Bikol/Alphabet

Bikol is written using the 28 Filipino Alphabet.

• Vowels
  • Upper case: A E I O U
  • Lower case: a e i o u
• Original consonants
  • Upper case: B K D G H L M N NG P R S T W Y
  • Lower case: b k d g h l m n ng p r s t w y
• Additional consonants
  • Upper case: C F J Ñ Q V X Z
  • Lower case: c f j ñ q v x z

The language uses the following letters:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28
A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	Ñ	NG	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z

Below is a table of the modern Bikol alphabet.

Letter	Names (Alpabetong Filipino)	IPA	Notes
a	ei	/a/	Becomes [ɐ] in unstressed positions
b	bee	/b/
c	see	/k/ or /s/	Substituted by the letters k or s in Abakada, depending on the sound the letter generates. It is only used for words of foreign origin that have not been assimilated into Bikol or Bikol words which were written using Spanish orthography.
d	dee	/d/	/ɾ/ and /d/ are sometimes interchangeable
e	ee	/ɛ/	Sometimes pronounced [i ~ ɪ ~ ɛ]
f	ef	/f/	Substituted by the letter p in Abakada. It is only used for words of foreign origin that have not been assimilated into Bikol or Bikol words which were written using Spanish orthography.
g	dzi	/g/
h	eich	/h/
i	ai	/i/	/i/ is usually pronounced [ɪ] in unstressed positions
j	dzei	/dʒ/ or /h/	Written as the digraph dy or trigraph diy in Abakada when using the /dʒ/ phoneme or as h when using the /h/ phoneme. The sound varies depending on the language. It is only used for words of foreign origin that have not been assimilated into Bikol or Bikol words which were written using Spanish orthography.
k	kei	/k/	/k/ has a tendency to become [x] between vowels
l	el	/l/
m	em	/m/
n	en	/n/
ñ	enye	/ɲ/, /nʲ/ or /nj/	Written as the digraph ny or trigraph niy in Abakada. It is only used for words of Spanish origin that have not been assimilated into Bikol or Bikol words which were written using Spanish orthography.
ng	endzi	/ŋ/	pronounced 'ng' as in sing, running, etc.
o	oh	/o/	/o/ can sometimes be pronounced as [u ~ ʊ], and tends to become [ɔ] in stressed positions
p	pee	/p/
q	kyoo	/kʷ/	Written as the digraph kw in Abakada. It is only used for words of foreign origin that have not been assimilated into Bikol or Bikol words which were written using Spanish orthography.
r	ar	/ɾ/	/ɾ/ and /d/ are sometimes interchangeable
s	es	/s/
t	tee	/t/
u	yoo	/u/	When unstressed, /u/ is usually pronounced [ʊ]
v	vee	/v/	Substituted by the letter b in standard Bikol. It is only used for words of foreign origin that have not been assimilated into Bikol or Bikol words which were written using Spanish orthography.
w	dobol yoo	/w/
x	eks	/ks/	Written as the digraph ks in Abakada. It is only used for words of foreign origin that have not been assimilated into Bikol or Bikol words which were written using Spanish orthography.
y	wai	/j/
z	zee	/z/	Substituted by the letter s in standard Bikol. It is only used for words of foreign origin that have not been assimilated into Bikol or Bikol words which were written using Spanish orthography.