ISO 15924

ISO 15924, Codes for the representation of names of scripts, defines two sets of codes for a number of writing systems (scripts). Each script is given both a four-letter code and a numeric one.[1] Script is defined as "set of graphic characters used for the written form of one or more languages".[1]

Where possible the codes are derived from ISO 639-2 where the name of a script and the name of a language using the script are identical (example: Gujarātī ISO 639 guj, ISO 15924 Gujr). Preference is given to the 639-2 Bibliographical codes, which is different from the otherwise often preferred use of the Terminological codes.[1]

4-letter ISO 15924 codes are incorporated into the Language Subtag Registry for IETF language tags and so can be used in file formats that make use of such language tags. For example, they can be used in HTML and XML to help Web browsers determine which typeface to use for foreign text. This way one could differentiate, for example, between Serbian written in the Cyrillic (sr-Cyrl) or Latin (sr-Latn) script, or mark romanized text as such.

Maintenance

ISO has appointed the Unicode Consortium as the Registration Authority (RA) for the standard. In 2004, the RA appointed Michael Everson to act as Registrar. The Registrar works with a Joint Advisory Committee (JAC) in developing and implementing the standard.[2] The JAC contains six members: the Registrar, one member from the Library of Congress, one from Standards Norway, one from the French Encyclopaedia Universalis, an officer of Unicode, and a member of Unicode. These individuals represent the interests of the ISO 15924 RA, the ISO 639-2 RA, ISO Technical Committee 37, ISO Technical Committee 46, and the ISO Coded Character Set Sub-Committee, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2.[3]

Script codes

Numeric ranges

Special codes

List of codes

This list of codes is from the ISO 15924:2004 standard.[6]

ISO 15924 script codes[a][b] and Unicode[c][d]
ISO 15924 Script in Unicode[e]
Code No. Name Unicode alias[f] Direc­tion Ver­sion Char­acters Remark
 
