Mazalogy · Hebrew letter reference in English
Lamed: Hebrew letter forms and values
Identify Lamed ל, compare standard, ordinal and reduced-letter values, and check לילה in its cited Hebrew source.
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Follow both Lameds in laylah
| Form | Character | Unicode code point | Unicode 17.0 name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary Lamed | ל | U+05DC | HEBREW LETTER LAMED |
Lamed / Lamedh. Reading cue: l.
Lamed is the twelfth alphabet letter. In the printed word לילה it appears twice, on either side of Yod. Follow the sequence from right to left: Lamed, Yod, Lamed, Heh. The final Heh is ordinary; Lamed has no special sofit form.
Compare the height of ל with the neighboring letters in this font as a recognition exercise. Then check the same word in another clear printed typeface. The Unicode character stays Lamed even when a font changes the proportions of its outline.
One letter, three explicit values
| Standard | Ordinal | Reduced letters |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | 12 | 3 |
Each Lamed contributes standard 30, ordinal 12 and reduced 3. Because לילה contains two of them, their combined contributions are 60, 24 and 6 before Yod and Heh are included. A calculation must preserve repeated letters rather than summing only the distinct alphabet characters present.
לילה: night
Pointed source form: לָיְלָה · reading cue: laylah. Genesis 1:5 · Mechon Mamre.
The verse names night alongside day. The written Heh at the end belongs to this source spelling and contributes to every total.
| Reading position | Written letter | Base letter | Standard | Ordinal | Reduced letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ל | ל | 30 | 12 | 3 |
| 2 | י | י | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 3 | ל | ל | 30 | 12 | 3 |
| 4 | ה | ה | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Word total | 75 | 39 | 12 | ||
Standard: 30 + 10 + 30 + 5 = 75 · Ordinal: 12 + 10 + 12 + 5 = 39 · Reduced letters: 3 + 1 + 3 + 5 = 12
Its group in the Gra version of Sefer Yetzirah
Lamed ל is among the twelve simple letters / elementals listed in Gra 5:1: הוזחטילנסעצק. Keep this textual classification distinct from the alphabet position and the arithmetic columns above.
Study the source in a guided introduction · Read about textual versions
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Sources, dates and conventions
Prepared by Mazalogy with AI assistance. Characters, source-word spellings and calculation rules were checked against the sources and the calculator on . Reading cues introduce the cited chart; pronunciation varies by community. Source attribution does not imply outside review or endorsement.
- Unicode 17.0 · Hebrew, section 9.1: direction, points and final forms
- Unicode 17.0 · NamesList: Hebrew character names and code points
- Chabad · The Hebrew Alphabet: letter chart, sounds and values
- GalEinai · Four Methods for Doing Gematria: distinguish counting conventions
- Sefer Yetzirah · Gra version 5:1, the twelve simple letters
- Mechon Mamre · Genesis 1:5, Hebrew text with JPS 1917 English
English reference edition. Numerical examples retain final forms and actual vowel letters while ignoring pronunciation marks. Final forms keep base-letter values in all three methods. Reduced letters are added without reducing the completed word total again.