פ The seventeenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The name of the letter ‘Pe’ is prob. derived from פֶּה (= mouth), and so called in allusion to the ancient form of this letter. It has a final form ף. In PBH פ has the numerical value of eighty and ף has the numerical value of eight hundred. פ alternates with ב and מ (see introductory entries to these letters). In Arab. it alternates also with th (see e.g. bases חנף and עשׁן, and cp. Russian Fedor and Foma, which derive from Gk. Theodoros and Thomas).