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Arabic script | |
---|---|
Script type | primarily, alphabet |
Time period | 4th century CE to the present [1] |
Direction | Right-to-left script |
Official script | 20 sovereign states Co-official script in: |
Languages | See below |
Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | N'Ko Thaana Hanifi script Persian alphabet |
ISO 15924 | |
ISO 15924 | Arab(160),Arabic |
Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Arabic |
| |
Worldwide use of the Arabic and Perso-Arabic script | ||
---|---|---|
Countries where the Arabic script is: | ||
→ | the sole official script | |
→ | official alongside other scripts | |
→ | official at a provincial level (China, India, Tanzania) or a recognized second script of the official language (Malaysia, Tajikistan) |
The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (after the Latin script), [2] the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it, and the third-most by number of users (after the Latin and Chinese scripts). [3]
The script was first used to write texts in Arabic, most notably the Quran, the holy book of Islam. With the religion's spread, it came to be used as the primary script for many language families, leading to the addition of new letters and other symbols. Such languages still using it are: Persian (Farsi and Dari), Malay (Jawi), Cham (Akhar Srak), [4] Uyghur, Kurdish, Punjabi (Shahmukhi), Sindhi, Balti, Balochi, Pashto, Luri, Urdu, Kashmiri, Rohingya, Somali, Mandinka, and Mooré, among others. [5] Until the 16th century, it was also used for some Spanish texts, and—prior to the script reform in 1928—it was the writing system of Turkish. [6]
The script is written from right to left in a cursive style, in which most of the letters are written in slightly different forms according to whether they stand alone or are joined to a following or preceding letter. The script does not have capital letters. [7] In most cases, the letters transcribe consonants, or consonants and a few vowels, so most Arabic alphabets are abjads, with the versions used for some languages, such as Kurdish dialect of Sorani, Uyghur, Mandarin, and Serbo-Croatian, being alphabets. It is the basis for the tradition of Arabic calligraphy.
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The Arabic alphabet is derived either from the Nabataean alphabet [8] [9] or (less widely believed) directly from the Syriac alphabet, [10] which are both derived from the Aramaic alphabet (which also gave rise to the Hebrew alphabet), which, in turn, descended from the Phoenician alphabet. In addition to the Aramaic script (and, therefore, the Arabic and Hebrew scripts), the Phoenician script also gave rise to the Greek alphabet (and, therefore, both the Cyrillic alphabet and the Latin alphabet used in America and most European countries.).
In the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, northern Arab tribes emigrated and founded a kingdom centred around Petra, Jordan. These people (now named Nabataeans from the name of one of the tribes, Nabatu) spoke Nabataean Arabic, a dialect of the Arabic language. In the 2nd or 1st centuries BCE, [11] [12] the first known records of the Nabataean alphabet were written in the Aramaic language (which was the language of communication and trade), but included some Arabic language features: the Nabataeans did not write the language which they spoke. They wrote in a form of the Aramaic alphabet, which continued to evolve; it separated into two forms: one intended for inscriptions (known as "monumental Nabataean") and the other, more cursive and hurriedly written and with joined letters, for writing on papyrus. [13] This cursive form influenced the monumental form more and more and gradually changed into the Arabic alphabet.
خ | ح | ج | ث | ت | ب | ا |
khā’ | ḥā’ | jīm | tha’ | tā’ | bā’ | alif |
ص | ش | س | ز | ر | ذ | د |
