The Tetragrammaton

The Hebrew letters ‘yud,’ ‘hey,’ ‘vav,’ and ‘hey’ (in English, YHVH) form what is known as the Tetragrammaton, or God’s four-letter name. Given the longstanding Jewish prohibition against speaking God’s name aloud, the word’s original pronunciation is unclear, and it is traditionally not pronounced as written. Instead, a variety of substitutes are used - like “Adonai” (“My Lord”) and “Hashem” (“The Name”) - depending on the context.