Adlm 166 Adlam R-to-L Not in Unicode
Afak 439 Afaka Not in Unicode
Aghb 239 Caucasian Albanian Caucasian Albanian L-to-R 7.0 53 Ancient/historic
Ahom 338 Ahom, Tai Ahom L-to-R Not in Unicode
Arab 160 Arabic Arabic R-to-L 1.0 1,244
Aran 161 Arabic (Nastaliq variant) R-to-L Typographic variant of Arabic
Armi 124 Imperial Aramaic Imperial Aramaic R-to-L 5.2 31 Ancient/historic
Armn 230 Armenian Armenian L-to-R 1.0 93
Avst 134 Avestan Avestan R-to-L 5.2 61 Ancient/historic
Bali 360 Balinese Balinese L-to-R 5.0 121
Bamu 435 Bamum Bamum L-to-R 5.2 657
Bass 259 Bassa Vah Bassa Vah L-to-R 7.0 36 Ancient/historic
Batk 365 Batak Batak L-to-R 6.0 56
Beng 325 Bengali Bengali L-to-R 1.0 93
Blis 550 Blissymbols Not in Unicode
Bopo 285 Bopomofo Bopomofo L-to-R 1.0 70
Brah 300 Brahmi Brahmi L-to-R 6.0 109 Ancient/historic
Brai 570 Braille Braille L-to-R 3.0 256
Bugi 367 Buginese Buginese L-to-R 4.1 30
Buhd 372 Buhid Buhid L-to-R 3.2 20
Cakm 349 Chakma Chakma L-to-R 6.1 67
Cans 440 Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Canadian Aboriginal L-to-R 3.0 710
Cari 201 Carian Carian L-to-R 5.1 49 Ancient/historic
Cham 358 Cham Cham L-to-R 5.1 83
Cher 445 Cherokee Cherokee L-to-R 3.0 85
Cirt 291 Cirth Not in Unicode
Copt 204 Coptic Coptic L-to-R 1.0 137 Ancient/historic, Disunified from Greek in 4.1
Cprt 403 Cypriot Cypriot R-to-L 4.0 55 Ancient/historic
Cyrl 220 Cyrillic Cyrillic L-to-R 1.0 431
Cyrs 221 Cyrillic (Old Church Slavonic variant) Not in Unicode
Deva 315 Devanagari (Nagari) Devanagari L-to-R 1.0 152
Dsrt 250 Deseret (Mormon) Deseret L-to-R 3.1 80
Dupl 755 Duployan shorthand, Duployan stenography Duployan L-to-R 7.0 143
Egyd 070 Egyptian demotic Not in Unicode
Egyh 060 Egyptian hieratic Not in Unicode
Egyp 050 Egyptian hieroglyphs Egyptian Hieroglyphs L-to-R 5.2 1,071 Ancient/historic
Elba 226 Elbasan Elbasan L-to-R 7.0 40 Ancient/historic
Ethi 430 Ethiopic (Geʻez) Ethiopic L-to-R 3.0 495
Geok 241 Khutsuri (Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri) Georgian Unicode groups Geok and Geor together as "Georgian"
Geor 240 Georgian (Mkhedruli) Georgian L-to-R 1.0 127 For Unicode, see also Geok
Glag 225 Glagolitic Glagolitic L-to-R 4.1 94 Ancient/historic
Goth 206 Gothic Gothic L-to-R 3.1 27 Ancient/historic
Gran 343 Grantha Grantha L-to-R 7.0 83 Ancient/historic
Grek 200 Greek Greek L-to-R 1.0 516
Gujr 320 Gujarati Gujarati L-to-R 1.0 84
Guru 310 Gurmukhi Gurmukhi L-to-R 1.0 79
Hang 286 Hangul (Hangŭl, Hangeul) Hangul L-to-R 1.0 11,739 Hangul syllables relocated in 2.0
Hani 500 Han (Hanzi, Kanji, Hanja) Han L-to-R 1.0 75,963
Hano 371 Hanunoo (Hanunóo) Hanunoo L-to-R 3.2 21
Hans 501 Han (Simplified variant) Subset Hani
Hant 502 Han (Traditional variant) Subset Hani
Hatr 127 Hatran Not in Unicode
Hebr 125 Hebrew Hebrew R-to-L 1.0 133
Hira 410 Hiragana Hiragana L-to-R 1.0 91
Hluw 080 Anatolian Hieroglyphs (Luwian Hieroglyphs, Hittite Hieroglyphs) Not in Unicode
Hmng 450 Pahawh Hmong Pahawh Hmong L-to-R 7.0 127
Hrkt 412 Japanese syllabaries (alias for Hiragana + Katakana) Katakana or Hiragana See Hira, Kana
Hung 176 Old Hungarian (Hungarian Runic) Not in Unicode
Inds 610 Indus (Harappan) Not in Unicode
Ital 210 Old Italic (Etruscan, Oscan, etc.) Old Italic L-to-R 3.1 36 Ancient/historic
Java 361 Javanese Javanese L-to-R 5.2 90
Jpan 413 Japanese (alias for Han + Hiragana + Katakana) See Hani, Hira and Kana
Jurc 510 Jurchen Not in Unicode
Kali 357 Kayah Li Kayah Li L-to-R 5.1 47
Kana 411 Katakana Katakana L-to-R 1.0 300
Khar 305 Kharoshthi Kharoshthi R-to-L 4.1 65 Ancient/historic
Khmr 355 Khmer Khmer L-to-R 3.0 146
Khoj 322 Khojki Khojki L-to-R 7.0 61 Ancient/historic