ṣād | shīn | sīn | zāy / zayn | rā’ | dhāl | dāl |
ق | ف | غ | ع | ظ | ط | ض |
qāf | fā’ | ghayn | ‘ayn | ẓā’ | ṭā’ | ḍād |
ي | و | ه | ن | م | ل | ك |
yā’ | wāw | hā’ | nūn | mīm | lām | kāf |
أ | آ | إ | ئ | ؠ | ء | ࢬ |
alif hamza↑ | alif madda | alif hamza↓ | yā’ hamza↑ | kashmiri yā’ | hamza | rohingya yā’ |
ى | ٱ | ی | ە | ً | ٌ | ٍ |
alif maksura | alif wasla | farsi yā’ | ae | fathatan | dammatan | kasratan |
َ | ُ | ِ | ّ | ْ | ٓ | ۤ |
fatha | damma | kasra | shadda | sukun | maddah | madda |
ں | ٹ | ٺ | ٻ | پ | ٿ | ڃ |
nūn ghunna | ttā’ | ttāhā’ | bāā’ | pā’ | tāhā’ | nyā’ |
ڄ | چ | ڇ | ڈ | ڌ | ڍ | ڎ |
dyā’ | tchā’ | tchahā’ | ddāl | dāhāl | ddāhāl | duul |
ڑ | ژ | ڤ | ڦ | ک | ڭ | گ |
rrā’ | jā’ | vā’ | pāḥā’ | kāḥā’ | ng | gāf |
ڳ | ڻ | ھ | ہ | ة | ۃ | ۅ |
gueh | rnūn | hā’ doachashmee | hā’ goal | tā’ marbuta | tā’ marbuta goal | kirghiz oe |
ۆ | ۇ | ۈ | ۉ | ۋ | ې | ے |
oe | u | yu | kirghiz yu | ve | e | yā’ barree |
(see below for other alphabets) | ||||||
The Arabic script has been adapted for use in a wide variety of languages aside from Arabic, including Persian, Malay and Urdu, which are not Semitic. Such adaptations may feature altered or new characters to represent phonemes that do not appear in Arabic phonology. For example, the Arabic language lacks a voiceless bilabial plosive (the [p] sound), therefore many languages add their own letter to represent [p] in the script, though the specific letter used varies from language to language. These modifications tend to fall into groups: Indian and Turkic languages written in the Arabic script tend to use the Persian modified letters, whereas the languages of Indonesia tend to imitate those of Jawi. The modified version of the Arabic script originally devised for use with Persian is known as the Perso-Arabic script by scholars.[ citation needed ]
When the Arabic script is used to write Serbo-Croatian, Sorani, Kashmiri, Mandarin Chinese, or Uyghur, vowels are mandatory. The Arabic script can, therefore, be used as a true alphabet as well as an abjad, although it is often strongly, if erroneously, connected to the latter due to it being originally used only for Arabic.[ citation needed ]
Use of the Arabic script in West African languages, especially in the Sahel, developed with the spread of Islam. To a certain degree the style and usage tends to follow those of the Maghreb (for instance the position of the dots in the letters fāʼ and qāf ). [14] [15] Additional diacritics have come into use to facilitate the writing of sounds not represented in the Arabic language. The term ʻAjamī , which comes from the Arabic root for "foreign", has been applied to Arabic-based orthographies of African languages.[ citation needed ]
Script or style | Alphabet(s) | Language(s) | Region | Derived from | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Naskh | Arabic, Pashto, & others | Arabic, Pashto, Sindhi, & others | Every region where Arabic scripts are used | Sometimes refers to a very specific calligraphic style, but sometimes used to refer more broadly to almost every font that is not Kufic or Nastaliq. | |
Nastaliq | Urdu, Shahmukhi, Persian, & others | Urdu, Punjabi, Persian, Kashmiri & others | Southern and Western Asia | Taliq | Used for almost all modern Urdu and Punjabi text, but only occasionally used for Persian. (The term "Nastaliq" is sometimes used by Urdu-speakers to refer to all Perso-Arabic scripts.) |
Taliq | Persian | Persian | A predecessor of Nastaliq. | ||
Kufic | Arabic | Arabic | Middle East and parts of North Africa | ||
Rasm | Restricted Arabic alphabet | Arabic | Mainly historical | Omits all diacritics including i'jam. Digital replication usually requires some special characters. See: ٮ ڡ ٯ (links to Wiktionary). | |
Alphabet | Letters | Additional Characters | Script or Style | Languages | Region | Derived from: (or related to) | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arabic | 28 | ^(see above) | Naskh, Kufi, Rasm, & others | Arabic | North Africa, West Asia | Aramaic, Syriac, Nabataean | |
