Our alphabet began with ancient Egyptian picture symbols
Our modern alphabet originated from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, as Semitic peoples adapted picture symbols into the first phonetic writing system around 1850 BCE, making literacy accessible.
The alphabet we use today didn't come directly from Egyptian hieroglyphs, but it traces its roots to these ancient picture symbols. Around 1850 BCE, Semitic workers in Egyptian mines simplified about 22 hieroglyphs into the Proto-Sinaitic script. They assigned each symbol a sound, not a whole word, creating the first alphabetic writing system.
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