Kitl 505 Khitan large script Not in Unicode
Kits 288 Khitan small script Not in Unicode
Knda 345 Kannada Kannada L-to-R 1.0 87
Kore 287 Korean (alias for Hangul + Han) See Hani and Hang
Kpel 436 Kpelle Not in Unicode
Kthi 317 Kaithi Kaithi L-to-R 5.2 66 Ancient/historic
Lana 351 Tai Tham (Lanna) Tai Tham L-to-R 5.2 127
Laoo 356 Lao Lao L-to-R 1.0 67
Latf 217 Latin (Fraktur variant) L-to-R Typographic variant of Latin
Latg 216 Latin (Gaelic variant) L-to-R Typographic variant of Latin
Latn 215 Latin Latin L-to-R 1.0 1,338 See Latin script in Unicode
Lepc 335 Lepcha (Róng) Lepcha L-to-R 5.1 74
Limb 336 Limbu Limbu L-to-R 4.0 68
Lina 400 Linear A Linear A L-to-R 7.0 341 Ancient/historic
Linb 401 Linear B Linear B L-to-R 4.0 211 Ancient/historic
Lisu 399 Lisu (Fraser) Lisu L-to-R 5.2 48
Loma 437 Loma Not in Unicode
Lyci 202 Lycian Lycian L-to-R 5.1 29 Ancient/historic
Lydi 116 Lydian Lydian R-to-L 5.1 27 Ancient/historic
Mahj 314 Mahajani Mahajani L-to-R 7.0 39 Ancient/historic
Mand 140 Mandaic, Mandaean Mandaic R-to-L 6.0 29
Mani 139 Manichaean Manichaean R-to-L 7.0 51 Ancient/historic
Marc 332 Marchen Not in Unicode
Maya 090 Mayan hieroglyphs Not in Unicode
Mend 438 Mende Kikakui Mende Kikakui R-to-L 7.0 213
Merc 101 Meroitic Cursive Meroitic Cursive L-to-R 6.1 26 Ancient/historic
Mero 100 Meroitic Hieroglyphs Meroitic Hieroglyphs L-to-R 6.1 32 Ancient/historic
Mlym 347 Malayalam Malayalam L-to-R 1.0 99
Modi 324 Modi, Moḍī Modi L-to-R 7.0 79 Ancient/historic
Mong 145 Mongolian Mongolian T-to-B 3.0 153 Includes Clear, Manchu scripts
Moon 218 Moon (Moon code, Moon script, Moon type) Not in Unicode
Mroo 199 Mro, Mru Mro L-to-R 7.0 43
Mtei 337 Meitei Mayek (Meithei, Meetei) Meetei Mayek L-to-R 5.2 79
Mult 323  Multani Not in Unicode
Mymr 350 Myanmar (Burmese) Myanmar L-to-R 3.0 223
Narb 106 Old North Arabian (Ancient North Arabian) Old North Arabian R-to-L 7.0 32 Ancient/historic
Nbat 159 Nabataean Nabataean R-to-L 7.0 40 Ancient/historic
Nkgb 420 Nakhi Geba ('Na-'Khi ²Ggŏ-¹baw, Naxi Geba) Not in Unicode
Nkoo 165 N’Ko NKo R-to-L 5.0 59
Nshu 499 Nüshu Not in Unicode
Ogam 212 Ogham Ogham 3.0 29 Ancient/historic
Olck 261 Ol Chiki (Ol Cemet’, Ol, Santali) Ol Chiki L-to-R 5.1 48
Orkh 175 Old Turkic, Orkhon Runic Old Turkic R-to-L 5.2 73 Ancient/historic
Orya 327 Oriya Oriya L-to-R 1.0 90
Osge 219 Osage Not in Unicode
Osma 260 Osmanya Osmanya L-to-R 4.0 40
Palm 126 Palmyrene Palmyrene R-to-L 7.0 32 Ancient/historic
Pauc 263 Pau Cin Hau Pau Cin Hau L-to-R 7.0 57
Perm 227 Old Permic Old Permic L-to-R 7.0 43 Ancient/historic
Phag 331 Phags-pa Phags-pa T-to-B 5.0 56 Ancient/historic
Phli 131 Inscriptional Pahlavi Inscriptional Pahlavi R-to-L 5.2 27 Ancient/historic
Phlp 132 Psalter Pahlavi Psalter Pahlavi R-to-L 7.0 29 Ancient/historic
Phlv 133 Book Pahlavi Not in Unicode
Phnx 115 Phoenician Phoenician R-to-L 5.0 29 Ancient/historic
Plrd 282 Miao (Pollard) Miao L-to-R 6.1 133
Prti 130 Inscriptional Parthian Inscriptional Parthian R-to-L 5.2 30 Ancient/historic
Qaaa 900 Reserved for private use (start) Not in Unicode
Qaai 908 (Private use) Not in Unicode (Before version 5.2, this was used instead of Zinh)
Qabx 949 Reserved for private use (end) Not in Unicode
Rjng 363 Rejang (Redjang, Kaganga) Rejang L-to-R 5.1 37
Roro 620 Rongorongo Not in Unicode
Runr 211 Runic Runic L-to-R 3.0 86 Ancient/historic
Samr 123 Samaritan Samaritan R-to-L 5.2 61
Sara 292 Sarati Not in Unicode
Sarb 105 Old South Arabian Old South Arabian R-to-L 5.2 32 Ancient/historic
Saur 344 Saurashtra Saurashtra L-to-R 5.1 81
Sgnw 095 SignWriting Not in Unicode
Shaw 281 Shavian (Shaw) Shavian L-to-R 4.0 48