Ajami script | 33 | ٻ تٜ تٰٜ | Naskh | Hausa, Yoruba, Swahili | West Africa | Arabic | Abjad | documented use likely between the 15th to 18th century for Hausa, Mande, Pulaar, Swahili, Wolof, and Yoruba Languages |
Aljamiado | 28 | Maghrebi, Andalusi variant; Kufic | Old Spanish, Andalusi Romance, Ladino, Aragonese, Valencian, Old Galician-Portuguese | Southwest Europe | Arabic | 8th–13th centuries for Andalusi Romance, 14th–16th centuries for the other languages | |
Arebica | 30 | ڄ ە اٖى ي ڵ ںٛ ۉ ۆ | Naskh | Serbo-Croatian | Southeastern Europe | Perso-Arabic | Latest stage has full vowel marking |
Arwi alphabet | 41 | ڊ ڍ ڔ صٜ ۻ ࢳ ڣ ࢴ ڹ ݧ | Naskh | Tamil | Southern India, Sri Lanka | Perso-Arabic | |
Belarusian Arabic alphabet | 32 | ࢮ ࢯ | Naskh | Belarusian | Eastern Europe | Perso-Arabic | 15th / 16th century |
Balochi Standard Alphabet(s) | 29 | ٹ ڈ ۏ ݔ ے | Naskh and Nastaliq | Balochi | South-West Asia | Perso-Arabic, also borrows multiple glyphs from Urdu | This standardization is based on the previous orthography. For more information, see Balochi writing. |
Berber Arabic alphabet(s) | 33 | چ ژ ڞ ݣ ء | Various Berber languages | North Africa | Arabic | ||
Burushaski | 53 | ݳ ݴ ݼ څ ڎ ݽ ڞ ݣ ݸ ݹ ݶ ݷ ݺ ݻ (see note) | Nastaliq | Burushaski | South-West Asia (Pakistan) | Urdu | Also uses the additional letters shown for Urdu. (see below) Sometimes written with just the Urdu alphabet, or with the Latin alphabet. |
Chagatai alphabet | 32 | ݣ | Nastaliq and Naskh | Chagatai | Central Asia | Perso-Arabic | ݣ is interchangeable with نگ and ڭ. |
Dobrujan Tatar | 32 | Naskh | Dobrujan Tatar | Southeastern Europe | Chagatai | ||
Galal | 32 | Naskh | Somali | Horn of Africa | Arabic | ||
Jawi | 36 | ڠ ڤ ݢ ڽ ۏ ى | Naskh | Malay | Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and part of Borneo | Perso-Arabic | Since 1303 AD (Trengganu Stone) |
Kashmiri | 44 | ۆ ۄ ؠ ێ | Nastaliq | Kashmiri | South Asia | Urdu | This orthography is fully voweled. 3 out of the 4 (ۆ, ۄ, ێ) additional glyphs are actually vowels. Not all vowels are listed here since they are not separate letters. For further information, see Kashmiri writing. |
Kazakh Arabic alphabet | 35 | ٵ ٶ ۇ ٷ ۋ ۆ ە ھ ى ٸ ي | Naskh | Kazakh | Central Asia, China | Chagatai | In use since 11th century, reformed in the early 20th century, now official only in China |
Khowar | 45 | ݯ ݮ څ ځ ݱ ݰ ڵ | Nastaliq | Khowar | South Asia | Urdu, however, borrows multiple glyphs from Pashto | |
Kyrgyz Arabic alphabet | 33 | ۅ ۇ ۉ ۋ ە ى ي | Naskh | Kyrgyz | Central Asia | Chagatai | In use since 11th century, reformed in the early 20th century, now official only in China |
Pashto | 45 | ټ څ ځ ډ ړ ږ ښ ګ ڼ ۀ ي ې ۍ ئ | Naskh and occasionally, Nastaliq | Pashto | South-West Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan | Perso-Arabic | ګ is interchangeable with گ. Also, the glyphs ی and ې are often replaced with ے in Pakistan. |
Pegon script | 35 | ڎ ڟ ڠ ڤ ڮ ۑ | Naskh | Javanese, Sundanese | South-East Asia (Indonesia) | Perso-Arabic | |
Persian | 32 | پ چ ژ گ | Naskh and Nastaliq | Persian (Farsi) | West Asia (Iran etc. ) | Arabic | Also known as Perso-Arabic. |
Shahmukhi | 41 | ݪ ݨ | Nastaliq | Punjabi | South Asia (Pakistan) | Perso-Arabic | |
Saraiki | 45 | ٻ ڄ ݙ ڳ | Nastaliq | Saraiki | South Asia (Pakistan) | Urdu | |
Sindhi | 52 | ڪ ڳ ڱ گ ک پ ڀ ٻ ٽ ٿ ٺ ڻ ڦ ڇ چ ڄ ڃ ھ ڙ ڌ ڏ ڎ ڍ ڊ | Naskh | Sindhi | South Asia (Pakistan) | Perso-Arabic | |
Sorabe | 28 | Naskh | Malagasy | Madagascar | Arabic | ||
Soranî | 33 | ڕ ڤ ڵ ۆ ێ | Naskh | Kurdish languages | Middle-East | Perso-Arabic | Vowels are mandatory, i.e. alphabet |
Swahili Arabic script | 28 | Naskh | Swahili | Western and Southern Africa | Arabic | ||
İske imlâ | 35 | ۋ | Naskh | Tatar | Volga region | Chagatai | Used prior to 1920. |
