEC4 |title="ﻄ" U+FEC4 Arabic Letter Tah Medial Form Unicode Character |website=comport |access-date=7 June 2019 |archive-date=7 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607171032/https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/U%2BFEC4 |url-status=live }}</ref> for example in [[Arabic script in Unicode]].

The sound value of Teth is {{IPAslink|tˤ}}, one of the Semitic [[emphatic consonant]]s.

==Origins==
The Phoenician letter name {{Transl|sem|ṭēth}} may mean "[[spinning wheel]]"<ref>{{Cite book|last=Albright|first=William F.|url=https://archive.org/details/AlbrightTheProtoSinaiticInscriptionsAndTheirDecipherment1969|title=The Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions and Their Decipherment|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1969}}</ref> pictured as [[File:Phoenician_teth.svg|class=skin-invert-image|10px]] (compare Hebrew root {{Script|Hebr|ט-ו-י}} (''ṭ-w-y'') meaning 'spinning' (a thread) which [[Acrophony|begins with]] Teth). According to another hypothesis (Brian Colless{{cn|date=November 2017}}), the letter possibly continues a [[Proto-Sinaitic script|Middle Bronze Age]] glyph named {{Transl|sem|ṭab}} 'good', Aramaic {{Script|Hebr|טַב}} 'tav', Hebrew {{Script/Hebrew|טוב}} 'tov', Syriac ܛܒܐ 'tava', modern Arabic {{lang|ar|طَيّب}} '''ṭayyib''<nowiki/>', all of identical meaning.

Jewish religious books about the "holy letters" from the 10th century onward discuss the connection or origin of the letter Teth with the word ''tov'' "good".
This was especially emphasized ever since the late 1600s after the [[Baal Shem Tov]] became influential, since the letter Teth was in his Acronym standing for Tov, and goodness was part of his philosophy.
The [[acrostic]] poems of the Bible use 'Tov' to represent the letter (e.g. Psalm 119:65-72).

==Arabic ṭāʾ==
{{Infobox grapheme
| name = ṭāʾ طاء
| letter = ط
| script = [[Arabic script]]
| type = [[Abjad]]
| language = [[Arabic language]]
| phonemes = {{IPA link|tˤ}}
| alphanumber = 16
| direction = Right-to-left
| fam2 = [[𐤈]]
| fam3 = 𐡈‎
| fam4 = 𐢋‎
| fam5 = 
}}The letter is named ''{{transl|ar|ALA-LC|ṭāʾ&nbsp;}}'' طَاءْ; [[Modern Standard Arabic]] pronunciation: {{IPA|/tˤ/}}. 

It has four forms, and the letter does not change its shape depending on its position in the word:
{{Arabic alphabet shapes|ط}}

==Hebrew tet==
{|class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
|colspan=5|<small>[[Orthography|Orthographic]] variants</small>
|-
!|<small>[[Serif]]</small> !! <small>[[sans-Serif]]</small> !! <small>[[Monospaced]]</small>!!<small>[[Cursive Hebrew|Cursive<br>Hebrew]]</small>!!<small>[[Rashi script|Rashi<br>script]]</small>
|-
|width=20%|<span style="font:30pt 'Times New Roman', 'SBL Hebrew', David, Narkisim, 'New Peninim MT', 'Taamey Frank CLM', serif;">ט</span>
|width=20%|<span style="font:28pt Arial, 'DejaVu Sans Condensed', 'DejaVu Sans', Tahoma, 'Noto Sans Hebrew', Alef, sans-serif;">ט</span>
|width=20%|<span style="font:30pt 'Courier New', 'Miriam Fixed', 'Miriam Mono CLM', FreeMono, monospace;">ט</span>
|width=20%|[[File:Hebrew letter Tet handwriting.svg|class=skin-invert-image|24px]]
|width=20%|[[File:Rashi-tet.png|class=skin-invert-image|35px]]
|}

The Hebrew spelling of name of the letter: <big>{{Script/Hebrew|טֵית}}</big>

===Hebrew pronunciation===
In [[Hebrew language|Modern Hebrew]], Tet represents a [[voiceless alveolar plosive]] {{IPA|/t/}}, and is therefore usually homophonic with the [[abjad]]'s final letter, Tav {{Script|Hebr|ת}}. However, Tet can be [[Pharyngealisation|pharyngealized]] to produce {{IPA|[tˤ]}} in traditional [[Yemenite Jews|Temani]] and [[Sephardi]] pronunciation. [tˤ] is also probably the pronunciation in Biblical Hebrew.

===Significance===
In [[gematria]], Tet represents the number nine. When followed by an apostrophe, it means 9,000. The most common example of this usage is in the numbers of the [[Hebrew calendar|Hebrew years]] (e.g., {{Script/Hebrew|ט'תשנד}} in [[Arabic numerals|numbers]] would be the [[Calendar date|date]] 9754).

As well, in gematria, the number 15 is written with Tet and [[Waw (letter)|Vav]], (9+6) to avoid the normal construction [[Yodh|Yud]] and [[He (letter)|Hei]] (10+5) which spells a [[Names of God in Judaism|name of God]]. Similarly, 16 is written with Tet and [[Zayin]] (9+7) instead of [[Yodh|Yud]] and [[Waw (letter)|Vav]] (10+6) to avoid spelling part of the [[Tetragrammaton]].

Tet is also one of the seven letters which receive special crowns (called ''[[Tag (Hebrew writing)|tagin]]'') when written in a [[Sefer Torah]]. See [[Shin (letter)|Shin]], [[Ayin]], [[Gimmel]], [[Nun (letter)|Nun]], [[Zayin]], and [[Tzade|Tzadi]].

==Syriac tet==
{{Arabic alphabet shapes|ܛ‎}}

==Similar symbols==
A symbol similar to the Phoenician teth is used for the [[tensor product]], as <math>\otimes</math>, but this is presumably an independent development, by modification of the [[multiplication sign]] ×. The Hebrew {{Script/Hebrew|ט}} is also visually similar to the letter [[Ʋ]].

==Character encodings==

{{charmap
|05D8|name1=Hebrew Letter Tet
|0637|name2=Arabic Letter Tah
|071B|name3=Syriac Letter Teth
|0808|name4=Samaritan Letter Tit
}}

{{charmap
|10389|name1=Ugaritic Letter Tet
|10848|name2=Imperial Aramaic Letter Teth
|10908|name3=Phoenician Letter Tet
}}

==See also==
* [[Ṭ]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commonscat|Teth (letter)}}

{{Hebrew language}}
{{Arabic language}}
{{Northwest Semitic abjad}}
[[Category:Phoenician alphabet]]
[[Category:Arabic letters]]
[[Category:Hebrew letters]]
[[Category:Urdu letters]]