Shrd 319 Sharada, Śāradā Sharada L-to-R 6.1 85
Sidd 302 Siddham, Siddhaṃ, Siddhamātṛkā Siddham L-to-R 7.0 72 Ancient/historic
Sind 318 Khudawadi, Sindhi Khudawadi L-to-R 7.0 69
Sinh 348 Sinhala Sinhala L-to-R 3.0 110
Sora 398 Sora Sompeng Sora Sompeng L-to-R 6.1 35
Sund 362 Sundanese Sundanese L-to-R 5.1 72
Sylo 316 Syloti Nagri Syloti Nagri L-to-R 4.1 44
Syrc 135 Syriac Syriac R-to-L 3.0 77
Syre 138 Syriac (Estrangelo variant) Typographic variant of Syriac
Syrj 137 Syriac (Western variant) Typographic variant of Syriac
Syrn 136 Syriac (Eastern variant) Typographic variant of Syriac
Tagb 373 Tagbanwa Tagbanwa L-to-R 3.2 18
Takr 321 Takri, Ṭākrī, Ṭāṅkrī Takri L-to-R 6.1 66
Tale 353 Tai Le Tai Le L-to-R 4.0 35
Talu 354 New Tai Lue New Tai Lue L-to-R 4.1 83
Taml 346 Tamil Tamil L-to-R 1.0 72
Tang 520 Tangut Not in Unicode
Tavt 359 Tai Viet Tai Viet L-to-R 5.2 72
Telu 340 Telugu Telugu L-to-R 1.0 95
Teng 290 Tengwar Not in Unicode
Tfng 120 Tifinagh (Berber) Tifinagh L-to-R 4.1 59
Tglg 370 Tagalog (Baybayin, Alibata) Tagalog L-to-R 3.2 20
Thaa 170 Thaana Thaana R-to-L 3.0 50
Thai 352 Thai Thai L-to-R 1.0 86
Tibt 330 Tibetan Tibetan L-to-R 1.0 207 Removed in 1.1 and reintroduced in 2.0
Tirh 326 Tirhuta Tirhuta L-to-R 7.0 82
Ugar 040 Ugaritic Ugaritic L-to-R 4.0 31 Ancient/historic
Vaii 470 Vai Vai L-to-R 5.1 300
Visp 280 Visible Speech Not in Unicode
Wara 262 Warang Citi (Varang Kshiti) Warang Citi L-to-R 7.0 84
Wole 480 Woleai Not in Unicode
Xpeo 030 Old Persian Old Persian L-to-R 4.1 50 Ancient/historic
Xsux 020 Cuneiform, Sumero-Akkadian Cuneiform L-to-R 5.0 1,037 Ancient/historic
Yiii 460 Yi Yi L-to-R 3.0 1,220
Zinh 994 Code for inherited script Inherited Inherited 563
Zmth 995 Mathematical notation Not a 'script' in Unicode
Zsym 996 Symbols Not a 'script' in Unicode
Zxxx 997 Code for unwritten documents Not in Unicode
Zyyy 998 Code for undetermined script Common 7,129
Zzzz 999 Code for uncoded script Unknown 1,001,091 All other code points
Notes
  1. ^ ISO 15924 publications As of 17 June 2014
  2. ^ ISO 15924 Normative text file As of 15 November 2014
  3. ^ ISO 15924 Changes (including Aliases for Unicode; as of 2014-11-15)
  4. ^ Unicode version 7.0
  5. ^ Unicode charts
  6. ^ Unicode uses the "Property Value Alias" (Alias) as the script-name. These Alias names are part of Unicode and are published informatively next to ISO 15924

Relations to other standards

The following standards are referred to as indispensable by ISO 15924.

For definition of font and glyph the standard refers to

Some 100 scripts are defined in Unicode. Through a linkpin called "Property Value Alias", Unicode has made a 1:1 connection between a script defined, and its ISO 15924 standard. See Script (Unicode).

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Everson, Michael. "ISO 15924:2004". Retrieved 2011-06-21.
  2. Unicode - ISO 15924 Registration Authority
  3. "Joint Advisory Committee ISO 15924 /RA-JAC". ISO, Unicode, Inc. & Evertype. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  4. In July, 2010, Duployan shorthand was assigned code 755, even though the 700-799 range still carried its original designation of (unassigned). Shortly thereafter, Revision 1.1 clarified that codes in the 700s were reserved for "Shorthands and other notations", although that revision is only provisional until it can be confirmed by governing committees.
  5. Everson, Michael (2004-01-09). "ISO 15924:2004 Information and documentation — Codes for the representation of names of scripts". Unicode Consortium.
  6. "ISO 15924:2004 – Codes for the representation of names of scripts". Unicode. 2012.

External links