List of languages by writing system
Below is a list of languages sorted by writing system (by alphabetical order).
Afaka syllabary
- Ndyuka (on occasion)
Anatolian alphabets
- Anatolian languages (extinct)
Arabic script
- Afrikaans (briefly, in the early 19th century)
- Arabic
- Azeri (Iran only)
- Arwi
- Balochi
- Balti
- Berber (formerly)
- Bosnian (formerly)
- Brahui
- Burushaski (on occasion)
- Chinese in the Arabic-derived Xiao'erjing alphabet
- Dari (in Afghanistan)
- Dogri (also uses Devanāgarī in India and Takri script)
- Dyula
- French in Algeria and other parts of North Africa during the French colonial period.
- Fulani (on occasion)
- Greek (on occasion in certain areas of Greece and Anatolia)
- Hausa (on occasion)
- Judeo-Arabic languages
- Judaeo-Spanish (until the 20th century)
- Kanuri (on occasion)
- Kashmiri
- Kazakh in China
- Kurdish (Iran and Iraq)
- Malagasy (until the 19th century)
- Malay (14th - 20th century)
- Mazanderani
- Mozarabic (now extinct)
- Nobiin (algongside Latin script)
- Ottoman Turkish (extinct)
- Pashtu
- Persian
- Punjabi (Pakistan)
- Rohingya (also uses the Latin script)
- Salar
- Saraiki
- Sindhi
- Somali (see Wadaad's writing)
- Spanish (formerly before 16th century, a.k.a. Aljamiado)
- Swahili (on occasion)
- Tajik (on occasion)
- Tausug
- Tuareg
- Turkmen (on occasion in Iran and Afghanistan).
- Urdu
- Uyghur
- Wolof known as Wolofal
- Yoruba in the 17th century with the Ajami script
Many languages of Russia and Central Asia before replacement with Latin and later Cyrillic
Aramaic alphabet
- Arabic (see Garshuni)
- Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
- Bohtan Neo-Aramaic
- Chaldean Neo-Aramaic
- Hertevin
- Koy Sanjaq Surat
- Senaya
- Syriac
- Turoyo (also has new Latin-based script)
Armenian script
Borama script
Brahmic family and derivatives
Assamese-Bengali
- Bengali alphabet
- Bengali (Bangla)
- Bishnupriya Manipuri
- Meitei Manipuri
Balinese script
Baybayin script
- Ilokano (formerly)
- Kapampangan (formerly)
- Pangasinan (formerly)
- Tagalog (formerly)
- Bikol language (formerly)
- Visayan languages (formerly)
Buhid script
Burmese script
Chakma
Devanagari
- Hindi
- Sanskrit
- Marathi
- Maithili
- Bhojpuri
- Magahi
- Nepali
- Sindhi (also written in Arabic)
- Konkani (also written in Latin, Arabic and Kannada)
- Kashmiri
- Bodo
- Dogri
- Santali
- Chhattisgarhi
- Nepal Bhasa
Dhives Akuru
- Divehi (Maldivian)
Gujarati script
Gurmukhi script
- Punjabi (also written in Shahmukhi, a variant of the Arabic script)
Hanunó'o script
- Hanunó'o
Javanese script (Hanacaraka)
Kaithi script
Kannada script
Khmer script
Khojki
- Sindhi (formerly)
Khudawadi
- Sindhi (formerly)
Lao script
Lepcha script
Limbu script
Lontara script (Buginese)
- Buginese (formerly)
Malayalam script
- Malayalam
Meitei Mayek
- Meitei Manipuri
Modi
- Marathi (formerly)
Oriya script
'Phags-pa script
- Chinese (formerly)
- Mongolian (formerly)
- Sanskrit (formerly)
- Tibetan (for decorative purposes)
- Uyghur (formerly)
Ranjana
- Nepal Bhasa
Saurashtra
Sinhala script
Tagbanwa script
- Languages of Palawan
Tamil script
Telugu script
Thaana script
- Dhivehi
Thai script
Tibetan script
- Tibetan
- Dzongkha
- Ladakhi
- Zhang-Zhung (extinct)
Canadian Aboriginal script
Cherokee script
Coptic alphabet
- Coptic language (extinct, still in use liturgically)
Cyrillic script
- Belarusian (also Latin script)
