Brahmic family
Encyclopedia
The Brahmic or Indic scripts are a family of abugida
(alphabet
ic-syllabary
) writing systems. They are used throughout South Asia
(incuding Pakistan
and Afghanistan
), Southeast Asia
, and parts of Central
and East Asia
, and are descended from the Brāhmī script
of the ancient Indian subcontinent
. They are used by languages of several language families: Indo-European
, Dravidian
, Tibeto-Burman
, Mongolic
, Austro-Asiatic
, Austronesian
, Tai
, and possibly influenced Korean
(hangul
). They were also the source of the dictionary order
of Japanese
kana
.
. Brahmi is clearly attested from the 3rd century BC during the reign of Ashoka
, who used the script for imperial edicts
, but there are some recent finds of earlier epigraphy
in Tamil-Brahmi
writing found on pottery in South India
and Sri Lanka
, dating back to the 6th century BCE or even earlier. Northern Brahmi gave rise to the Gupta script
during the Gupta period, which in turn diversified into a number of cursives during the Middle Ages, including Siddham, Sharada and Nagari.
The Siddham script was especially important in Buddhism
, as many sutra
s were written in it. The art of Siddham calligraphy
survives today in Japan
. The syllabic
nature and dictionary order
of the modern kana
system of Japanese writing is believed to be descended from the Indic scripts, most likely through the spread of Buddhism.
Southern Brahmi evolved into Grantha and Old-Kannada
Scripts among others, which in turn diversified into numerous scripts of Southeast Asia.
Bhattiprolu was a great centre of Buddhism
during 3rd century BCE and from where Buddhism spread to east Asia. The present Telugu script is derived from Bhattiprolu Script
or 'Kannada-Telugu script', also known as 'old Kannada script', owing to its similarity to the same.
Initially, minor changes were made which is now called Tamil brahmi which has far fewer letters than some of the other Indic scripts as it has no separate aspirated
or voiced
consonants. Later under the influence of Granta vetteluthu evolved which looks similar to present day Malayalam script. Still further changes were made in 19th and 20th centuries to make use of printing and typewriting needs before we have the present script.
Gari Ledyard
has hypothesized that the hangul
script used to write Korean
is based on the Mongol 'Phags-pa script, a descendant of the Brahmic family via Tibetan.
; pronunciation is indicated in International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Pronunciation is taken from Sanskrit
where possible, but other languages where necessary. These lists are not comprehensive; some glyphs are unrepresented. Some pronunciations may be inaccurate or different from the ones listed, partly because the graphemically corresponding glyphs listed in the same column are not necessarily phonetically identical.
.
Note: Glyphs for r̥̄, l̥, l̥̄ and a few other glyphs are obsolete or very rarely used.
was very influential, and in the southern group the Grantha and Old-Kannada
Scripts with the spread of Hinduism
spread Brahmic scripts throughout Southeast Asia.
Abugida
An abugida , also called an alphasyllabary, is a segmental writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as a unit: each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel notation is obligatory but secondary...
(alphabet
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
ic-syllabary
Syllabary
A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent syllables, which make up words. In a syllabary, there is no systematic similarity between the symbols which represent syllables with the same consonant or vowel...
) writing systems. They are used throughout South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
(incuding Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
), Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, and parts of Central
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
and East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
, and are descended from the Brāhmī script
Brāhmī script
Brāhmī is the modern name given to the oldest members of the Brahmic family of scripts. The best-known Brāhmī inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dated to the 3rd century BCE. These are traditionally considered to be early known examples of Brāhmī writing...
of the ancient Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
. They are used by languages of several language families: Indo-European
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
, Dravidian
Dravidian languages
The Dravidian language family includes approximately 85 genetically related languages, spoken by about 217 million people. They are mainly spoken in southern India and parts of eastern and central India as well as in northeastern Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, and...