Ottoman Turkish | 32 | ﭖ ﭺ ﮊ ﮒ ﯓ ئە ی | Ottoman Turkish | Ottoman Empire | Chagatai | Official until 1928 | |
Urdu | 39+ (see notes) | ٹ ڈ ڑ ں ہ ھ ے (see notes) | Nastaliq | Urdu | South Asia | Perso-Arabic | 58 [ citation needed ] letters including digraphs representing aspirated consonants. بھ پھ تھ ٹھ جھ چھ دھ ڈھ کھ گھ |
Uyghur | 32 | ئا ئە ھ ئو ئۇ ئۆ ئۈ ۋ ئې ئى | Naskh | Uyghur | China, Central Asia | Chagatai | Reform of older Arabic-script Uyghur orthography that was used prior the 1950s. Vowels are mandatory, i.e. alphabet |
Wolofal | 33 | ݖ گ ݧ ݝ ݒ | Naskh | Wolof | West Africa | Arabic, however, borrows at least one glyph from Perso-Arabic | |
Xiao'erjing | 36 | ٿ س﮲ ڞ ي | Naskh | Sinitic languages | China, Central Asia | Chagatai | Used to write Chinese languages by Muslims living in China such as the Hui people. |
Yaña imlâ | 29 | ئا ئە ئی ئو ئۇ ئ ھ | Naskh | Tatar | Volga region | İske imlâ alphabet | 1920–1927 replaced with Cyrillic |
Today Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and China are the main non-Arabic speaking states using the Arabic alphabet to write one or more official national languages, including Azerbaijani, Baluchi, Brahui, Persian, Pashto, Central Kurdish, Urdu, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Punjabi and Uyghur.[ citation needed ]
An Arabic alphabet is currently used for the following languages:[ citation needed ]
With the establishment of Muslim rule in the subcontinent, one or more forms of the Arabic script were incorporated among the assortment of scripts used for writing native languages. [38] In the 20th century, the Arabic script was generally replaced by the Latin alphabet in the Balkans,[ dubious – discuss ] parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, while in the Soviet Union, after a brief period of Latinisation, [39] use of Cyrillic was mandated. Turkey changed to the Latin alphabet in 1928 as part of an internal Westernizing revolution. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, many of the Turkic languages of the ex-USSR attempted to follow Turkey's lead and convert to a Turkish-style Latin alphabet. However, renewed use of the Arabic alphabet has occurred to a limited extent in Tajikistan, whose language's close resemblance to Persian allows direct use of publications from Afghanistan and Iran. [40]
As of Unicode 15.1, the following ranges encode Arabic characters:
Language family | Austron. | Dravid | Turkic | Indic | Iranian [lower-alpha 1] | Germanic | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Language/script | Jawi | Pegon | Arwi | Azeri | Ottoman | Tatar | Uyghur | Sindhi | Punjabi | Urdu | Persian | Balochi | Pashto | Kurdish | Afrikaans |
/t͡ʃ/ | چ | ||||||||||||||
/ʒ/ | ∅ | ژ | |||||||||||||
/p/ | ڤ | ڣ | پ | ||||||||||||
/g/ | ݢ | ؼ | ࢴ | ق | گ | ||||||||||
/v/ | ۏ | و | ۋ | و | ∅ | ڤ | |||||||||
/ŋ/ | ڠ | ࢳ | ∅ | ڭ | ڱ | ن | ∅ | ڠ | |||||||
/ɲ/ | ڽ | ۑ | ݧ | ∅ | ڃ | ن | ∅ | ||||||||
/ɳ/ | ∅ | ڹ | ∅ | ڻ | ݨ | ن | ∅ | ڼ | ∅ |
Letter or Digraph [upper-alpha 1] | Use & Pronunciation | Unicode | i'jam & other additions | Shape | Similar Arabic Letter(s) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
U+ | [upper-alpha 2] | [upper-alpha 3] | above | below | |||||||
پ | پـ ـپـ ـپ | Pe, used to represent the phoneme /p/ in Persian, Pashto, Punjabi, Khowar, Sindhi, Urdu, Kurdish, Kashmiri; it can be used in Arabic to describe the phoneme /p/ otherwise it is normalized to /b/ ب e.g. پول Paul also written بول | U+067E | ﮹ | none | 3 dots | ٮ | ب | |||
ݐ | ݐـ ـݐـ ـݐ | used to represent the equivalent of the Latin letter Ƴ (palatalized glottal stop /ʔʲ/) in some African languages such as Fulfulde. | U+0750 | ﮳﮳﮳ | none | 3 dots (horizontal) | ٮ | ب | |||
ٻ | ٻـ ـٻـ ـٻ | B̤ē, used to represent a voiced bilabial implosive /ɓ/ in Hausa, Sindhi and Saraiki. | U+067B | ﮾ | none | 2 dots (vertically) | ٮ | ب | |||
