An alphabet is a specific type of writing system; while not all writing systems (orthographies) are alphabets, all alphabets are orthographies. An alphabet has a specific amount of letters that represent specific sounds (phonemes) and can combine to form words that represent ideas. As an example of an orthography before Phonecian, hieroglyphics were mainly logographs, which are characters that don't represent sound but the idea that they were describing, like a character representing a car being shaped like a car. Phonecian was the first true alphabet created.