, Tibeto-Burman
Tibeto-Burman languages
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Chinese members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken thoughout the highlands of southeast Asia, as well as lowland areas in Burma ....
, Mongolic
Mongolic languages
The Mongolic languages are a group of languages spoken in East-Central Asia, mostly in Mongolia and surrounding areas plus in Kalmykia. The best-known member of this language family, Mongolian, is the primary language of most of the residents of Mongolia and the Mongolian residents of Inner...
, Austro-Asiatic
Austro-Asiatic languages
The Austro-Asiatic languages, in recent classifications synonymous with Mon–Khmer, are a large language family of Southeast Asia, also scattered throughout India and Bangladesh. The name Austro-Asiatic comes from the Latin words for "south" and "Asia", hence "South Asia"...
, Austronesian
Austronesian languages
The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...
, Tai
Tai languages
The Tai or Zhuang–Tai languages are a branch of the Tai–Kadai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including standard Thai or Siamese, the national language of Thailand; Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos; Burma's Shan language;...
, and possibly influenced Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
(hangul
Hangul
Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
). They were also the source of the dictionary order
Collation
Collation is the assembly of written information into a standard order. One common type of collation is called alphabetization, though collation is not limited to ordering letters of the alphabet...
of Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
kana
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
.
History
Brahmic scripts are descended from the Brahmi scriptBrāhmī script
Brāhmī is the modern name given to the oldest members of the Brahmic family of scripts. The best-known Brāhmī inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dated to the 3rd century BCE. These are traditionally considered to be early known examples of Brāhmī writing...
. Brahmi is clearly attested from the 3rd century BC during the reign of Ashoka
Ashoka
Ashok Maurya or Ashoka , popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests...
, who used the script for imperial edicts
Edicts of Ashoka
The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of 33 inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka, as well as boulders and cave walls, made by the Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty during his reign from 269 BCE to 231 BCE. These inscriptions are dispersed throughout the areas of modern-day Bangladesh, India,...
, but there are some recent finds of earlier epigraphy
Early Indian epigraphy
The earliest traces of epigraphy in South Asia are found in the undeciphered inscriptions of the Indus Valley Civilization , which date back to the early 3rd millennium BC...
in Tamil-Brahmi
Tamil-Brahmi
Tamil-Brahmi, or Damili is an early phonetic script used to write Tamil characters. It is a variant of many Brahmi scripts used throughout South Asia, namely Ashokan Brahmi, Southern Brahmi, Bhattiprolu script and the Sri Lankan based Sinhala-Brahmi. It is known from surviving inscribed cave beds,...
writing found on pottery in South India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, dating back to the 6th century BCE or even earlier. Northern Brahmi gave rise to the Gupta script
Gupta script
The Gupta script was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with the Gupta Empire of India which was a period of material prosperity and great religious and scientific developments. The Gupta script was descended from Brahmi and gave rise to the Nagari, Sharada and Siddham scripts...
during the Gupta period, which in turn diversified into a number of cursives during the Middle Ages, including Siddham, Sharada and Nagari.
The Siddham script was especially important in Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, as many sutra
Sutra
Sūtra is an aphorism or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. Literally it means a thread or line that holds things together and is derived from the verbal root siv-, meaning to sew , as does the medical term...
s were written in it. The art of Siddham calligraphy
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
survives today in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The syllabic
Syllabary
A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent syllables, which make up words. In a syllabary, there is no systematic similarity between the symbols which represent syllables with the same consonant or vowel...
nature and dictionary order
Collation
Collation is the assembly of written information into a standard order. One common type of collation is called alphabetization, though collation is not limited to ordering letters of the alphabet...
of the modern kana
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
system of Japanese writing is believed to be descended from the Indic scripts, most likely through the spread of Buddhism.
Southern Brahmi evolved into Grantha and Old-Kannada
Halegannada
Proto-Kannada is said to have evolved after separating from its source around c. 1500 BCE, while its script evolved during Ashokan times around the 4th or 3rd century BCE from ancient Brahmi...
