Wikipedia's first sentence called it “nineteenth letter in many abjad alphabets”. Today it says “nineteenth letter of the semitic abjads”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2005
Qoph is the nineteenth letter in many abjad alphabets, including Phoenician , Hebrew , and Aramaic .1It represents a hard Q sound at the back of the throat, which became over time the letter Q in the Latin alphabet , and the letter Qoppa in certain early varieties of the Greek alphabet .2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17870504.
The opening as it stood in 2010 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Without proper rendering support , you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols .Qoph or Qop (In modern Hebrew: Kuf , Arabic: Qāf ) is the nineteenth letter in many Semitic abjads , including Phoenician , Aramaic , Syriac , Hebrew ק and Arabic alphabet qāf ق (in abjadi order ).Its sound value is an emphatic ( pharyngealized ) velar stop, , or uvular stop /q/ .The OHED (Oxford Hebrew English Dictionary) gives the letter Qoph a transliteration value of Q or a K and a final transliteration value as a ck.In Hebrew Gematria , it has the numerical value of 100. It became over time the letter Q in the Latin alphabet , and the letter Qoppa in certain early varieties of the Greek alphabet .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 364884262.
The opening as it stood in 2015 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Without proper rendering support , you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols . Qoph or Qop is the nineteenth letter of the Semitic abjads , including Phoenician Qōp , Hebrew Qof ק , Aramaic Qop , Syriac Qōp̄ ܩ, and Arabic Qāf ق (in abjadi order ).Its sound value is an emphatic [ kˤ ] or [ q ] . In Hebrew gematria , it has the numerical value of 100. The origin of qoph is uncertain.It is usually suggested to have originally depicted either a sewing needle , specifically the eye of a needle (the Hebrew קוף means "hole"), or the back of a head and neck ( qāf in Arabic meant " nape ").According to an older suggestion, it may also have been a picture of a monkey and its tail.The meaning is doubtful."Eye of a needle" has been suggested, and also "knot" Harvard Studies in Classical Philology vol. 45.Isaac Taylor, History of the Alphabet: Semitic Alphabets, Part 1 , 2003: "The old explanation, which has again been revived by Halévy, is that it denotes an 'ape,' the character Q being taken to represent an ape with its tail hanging down.It may also be referred to a Talmudic root which would signify an 'aperture' of some kind, as the 'eye of a needle,' ...Lenormant adopts the more usual explanation that the word means a 'knot'.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 662648857.
The opening as it stood in 2020 10 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Without proper rendering support , you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols . Qoph or Qop ( Phoenician Qōp ) is the nineteenth letter of the Semitic abjads .Aramaic Qop is derived from the Phoenician letter, and derivations from Aramaic include Hebrew Qof ק , Syriac Qōp̄ ܩ and Arabic Qāf ق .Its original sound value was a West Semitic emphatic stop , presumably [ kˤ ] or [ q ] . In Hebrew gematria , it has the numerical value of 100.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 955771255.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Nineteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets This article is about the Semitic letter. Without proper rendering support , you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols . Qoph is the nineteenth letter of the Semitic abjads , including Phoenician qōp 𐤒, Hebrew qūp̄ ק, Aramaic qop 𐡒, Syriac qōp̄ ܩ, and Arabic qāf ق. Its original sound value was a West Semitic emphatic stop , presumably [ kʼ ] . In Hebrew numerals , it has the numerical value of 100.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1177910629.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Nineteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets This article is about the Semitic letter. Without proper rendering support , you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols . Qoph is the nineteenth letter of the Semitic abjads , including Phoenician qōp 𐤒, Hebrew qūp̄ ק , Aramaic qop 𐡒, Syriac qōp̄ ܩ, and Arabic qāf ق . It is also related to the Ancient North Arabian 𐪄 , South Arabian 𐩤 , and Ge'ez ቀ . Its original sound value was a West Semitic emphatic stop , presumably [ kʼ ] . In Hebrew numerals , it has the numerical value of 100.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1288791261. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “nineteenth letter in many abjad alphabets”. Today it says “nineteenth letter of the semitic abjads”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
nineteenth letter in many abjad alphabets
Now
nineteenth letter of the semitic abjads
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