ڀ | ڀـ ـڀـ ـڀ | represents an aspirated voiced bilabial plosive /bʱ/ in Sindhi. | U+0680 | ﮻ | none | 4 dots | ٮ | ب | |||
ٺ | ٺـ ـٺـ ـٺ | Ṭhē, represents the aspirated voiceless retroflex plosive /ʈʰ/ in Sindhi. | U+067A | ﮽ | 2 dots (vertically) | none | ٮ | ت | |||
ټ | ټـ ـټـ ـټ | Ṭē, used to represent the phoneme /ʈ/ in Pashto. | U+067C | ﮿ | ﮴ | 2 dots | ring | ٮ | ت | ||
ٽ | ٽـ ـٽـ ـٽ | Ṭe, used to represent the phoneme (a voiceless retroflex plosive /ʈ/) in Sindhi | U+067D | ﮸ | 3 dots (inverted) | none | ٮ | ت | |||
ﭦ | ٹـ ـٹـ ـٹ | Ṭe, used to represent Ṭ (a voiceless retroflex plosive /ʈ/) in Punjabi, Kashmiri, Urdu. | U+0679 | ◌ؕ | small ط | none | ٮ | ت | |||
ٿ | ٿـ ـٿـ ـٿ | Teheh, used in Sindhi and Rajasthani (when written in Sindhi alphabet); used to represent the phoneme /t͡ɕʰ/ (pinyin q) in Chinese Xiao'erjing. | U+067F | ﮺ | 4 dots | none | ٮ | ت | |||
ڄ | ڄـ ـڄـ ـڄ | represents the "c" voiceless dental affricate /t͡s/ phoneme in Bosnian | U+0684 | ﮾ | none | 2 dots (vertically) | ح | ج | |||
ڃ | ڃـ ـڃـ ـڃ | represents the "ć" voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate /t͡ɕ/ phoneme in Bosnian. | U+0683 | ﮵ | none | 2 dots | ح | ح ج | |||
چ | چـ ـچـ ـچ | Che, used to represent /t͡ʃ/ ("ch"). It is used in Persian, Pashto, Punjabi, Urdu, Kashmiri and Kurdish. /ʒ/ in Egypt. | U+0686 | ﮹ | none | 3 dots | ح | ج | |||
څ | څـ ـڅـ ـڅ | Ce, used to represent the phoneme /t͡s/ in Pashto. | U+0685 | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ح | ج خ ح | |||
ݗ | ݗـ ـݗـ ـݗ | represents the "đ" voiced alveolo-palatal affricate /d͡ʑ/ phoneme in Bosnian. | U+0757 | ﮴ | 2 dots | none | ح | ح | |||
ځ | ځـ ـځـ ـځ | Źim, used to represent the phoneme /d͡z/ in Pashto. | U+0681 | ◌ٔ | Hamza | none | ح | ج خ ح | |||
ݙ | ݙ ـݙ | used in Saraiki to represent a Voiced alveolar implosive /ɗ̢/. | U+0759 | ﯀ | ﮾ | small ط | 2 dots (vertically) | د | د | ||
ڊ | ڊ ـڊ | used in Saraiki to represent a voiced retroflex implosive /ᶑ/. | U+068A | ﮳ | none | 1 dot | د | د | |||
ڈ | ڈ ـڈ | Ḍal, used to represent a Ḍ (a voiced retroflex plosive /ɖ/) in Punjabi, Kashmiri and Urdu. | U+0688 | ◌ؕ | small ط | none | د | د | |||
ڌ | ڌ ـڌ | Dhal, used to represent the phoneme /d̪ʱ/ in Sindhi | U+068C | ﮴ | 2 dots | none | د | د | |||
ډ | ډ ـډ | Ḍal, used to represent the phoneme /ɖ/ in Pashto. | U+0689 | ﮿ | none | ring | د | د | |||
ڑ | ڑ ـڑ | Ṛe, represents a retroflex flap /ɽ/ in Punjabi and Urdu. | U+0691 | ◌ؕ | small ط | none | ر | ر | |||
ړ | ړ ـړ | Ṛe, used to represent a retroflex lateral flap in Pashto. | U+0693 | ﮿ | none | ring | ر | ر | |||
ݫ | ݫ ـݫ | used in Ormuri to represent a voiced alveolo-palatal fricative /ʑ/, as well as in Torwali. | U+076B | ﮽ | 2 dots (vertically) | none | ر | ر | |||
ژ | ژ ـژ | Že / zhe, used to represent the voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ in, Persian, Pashto, Kurdish, Urdu, Punjabi and Uyghur. | U+0698 | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ر | ز | |||
ږ | ږ ـږ | Ǵe / ẓ̌e, used to represent the phoneme /ʐ//ɡ//ʝ/ in Pashto. | U+0696 | ﮲ | ﮳ | 1 dot | 1 dot | ر | ز | ||
ڕ | ڕ ـڕ | used in Kurdish to represent rr /r/ in Soranî dialect. | U+0695 | ٚ | none | V pointing down | ر | ر | |||
ݭ | ݭـ ـݭـ ـݭ | used in Kalami to represent a voiceless retroflex fricative /ʂ/, and in Ormuri to represent a voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative /ɕ/. | U+076D | ﮽ | 2 dots vertically | none | س | س | |||
ݜ | ݜـ ـݜـ ـݜ | used in Shina to represent a voiceless retroflex fricative /ʂ/. | U+075C | ﮺ | 4 dots | none | س | ش س | |||
ښ | ښـ ـښـ ـښ | X̌īn / ṣ̌īn, used to represent the phoneme /x//ʂ//ç/ in Pashto. | U+069A | ﮲ | ﮳ | 1 dot | 1 dot | س | ش س | ||
ڜ | ڜـ ـڜـ ـڜ | Unofficially used to represent Spanish words with /t͡ʃ/ in Morocco. | U+069C | ﮶ | ﮹ | 3 dots | 3 dots | س | ش س | ||
ڨ | ڨـ ـڨـ ـڨ | Ga, used to represent the voiced velar plosive /ɡ/ in Algerian and Tunisian. | U+06A8 | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ٯ | ق | |||