Scripts among others, which in turn diversified into numerous scripts of Southeast Asia.
Bhattiprolu was a great centre of Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
during 3rd century BCE and from where Buddhism spread to east Asia. The present Telugu script is derived from Bhattiprolu Script
Bhattiprolu Script
The Bhattiprolu script is a variant of the Brahmi script which has been found in old inscriptions at Bhattiprolu, a small village in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, South India...
or 'Kannada-Telugu script', also known as 'old Kannada script', owing to its similarity to the same.
Initially, minor changes were made which is now called Tamil brahmi which has far fewer letters than some of the other Indic scripts as it has no separate aspirated
Aspiration (phonetics)
In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...
or voiced
VOICED
Virtual Organization for Innovative Conceptual Engineering Design is a virtual organization that promotes innovation in engineering design. This project is the collaborative work of researchers at five universities across the United States, and is funded by the National Science Foundation...
consonants. Later under the influence of Granta vetteluthu evolved which looks similar to present day Malayalam script. Still further changes were made in 19th and 20th centuries to make use of printing and typewriting needs before we have the present script.
Gari Ledyard
Gari Ledyard
Gari Keith Ledyard is Sejong Professor of Korean History Emeritus at Columbia University. He is best known for his work on the history of the hangul alphabet.-Biography:...
has hypothesized that the hangul
Hangul
Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
script used to write Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
is based on the Mongol 'Phags-pa script, a descendant of the Brahmic family via Tibetan.
Characteristics
Some characteristics, which may not be present in all the scripts, are:- Each consonantConsonantIn articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
has an inherent vowel which is usually short 'a' (in BengaliBengali languageBengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
, and AssameseAssamese languageAssamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...
, it is short 'ô' due to sound shifts). Other vowels are written by adding to the character. A markDiacriticA diacritic is a glyph added to a letter, or basic glyph. The term derives from the Greek διακριτικός . Diacritic is both an adjective and a noun, whereas diacritical is only an adjective. Some diacritical marks, such as the acute and grave are often called accents...
, known in SanskritSanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
as a viramaViramaVirama is a generic term for the diacritic in many Brahmic scripts, including Devanagari and East Nagari, that is used to suppress the inherent vowel that otherwise occurs with every consonant letter. The name is Sanskrit for "cessation, termination, end"...
/halant can be used to indicate the absence of an inherent vowel. - Each vowel has two forms, an independent form when not part of a consonant, and a dependent form, when attached to a consonant. Depending on the script, the dependent forms can be either placed to the left of, to the right of, above, below, or on both the left and the right sides of the base consonant.
- Consonants (up to 4 in Devanagari) can be combined in ligatureLigature (typography)In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more graphemes are joined as a single glyph. Ligatures usually replace consecutive characters sharing common components and are part of a more general class of glyphs called "contextual forms", where the specific shape of a letter depends on...
s. Special marks are added to denote the combination of 'r' with another consonant. - NasalizationNasalizationIn phonetics, nasalization is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered, so that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by the mouth...
and aspirationAspiration (phonetics)In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...
of a consonant's dependent vowel is also noted by separate signs. - The traditional ordering can be summarized as follows: vowels, velar consonantVelar consonantVelars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....
s, palatal consonants, retroflex consonantRetroflex consonantA retroflex consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consonants, especially in Indology...
s, dental consonants, bilabial consonantBilabial consonantIn phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:...
s, approximants, sibilants, and other consonants. Each consonant grouping had four consonants (with all four possible values of voicing and aspiration), and a nasalised consonant.
Comparison
Below are comparison charts of several of the major Indic scripts; transliteration is indicated in ISO 15919ISO 15919
ISO 15919 Transliteration of Devanagari and related Indic scripts into Latin characters is an international standard for the transliteration of Indic scripts to the Latin alphabet formed in 2001...
