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Armenian Alphabet

Reference chart of the 38 Armenian letter pairs, their conventional names, approximate Eastern Armenian sounds and traditional Armenian numeral values. Useful when mystery caches hide clues in unfamiliar writing.

Complete alphabet reference (Ա–Ֆ)

Reading the table: Armenian is written left to right. Sounds are approximate Eastern Armenian pronunciations; Western Armenian differs. Aspirated consonants are marked with ʿ. Historical number values are included because Armenian letters can be used as numerals in older inscriptions.

#	Upper / lower	Name	Approximate sound	Historical numeral
1	Ա ա	Ayb	a	1
2	Բ բ	Ben	b	2
3	Գ գ	Gim	g	3
4	Դ դ	Da	d	4
5	Ե ե	Yech	ye / e	5
6	Զ զ	Za	z	6
7	Է է	Eh	e	7
8	Ը ը	Et	ə	8
9	Թ թ	To	tʿ	9
10	Ժ ժ	Zhe	zh	10
11	Ի ի	Ini	i	20
12	Լ լ	Liwn	l	30
13	Խ խ	Khe	kh	40
14	Ծ ծ	Tsa	ts	50
15	Կ կ	Ken	k	60
16	Հ հ	Ho	h	70
17	Ձ ձ	Dza	dz	80
18	Ղ ղ	Ghat	gh	90
19	Ճ ճ	Che	ch	100
20	Մ մ	Men	m	200
21	Յ յ	Yi	y	300
22	Ն ն	Nu	n	400
23	Շ շ	Sha	sh	500
24	Ո ո	Vo	vo / o	600
25	Չ չ	Cha	chʿ	700
26	Պ պ	Pe	p	800
27	Ջ ջ	Je	j	900
28	Ռ ռ	Ra	trilled r	1000
29	Ս ս	Se	s	2000
30	Վ վ	Vev	v	3000
31	Տ տ	Tiwn	t	4000
32	Ր ր	Re	r	5000
33	Ց ց	Tso	tsʿ	6000
34	Ւ ւ	Yiwn	v / part of «ու»	7000
35	Փ փ	Piwr	pʿ	8000
36	Ք ք	Ke	kʿ	9000
37	Օ օ	O	o	—
38	Ֆ ֆ	Fe	f	—

Useful combinations & examples

Characters	Reading	Notes
Ու ու	u / oo	Two-character combination used for the vowel /u/; in modern Eastern Armenian orthography it is commonly treated as a letter.
և	yev / ev	Ligature representing եվ, often meaning “and”; counted as an additional letter in some modern alphabets. Its capitalized form is usually written Եվ.
Բարև	barev	Armenian greeting “hello.”
Հայաստան	Hayastan	Armenian name for Armenia.

Number clues: The first nine historical letters represent 1–9, the next nine 10–90, then 100–900, and then 1000–9000. The later additions Օ and Ֆ have no traditional numeric value. A numeral puzzle may combine letter values rather than substitute letters for English A–Z.

Geocaching tip: Look for the Armenian shapes Ա, Բ, Գ, Դ and check whether the clue is text or historical numerals. Transliteration is not a simple 1:1 A–Z cipher; multiple Armenian letters can sound similar in Latin spelling.

Reference: Library of Congress Armenian Romanization Table (Eastern / Classical forms; romanization and pronunciation may vary).

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