گ | گـ ـگـ ـگ | Gaf, represents a voiced velar plosive /ɡ/ in Persian, Pashto, Punjabi, Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Kurdish, Uyghur, Mesopotamian Arabic, Urdu and Ottoman Turkish. | U+06AF | line | horizontal line | none | گ | ك | |||
ګ | ګـ ـګـ ـګ | Gaf, used to represent the phoneme /ɡ/ in Pashto. | U+06AB | ﮿ | ring | none | ک | ك | |||
ݢ | ݢـ ـݢـ ـݢ | Gaf, represents a voiced velar plosive /ɡ/ in the Jawi script of Malay. | U+0762 | ﮲ | 1 dot | none | ک | ك | |||
ڬ | ڬـ ـڬـ ـڬ | U+06AC | ﮲ | 1 dot | none | ك | ك | ||||
ؼ | ؼـ ـؼـ ـؼ | Gaf, represents a voiced velar plosive /ɡ/ in the Pegon script of Indonesian. | U+08B4 | ﮳ | none | 3 dots | ک | ك | |||
ڭ | ڭـ ـڭـ ـڭ | Ng, used to represent the /ŋ/ phone in Ottoman Turkish, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Uyghur, and to unofficially represent the /ɡ/ in Morocco and in many dialects of Algerian. | U+06AD | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ك | ك | |||
أي | أيـ ـأيـ ـأي | Ee, used to represent the phoneme /eː/ in Somali. | U+0623 U+064A | ◌ٔ | ﮵ | Hamza | 2 dots | اى | أ + ي | ||
ئ | ئـ ـئـ ـئ | E, used to represent the phoneme /e/ in Somali. | U+0626 | ◌ٔ | Hamza | none | ى | ي ی | |||
ىٓ | ىٓـ ـىٓـ ـىٓ | Ii, used to represent the phoneme /iː/ in Somali and Saraiki. | U+0649 U+0653 | ◌ٓ | Madda | none | ى | ي | |||
ؤ | ؤ ـؤ | O, used to represent the phoneme /o/ in Somali. | U+0624 | ◌ٔ | Hamza | none | و | ؤ | |||
ۅ | ۅ ـۅ | Ö, used to represent the phoneme /ø/ in Kyrgyz. | U+0624 | ◌̵ | Strikethrough [upper-alpha 4] | none | و | و | |||
ې | ېـ ـېـ ـې | Pasta Ye, used to represent the phoneme /e/ in Pashto and Uyghur. | U+06D0 | ﮾ | none | 2 dots vertical | ى | ي | |||
ی | یـ ـیـ ـی | Nārīna Ye, used to represent the phoneme [ɑj] and phoneme /j/ in Pashto. | U+06CC | ﮵ | 2 dots (start + mid) | none | ى | ي | |||
ۍ | ـۍ | end only | X̌əźīna ye Ye, used to represent the phoneme [əi] in Pashto. | U+06CD | line | horizontal line | none | ى | ي | ||
ئ | ئـ ـئـ ـئ | Fāiliya Ye, used to represent the phoneme [əi] and /j/ in Pashto, Punjabi, Saraiki and Urdu | U+0626 | ◌ٔ | Hamza | none | ى | ي ى | |||
أو | أو ـأو | Oo, used to represent the phoneme /oː/ in Somali. | U+0623 U+0648 | ◌ٔ | Hamza | none | او | أ + و | |||
ﻭٓ | ﻭٓ ـﻭٓ | Uu, used to represent the phoneme /uː/ in Somali. | ﻭ + ◌ٓ U+0648 U+0653 | ◌ٓ | Madda | none | و | ﻭ + ◌ٓ | |||
ڳ | ڳـ ـڳـ ـڳ | represents a voiced velar implosive /ɠ/ in Sindhi and Saraiki | U+06B1 | ﮾ | horizontal line | 2 dots | گ | ك | |||
ڱ | ڱـ ـڱـ ـڱ | represents the Velar nasal /ŋ/ phoneme in Sindhi. | U+06B1 | ﮴ | 2 dots + horizontal line | none | گ | ك | |||
ک | کـ ـکـ ـک | Khē, represents /kʰ/ in Sindhi. | U+06A9 | none | none | none | ک | ك | |||
ڪ | ڪـ ـڪـ ـڪ | "Swash kāf" is a stylistic variant of ك in Arabic, but represents un- aspirated /k/ in Sindhi. | U+06AA | none | none | none | ڪ | ك or ڪ | |||
ݣ | ݣـ ـݣـ ـݣ | used to represent the phoneme /ŋ/ (pinyin ng) in Chinese. | U+0763 | ﮹ | none | 3 dots | ک | ك | |||
ڼ | ڼـ ـڼـ ـڼ | represents the retroflex nasal /ɳ/ phoneme in Pashto. | U+06BC | ﮲ | ﮿ | 1 dot | ring | ں | ن | ||
ڻ | ڻـ ـڻـ ـڻ | represents the retroflex nasal /ɳ/ phoneme in Sindhi. | U+06BB | ◌ؕ | small ط | none | ں | ن | |||
ݨ | ݨـ ـݨـ ـݨ | used in Punjabi to represent /ɳ/ and Saraiki to represent /ɲ/. | U+0768 | ﮲ | ﯀ | 1 dot + small ط | none | ں | ن | ||
ڽ | ڽـ ـڽـ ـڽ | Nya/ɲ/ in the Jawi script. | U+06BD | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ں | ن | |||
ۑ | ۑـ ـۑـ ـۑ | Nya/ɲ/ in the Pegon script. | U+06D1 | ﮹ | none | 3 dots | ى | ى | |||
ڠ | ڠـ ـڠـ ـڠ | Nga/ŋ/ in the Jawi script and Pegon script. | U+06A0 | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ع | غ | |||
ݪ | ݪـ ـݪـ ـݪ | used in Marwari to represent a retroflex lateral flap /ɺ̢/, and in Kalami to represent a voiceless lateral fricative /ɬ/. | U+076A | line | horizontal line | none | ل | ل | |||