; pronunciation is indicated in International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Pronunciation is taken from Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
where possible, but other languages where necessary. These lists are not comprehensive; some glyphs are unrepresented. Some pronunciations may be inaccurate or different from the ones listed, partly because the graphemically corresponding glyphs listed in the same column are not necessarily phonetically identical.
Consonants
| ISO ISO 15919 ISO 15919 Transliteration of Devanagari and related Indic scripts into Latin characters is an international standard for the transliteration of Indic scripts to the Latin alphabet formed in 2001... | k | kh | g | gh | ṅ | c | ch | j | jh | ñ | ṭ | ṭh | ḍ | ḍh | ṇ | t | th | d | dh | n | ṉ | p | ph | b | bh | m | y | r | ṟ | l | ḷ | ḻ | v | ś | ṣ | s | h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | k | kʰ | ɡ | ɡʱ | ŋ | c | cʰ | ɟ | ɟʱ | ɲ | ʈ | ʈʰ | ɖ | ɖʱ | ɳ | t̪ | t̪ʰ | d̪ | d̪ʱ | n̪ | n | p | pʰ | b | bʱ | m | j | r | ɾ | l | ɭ | ɻ | ʋ | ʃ | ʂ | s | ɦ |
| Oriya Oriya script The Oriya script or Utkala Lipi or Utkalakshara is used to write the Oriya language, and can be used for several other Indian languages, for example, Sanskrit.- History :... |
କ | ଖ | ଗ | ଘ | ଙ | ଚ | ଛ | ଜ | ଝ | ଞ | ଟ | ଠ | ଡ | ଢ | ଣ | ତ | ଥ | ଦ | ଧ | ନ | ନ଼ | ପ | ଫ | ବ | ଭ | ମ | ୟ | ର | ର଼ | ଲ | ଳ | ଳ଼ | ୱ | ଶ | ଷ | ସ | ହ |
| E. Nagari Eastern Nagari script The Eastern Nagari script is an Abugida system of writing belonging to the Brahmic family of scripts which use is associated with the two main languages Assamese and Bengali and other related variants such as, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Maithili, Mising, Meitei Manipuri, Sylheti, and Chittagonian... |
ক | খ | গ | ঘ | ঙ | চ | ছ | জ | ঝ | ঞ | ট | ঠ | ড | ঢ | ণ | ত | থ | দ | ধ | ন | প | ফ | ব | ভ | ম | য | র/ৰ | ল | ৱ | শ | ষ | স | হ | ||||
| Devanagari Devanagari Devanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal... |
क | ख | ग | घ | ङ | च | छ | ज | झ | ञ | ट | ठ | ड | ढ | ण | त | थ | द | ध | न | ऩ | प | फ | ब | भ | म | य | र | ऱ | ल | ळ | ऴ | व | श | ष | स | ह |
| Gujarati Gujarati script The Gujarati script , which like all Nāgarī writing systems is strictly speaking an abugida rather than an alphabet, is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages... |
ક | ખ | ગ | ઘ | ઙ | ચ | છ | જ | ઝ | ઞ | ટ | ઠ | ડ | ઢ | ણ | ત | થ | દ | ધ | ન | પ | ફ | બ | ભ | મ | ય | ર | લ | ળ | વ | શ | ષ | સ | હ | |||
| Gurmukhi Gurmukhi script Gurmukhi is the most common script used for writing the Punjabi language. An abugida derived from the Laṇḍā script and ultimately descended from Brahmi, Gurmukhi was standardized by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad Dev Ji, in the 16th century. The whole of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji's 1430... |
ਕ | ਖ | ਗ | ਘ | ਙ | ਚ | ਛ | ਜ | ਝ | ਞ | ਟ | ਠ | ਡ | ਢ | ਣ | ਤ | ਥ | ਦ | ਧ | ਨ | ਪ | ਫ | ਬ | ਭ | ਮ | ਯ | ਰ | ਲ | ਲ਼ | ਵ | ਸ਼ | ਸ | ਹ | ||||