- Bosnian (also Latin script)
- Bulgarian
- Judaeo-Spanish (also Latin script)
- Kazakh
- Kyrgyz
- Macedonian
- Mongolian
- Russian
- Serbian (also Latin script)
- Ukrainian
- Tajiki
Bosnian Cyrillic alphabet (bosančica)
Ge'ez script (Ethiopic)
Georgian script
- Georgian
- Laz (sometimes Latin)
- Mingrelian
- Svan
Glagolitic alphabet
- Old Church Slavonic (extinct, still in use liturgically)
- Croatian (formerly)
Gothic alphabet
- Gothic (extinct)
Greek script
- Greek
- Coptic Egyptian
- Bactrian (extinct)
- Gaulish (extinct) - Written in both Greek and Latin scripts
- Judaeo-Spanish (also Latin script)
- Karamanli Turkish (extinct)
Chinese characters and derivatives
- Chinese
- Minority languages in China
- Japanese (kanji plus kana derivative)
- Korean (hanja) (used in academic texts and newspapers along with official documents)
- Vietnamese (Han-Nom) (used in historic or academic texts, or for artistic or aesthetic purposes, but in general use virtually extinct)
- Extinct languages
- Khitan, written in Khitan scripts
- Jurchen, written in Jurchen script
- Tangut, written in Tangut script
Hangul
- Korean
- Cia-Cia
Hebrew script
- Aramaic (and other writing systems)
- Bukhori
- Hebrew
- Hulaula
- Judeo-Berber
- Judeo-Iraqi Arabic
- Judeo-Moroccan
- Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic
- Judeo-Tunisian Arabic
- Judeo-Portuguese
- Judeo-Spanish (originally Rashi script, and other writing systems)
- Judeo-Yemenite
- Juhuri
- Lishan Didan
- Lishana Deni
- Lishanid Noshan
- Shuadit
- Yiddish
- Zarphatic
Old Italic script
- Italic (extinct)
Kaddare script
Kana
- Japanese (plus kanji)
- Ainu slightly modified variety of katakana, which enable the ability to represent final consonants
Khitan scripts
- Khitan (extinct)
Latin script
- Afrikaans
- Albanian
- Aragonese
- Asturian
- Aymara
- Azeri (formerly used the Cyrillic script)
- Basque
- Belarusian (also uses the Cyrillic script, and occasionally the Lacinka alphabet)
- Berber / Tamazight (Algeria, Morocco, Mali, Niger)
- Bislama
- Boholano (formerly used Baybayin)
- Bosnian (also uses the Cyrillic script)
- Breton
- Catalan
- Cebuano
- Chamorro
- Cherokee
- Cornish
- Corsican
- Croatian
- Cree
- Czech
- Danish
- Dutch
- English
- Esperanto
- Estonian
- Faroese
- Fijian
- Filipino (formerly used Baybayin)
- Finnish
- French
- Frisian
- Fula (Pulaar)
- Gaelic (Scottish)
- Galician
- German
- Gikuyu
- Guaraní
- Haitian
- Hausa (formerly used the Arabic script)
- Hindu
- Hawaiian
- Hiri Motu
- Hungarian (formerly used the Old Hungarian script)
- Icelandic
- Ido
- Igbo
- Ilocano (formerly used Baybayin)
- Indonesian
- Interlingua
- Innu-aimun
- Irish
- Italian
- Javanese (also Javanese script)
- Judeo-Spanish (also used other scripts)
- Khasi
- Kinyarwanda
- Kirundi
- Kongo
- Kurdish (Kurmanji)
- Latin
- Latvian
- Laz
- Leonese
- Lingala
- Lithuanian
- Luganda
- Luxembourgish
- Maori
- Malagasy
- Malay
- Maltese
- Manx
- Marshallese
- Moldovan (also uses the Cyrillic script)
- Montenegrin
- Nahuatl (after the Spanish conquest)
- Nauruan
- Navaho or Navajo
- Ndebele (Northern)
- Ndebele (Southern)
- Norwegian
- Occitan
- Oromo (formerly used the Ge'ez script)
- Palauan
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Quechua
- Romanian (formerly used the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet)
- Romansh
- Samoan
- Scottish