ࣇ | ࣇ ࣇ ࣇ | ࣇ – or alternately typeset as لؕ – is used in Punjabi to represent voiced retroflex lateral approximant /ɭ/ [44] | U+08C7 | ◌ؕ | small ط | none | ل | ل | |||
لؕ | لؕـ ـلؕـ ـلؕ | U+0644 U+0615 | |||||||||
ڥ | ڥـ ـڥـ ـڥ | Vi, used in Algerian Arabic and Tunisian Arabic when written in Arabic script to represent the sound /v/ (unofficial). | U+06A5 | ﮹ | none | 3 dots | ڡ | ف | |||
ڤ | ڤـ ـڤـ ـڤ | Ve, used in by some Arabic speakers to represent the phoneme /v/ in loanwords, and in the Kurdish language when written in Arabic script to represent the sound /v/. Also used as pa/p/ in the Jawi script and Pegon script. | U+06A4 | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ڡ | ف | |||
ۏ | ۏ ـۏ | Va in the Jawi script. | U+06CF | ﮲ | 1 dot | none | و | و | |||
ۋ | ۋ ـۋ | represents a voiced labiodental fricative /v/ in Kyrgyz, Uyghur, and Old Tatar; and /w,ʊw,ʉw/ in Kazakh; also formerly used in Nogai. | U+06CB | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | و | و | |||
ۆ | ۆ ـۆ | represents "O" /o/ in Kurdish, and in Uyghur it represents the sound similar to the French eu and œu/ø/ sound. It represents the "у" close back rounded vowel /u/ phoneme in Bosnian. | U+06C6 | ◌ٚ | V pointing down | none | و | و | |||
ۇ | ۇ ـۇ | U, used to represents the Close back rounded vowel /u/ phoneme in Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Uyghur. | U+06C7 | ◌ُ | Damma [upper-alpha 5] | none | و | و | |||
ێ | ێـ ـێـ ـێ | represents Ê or É /e/ in Kurdish. | U+06CE | ◌ٚ | V pointing down | 2 dots (start + mid) | ى | ي | |||
ھ ھ | ھـ ـھـ ـھ ھھھ | Do-chashmi he (two-eyed hāʼ), used in digraphs for aspiration /ʰ/ and breathy voice /ʱ/ in Punjabi and Urdu. Also used to represent /h/ in Kazakh, Sorani and Uyghur. [upper-alpha 6] | U+06BE | none | none | none | ھ | ه | |||
ە | ە ـە | Ae, used represent /æ/ and /ɛ/ in Kazakh, Sorani and Uyghur. | U+06D5 | none | none | none | ھ | إ | |||
ے | ـے | end only | Baṛī ye ('big yāʼ'), is a stylistic variant of ي in Arabic, but represents "ai" or "e" /ɛː/, /eː/ in Urdu and Punjabi. | U+06D2 | none | none | none | ے | ي | ||
ڞ | ڞـ ـڞـ ـڞ | used to represent the phoneme /tsʰ/ (pinyin c) in Chinese. | U+069E | ﮶ | 3 dots | none | ص | ص ض | |||
ط | طـ ـطـ ـط | used to represent the phoneme /t͡s/ (pinyin z) in Chinese. | U+0637 | ط | ط | ||||||
ۉ | ۉ ـۉ | represents the "o" open-mid back rounded vowel /ɔ/ phoneme in Bosnian. Also used to represent /ø/ in Kyrgyz. | U+06C9 | ◌ٛ | V pointing up | none | و | و | |||
ݩ | ݩـ ـݩـ ـݩ | represents the "nj" palatal nasal /ɲ/ phoneme in Bosnian. | U+0769 | ﮲ | ◌ٚ | 1 dot V pointing down | none | ں | ن | ||
ڵ | ڵـ ـڵـ ـڵ | used in Kurdish to represent ll /ɫ/ in Soranî dialect. | U+06B5 | ◌ٚ | V pointing down | none | ل | ل | |||
ڵ | ڵـ ـڵـ ـڵ | represents the "lj" palatal lateral approximant /ʎ/ phoneme in Bosnian. | U+06B5 | ◌ٚ | V pointing down | none | ل | ل | |||
اٖى | اٖىـ ـاٖىـ ـاٖى | represents the "i" close front unrounded vowel /i/ phoneme in Bosnian. | U+0627 U+0656 U+0649 | ◌ٖ | Alef | none | اى | اٖ + ى | |||
Most languages that use alphabets based on the Arabic alphabet use the same base shapes. Most additional letters in languages that use alphabets based on the Arabic alphabet are built by adding (or removing) diacritics to existing Arabic letters. Some stylistic variants in Arabic have distinct meanings in other languages. For example, variant forms of kāf ك ک ڪ are used in some languages and sometimes have specific usages. In Urdu and some neighbouring languages, the letter Hā has diverged into two forms ھ dō-čašmī hē and ہ ہـ ـہـ ـہ gōl hē, [45] while a variant form of ي yā referred to as baṛī yē ے is used at the end of some words. [45]
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters in predictable ways, such as Greek ⟨α⟩ → ⟨a⟩, Cyrillic ⟨д⟩ → ⟨d⟩, Greek ⟨χ⟩ → the digraph ⟨ch⟩, Armenian ⟨ն⟩ → ⟨n⟩ or Latin ⟨æ⟩ → ⟨ae⟩.
