Roman alphabet
1
1.5
- noun
- /ˈroʊmən ˈælfəˌbɛt/
:
alfabeto romano
- And it's the good old Roman alphabet: God's language.
Examples
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Tamazight is currently taught in Morocco using the Tifinagh script, a controversial choice since many activists prefer to use the Roman alphabet and feel that Tifinagh will only serve to isolate the Tamazight language.
Academic text (2006) -
That's a Roman alphabet, Rabbi.
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OK, the alphabet we use is is called the Roman alphabet ABCDEFG.
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Because these languages are written in a different script, the titles require transliteration into Roman alphabet script.
Academic text (2014) -
If your second language is one that uses the Roman alphabet, you can skip this step because the font will be the same as that used for your primary language.
Blog text (16) -
As Khatz said, it happens all over the world, even in languages with very "simple" Roman alphabets (e.g.
Blog text (25) -
(In the late 1960s, a group of missionaries known as the Wycliffe Bible Translators taught the Indians how to write in their own language using the Roman alphabet.
Academic text (2000) -
Why don't I hear people talking smack about how the Roman alphabet is fundamentally broken and inferior, and it's all apples and oranges, and Goebbels wore Gucci underwear, and the Germans are this and that?
Blog text (25) -
When Kemal Ataturk, in 1928, proscribed the use of Arabic script for writing Turkish and introduced a 29-letter alphabet based on the Roman alphabet, it was not least for political, social, and symbolic reasons connected with modernizing Turkey.
Academic text (2001) -
The alphabet used in English is the Roman alphabet.
Synonyms
1
1.0
A set of letters used to write English and many other languages
1
4.1
A style of letters with straight lines and simple shapes used in ancient Rome
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'Roman' (pertaining to Rome/Latin) modifies 'alphabet' (set of letters), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to the alphabet associated with Rome/Late Latin. This is a standard noun + modifier construction with clear cross-linguistic parallels (e.g. Spanish 'alfabeto romano'), so it is immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Roman alphabet comes from the letters used by the ancient Romans, who carved their signs on stone and coins. Because those Roman letters spread across Europe and became the basic set of shapes for writing many languages, today 'Roman alphabet' means the letters we use to write English and other European languages.