Mazalogy · Hebrew letter reference in English

Samekh: Hebrew letter forms and values

Identify Samekh ס, compare standard, ordinal and reduced-letter values, and check ספר in its cited Hebrew source.

Ordinary Samekh

Published 13 October 2026 · Our editorial approach

Samekh and Sin can share a sound cue without sharing a character

Samekh identity: alphabet position 15
Form	Character	Unicode code point	Unicode 17.0 name
Ordinary Samekh	ס	`U+05E1`	HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH

Samekh / Samech. Reading cue: s.

Samekh is ס, the fifteenth letter. Sin is a dotted reading of ש, the twenty-first base letter. Both can have an s cue in a basic Modern Hebrew lesson. The shared cue does not authorize replacing one written letter with the other.

In ספר, Samekh is the rightmost letter, followed by Peh and Resh. Compare it with final Mem, ם, in a clear print source. Samekh has no special final form of its own.

One letter, three explicit values

Samekh in Mazalogy’s three methods
Standard	Ordinal	Reduced letters
60	15	6

Samekh contributes standard 60, ordinal 15 and reduced 6. The word ספר has the same ordinal and reduced totals as the atlas’s נפש example, but different standard totals and different letters. This is an arithmetic comparison you can reproduce; it does not establish a shared derivation or meaning between the words.

ספר: book

Pointed source form: סֵפֶר · reading cue: sefer. Deuteronomy 31:26 · Mechon Mamre.

The passage concerns a book of the law. The calculation uses ספר alone; it does not include the following התורה or translate the phrase into another spelling.

Each actual letter in reading order; pronunciation marks contribute no values
Reading position	Written letter	Base letter	Standard	Ordinal	Reduced letters
1	ס	ס	60	15	6
2	פ	פ	80	17	8
3	ר	ר	200	20	2
Word total			340	52	16

Standard: 60 + 80 + 200 = 340 · Ordinal: 15 + 17 + 20 = 52 · Reduced letters: 6 + 8 + 2 = 16

Its group in the Gra version of Sefer Yetzirah

Samekh ס 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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Try a word in the free calculator · Print the values chart · All twenty-two letter entries

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 13 October 2026. Reading cues introduce the cited chart; pronunciation varies by community. Source attribution does not imply outside review or endorsement.

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.