Uyghur is a Turkic language with a long literary tradition spoken in Xinjiang, China by the Uyghurs. Today, the Uyghur Arabic alphabet is the official writing system used for Uyghur in Xinjiang, whereas other alphabets like the Uyghur Latin and Uyghur Cyrillic alphabets are still in use outside China, especially in Central Asia.
The Persian alphabet, also known as the Perso-Arabic script, is the right-to-left alphabet used for the Persian language. It is a variation of the Arabic script with five additional letters: پ چ ژ گ, in addition to the obsolete ڤ.
Wakhi is an Indo-European language in the Eastern Iranian branch of the language family spoken today in Wakhan District, Northern Afghanistan, and also in Tajikistan, Northern Pakistan and Western China.
An official script is a writing system that is specifically designated to be official in the constitutions or other applicable laws of countries, states, and other jurisdictions. Akin to an official language, an official script is much rarer. It is used primarily where an official language is in practice written with two or more scripts. As, in these languages, use of script often has cultural or political connotations, proclamation of an official script is sometimes criticized as having a goal of influencing culture or politics or both. Desired effects also may include easing education, communication and some other aspects of life.
It is thought that the Arabic alphabet is a derivative of the Nabataean variation of the Aramaic alphabet, which descended from the Phoenician alphabet, which among others also gave rise to the Hebrew alphabet and the Greek alphabet, the latter one being in turn the base for the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.
The Kyrgyz alphabets are the alphabets used to write the Kyrgyz language. Kyrgyz uses the following alphabets:
Three alphabets are used to write Kazakh: the Cyrillic, Latin and Arabic scripts. The Cyrillic script is used in Kazakhstan and Mongolia. An October 2017 Presidential Decree in Kazakhstan ordered that the transition from Cyrillic to a Latin script be completed by 2031. The Arabic script is used in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, and parts of China.
Gaf, is the name of different Perso-Arabic letters, all representing. They are all derived from the letter kāf, with additional diacritics, such as dots and lines. There are four forms, each used in different alphabets:
Že or Zhe (ژ), used to represent the phoneme, is a letter in the Persian alphabet, based on zayn (ز) with two additional diacritic dots. It is one of the five letters that the Persian alphabet adds to the original Arabic script, others being چ ,پ and گ, in addition the obsolete ڤ.
Shughni or Khughni is one of the Pamir languages of the Southeastern Iranian language group. Its distribution is in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in Tajikistan, Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan, Chitral district in Pakistan and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China.
Ajami or Ajamiyya, which comes from the Arabic root for 'foreign' or 'stranger', is an Arabic-derived script used for writing African languages, particularly Songhai, Mandé, Hausa and Swahili, although many other languages are also written using the script, including Mooré, Pulaar, Wolof, and Yoruba. It is an adaptation of the Arabic script to write sounds not found in Standard Arabic. Rather than adding new letters, modifications usually consist of additional dots or lines added to pre-existing letters.
Pe (پ) is a letter in the Persian alphabet used to represent the voiceless bilabial plosive ⟨p⟩. It is based on bā' (ب) with two additional diacritic dots. It is one of the five letters that were created specifically for the Persian alphabet to symbolize sounds found in Persian but not Arabic, others being ژ, چ, and گ. In addition the obsolete ڤ.
In sociolinguistics, digraphia refers to the use of more than one writing system for the same language. Synchronic digraphia is the coexistence of two or more writing systems for the same language, while diachronic digraphia is the replacement of one writing system by another for a particular language.
The Uzbek language has been written in various scripts: Latin, Cyrillic and Arabic. The language traditionally used Arabic script, but the official Uzbek government under the Soviet Union started to use Cyrillic in 1940, which is when widespread literacy campaigns were initiated by the Soviet government across the Union. In 1992, Latin script was officially reintroduced in Uzbekistan along with Cyrillic. In the Xinjiang region of China, some Uzbek speakers write using Cyrillic, others with an alphabet based on the Uyghur Arabic alphabet. Uzbeks of Afghanistan also write the language using Arabic script, and the Arabic Uzbek alphabet is taught at some schools.
Numerous Cyrillic alphabets are based on the Cyrillic script. The early Cyrillic alphabet was developed in the 9th century AD and replaced the earlier Glagolitic script developed by the theologians Cyril and Methodius. It is the basis of alphabets used in various languages, past and present, Slavic origin, and non-Slavic languages influenced by Russian. As of 2011, around 252 million people in Eurasia use it as the official alphabet for their national languages. About half of them are in Russia. Cyrillic is one of the most-used writing systems in the world. The creator is Saint Clement of Ohrid from the Preslav literary school in the First Bulgarian Empire.
The Fula language is written primarily in the Latin script, but in some areas is still written in an older Arabic script called the Ajami script or in the recently invented Adlam script.
The Pashto alphabet is the right-to-left abjad-based alphabet developed from the Arabic script, used for the Pashto language in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It originated in the 16th century through the works of Pir Roshan.
Hausa Ajami script refers to the practice of using the alphabet derived from Arabic script for writing of Hausa language.