alphabetical
alphabetical — adjective
1. Organised or sorted according to the standard sequence of letters in a writing s
Organised or sorted according to the standard sequence of letters in a writing system, starting from A and moving through the alphabet to Z.
Minho found the city in the guidebook's alphabetical list of Japanese destinations.
collocation: alphabetical list + of + plural noun
The librarian put the new novels in alphabetical order by the author's surname.
collocation: in alphabetical order
Shanti organised her recipe cards in alphabetical order — Appetiser, Bread, Cake, Dessert.
Gabriel saw his name first on the alphabetical class list because his surname begins with A.
For homework, the children put twenty vocabulary words into alphabetical order.
- alphabetic
synonymous but far less common; feels slightly technical or dated
- sequential
broader — describes any ordered sequence, not necessarily by letter
- ordered
general term for any kind of arranged sequence
- random
having no specific order or pattern
文法句型
alphabetical + noun (order / list / index)
用法筆記
The noun that follows is typically order, list, or index. This is by far the most common use of alphabetical.
常見錯誤
2. Relating to a writing system where each spoken sound corresponds to a symbol cal
Relating to a writing system where each spoken sound corresponds to a symbol called a letter, rather than to whole-word pictures or syllable blocks.
Chinese is not an alphabetical writing system — each character represents a whole word or idea.
collocation: alphabetical writing system
Korean Hangul is a highly respected alphabetical writing system among linguists today.
Dario learned an alphabetical script during his study of ancient Greek at the university.
Sade explained that English uses an alphabetical system where letters stand for speech sounds.
Before alphabetical writing was invented, people recorded information by drawing pictures and symbols.
- alphabetic
interchangeable in technical contexts
- letter-based
informal equivalent used in non-specialist discussions
- logographic
describes a system where symbols represent whole words or morphemes, not sounds
- syllabic
describes a system where symbols represent syllables rather than individual phonemes
文法句型
alphabetical + noun (writing / system / script)
用法筆記
Used mainly in linguistics and discussions of writing-system typology. Distinguish from Sense 1 (arrangement), which is much more common in everyday language.