- Serbian (officially uses the Cyrillic script)
- Sindhi
- Seychellois creole
- Shona
- Slovak
- Slovene
- Somali (formerly used the Arabic script and the Osmanya script)
- Sotho (Northern)
- Sotho (Southern)
- Spanish
- Swahili
- Swedish
- Swati
- Tagalog (formerly used Baybayin)
- Tahitian
- Tatar (formerly used the Arabic script, then Janalif, and then the Cyrillic script)
- Tetum
- Tok Pisin
- Tongan
- Tsonga
- Tswana
- Turkish (formerly used the Arabic script)
- Turkmen (formerly used the Cyrillic script)
- Turoyo (formerly used the Syriac alphabet)
- Uzbek (formerly used the Arabic script and then the Cyrillic script; the latter still in widespread use)
- Venda
- Vietnamese (formerly used Han-Nom)
- Volapük
- Võro
- Walloon
- Welsh
- Wolof
- Xhosa
- Yoruba
- Zulu
- Zazaki
Mesoamerican scripts
Epi-Olmec script
(Extinct)
- Olmec (Extinct)
Maya script
(Almost extinct although still used in some areas)
- Achi
- Akatek
- Awakatek
- Chicomuceltec (Extinct)
- Chontal
- Ch'ol
- Ch'olti' (Extinct)
- Ch'orti'
- Chuj
- Huastec
- Itza'
- Ixil
- Jakaltek
- Kaqchikel
- Kaqchikel–K'iche'
- K'iche'
- Lacandon
- Mam
- Mocho'
- Mopan
- Poqomam
- Poqomchi'
- Q'anjob'al
- Q'eqchi'
- Sakapultek
- Sipakapense
- Tektitek
- Tojolab'al
- Tzeltal
- Tzotzil
- Tz'utujil
- Yucatec
Mixtec script
(Almost extinct although still used in some areas)
Nahuat hieroglyphs
(Now uses Spanish alphabet)
Olmec script
(Extinct)
- Olmec (Extinct)
Zapotec script
- Aloápam Zapotec
- Amatlán Zapotec
- Asunción Mixtepec Zapotec
- Ayoquezco Zapotec
- Cajonos Zapotec
- Chichicápam Zapotec
- Choápam Zapotec
- Coatecas Altas Zapotec
- Santo Domingo Coatlán Zapotec
- El Alto Zapotec
- Elotepec Zapotec
- Guevea Zapotec
- Güilá Zapotec
- Isthmus Zapotec
- Lachiguiri Zapotec
- Lachixío Zapotec
- Lapaguía Zapotec
- Loxicha Zapotec
- Mazaltepec Zapotec
- Miahuatlán Zapotec
- Mitla Zapotec
- San Juan Mixtepec Zapotec
- Ocotlán Zapotec
- Ozolotepec Zapotec
- Petapa Zapotec
- Quiavicuzas Zapotec
- Quioquitani Zapotec
- Rincón Zapotec
- San Agustín Mixtepec Zapotec
- San Baltázar Loxicha Zapotec
- Guelavía Zapotec
- Quiatoni Zapotec
- San Vicente Zapotec
- Santa Catarina Albarradas Zapotec
- Yatzeche Zapotec
- Quiegolani Zapotec
- Xánica Zapotec
- Albarradas Zapotec
- Ixtlán Zapotec
- Yavesía Zapotec
- Rincón Zapotec
- Tabaá Zapotec
- Tejalapan Zapotec
- Texmelucan Zapotec
- Tilquiapan Zapotec
- Tlacolulita Zapotec
- Totomachapan Zapotec
- Xadani Zapotec
- Xanaguía Zapotec
- Yalálag Zapotec
- Ixtlán Zapotec
- Yatee Zapotec
- Yatzachi Zapotec
- San Bartolo Yautepec Zapotec
- Zaachila Zapotec
- Zaniza Zapotec
- Zoogocho Zapotec
Takalik Abaj and Kaminaljuyú scripts
- Mixe-Zoquean
- Proto-Maya
Mongolian and related scripts
Old Uyghur alphabet
- Uyghur (formerly)
Mongolian script
Manchu script
Munda scripts
Sorang Sompeng
Ol Cemet'
Varang Kshiti
N'Ko script
- N'ko
Naxi script
- Naxi (obsolete)
Nsibidi
Ogham
Osmanya script
Pahawh Hmong
Old Permic alphabet
- Komi (formerly)
Runic script
- Proto-Norse inscriptions
- Old Norse (also Latin script)
- Old Danish (also Latin script)
- Old English/Anglo-Saxon (also Latin script)
- Old Frisian (also Latin script)
Old Turkic script
- Old Turkic language (extinct)
Old Hungarian alphabet
- Hungarian (also Latin script)
Tifinagh
- Berber / Tamazight (Morocco)
- Tuareg
Yi script
References
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