| Tibetan Tibetan script The Tibetan alphabet is an abugida of Indic origin used to write the Tibetan language as well as the Dzongkha language, Denzongkha, Ladakhi language and sometimes the Balti language. The printed form of the alphabet is called uchen script while the hand-written cursive form used in everyday... |
ཀ | ཁ | ག | ང | ཅ | ཆ | ཇ | ཉ | ཊ | ཋ | ཌ | ཎ | ཏ | ཐ | ད | ན | པ | ཕ | བ | མ | ཡ | ར | ལ | ཝ | ཤ | ཥ | ས | ཧ | |||||||||
| Brahmi Brāhmī script Brāhmī is the modern name given to the oldest members of the Brahmic family of scripts. The best-known Brāhmī inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dated to the 3rd century BCE. These are traditionally considered to be early known examples of Brāhmī writing... |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Telugu Telugu script Telugu script, an abugida from the Brahmic family of scripts, is used to write the Telugu language, a language found in the South-Central Indian state of Andhra Pradesh as well as several other neighboring states. The Telugu script is derived from the Bhattiprolu script... |
క | ఖ | గ | ఘ | ఙ | చ | ఛ | జ | ఝ | ఞ | ట | ఠ | డ | ఢ | ణ | త | థ | ద | ధ | న | ప | ఫ | బ | భ | మ | య | ర | ఱ | ల | ళ | వ | శ | ష | స | హ | ||
| Kannada Kannada script The Kannada script is an alphasyllabary of the Brahmic family, used primarily to write the Kannada language, one of the Dravidian languages of southern India and also Sanskrit in the past. The Telugu script is derived from Old Kannada, and resembles Kannada script... |
ಕ | ಖ | ಗ | ಘ | ಙ | ಚ | ಛ | ಜ | ಝ | ಞ | ಟ | ಠ | ಡ | ಢ | ಣ | ತ | ಥ | ದ | ಧ | ನ | ಪ | ಫ | ಬ | ಭ | ಮ | ಯ | ರ | ಱ | ಲ | ಳ | ೞ | ವ | ಶ | ಷ | ಸ | ಹ | |
| Sinhala | ක | ඛ | ග | ඝ | ඞ | ච | ඡ | ජ | ඣ | ඤ | ට | ඨ | ඩ | ඪ | ණ | ත | ථ | ද | ධ | න | ප | ඵ | බ | භ | ම | ය | ර | ල | ළ | ව | ශ | ෂ | ස | හ | |||
| Malayalam Malayalam script The Malayalam script is a Brahmic script used commonly to write the Malayalam language—which is the principal language of the Indian state of Kerala, spoken by 36 million people in the world. Like many other Indic scripts, it is an abugida, or a writing system that is partially “alphabetic” and... |
ക | ഖ | ഗ | ഘ | ങ | ച | ഛ | ജ | ഝ | ഞ | ട | ഠ | ഡ | ഢ | ണ | ത | ഥ | ദ | ധ | ന | പ | ഫ | ബ | ഭ | മ | യ | ര | റ | ല | ള | ഴ | വ | ശ | ഷ | സ | ഹ | |
| Tamil Tamil script The Tamil script is a script that is used to write the Tamil language as well as other minority languages such as Badaga, Irulas, and Paniya... |
க | ங | ச | ஜ | ஞ | ட | ண | த | ந | ன | ப | ம | ய | ர | ற | ல | ள | ழ | வ | ஶ | ஷ | ஸ | ஹ | ||||||||||||||
| Burmese Burmese alphabet The Burmese script is an abugida in the Brahmic family used for writing Burmese. Furthermore, various other scripts share some aspect and letters of the Burmese script, though they should not be considered strictly Burmese, including Mon, Shan, S'gaw Karen, Eastern and Western Pwo Karen and Geba... |
က | ခ | ဂ | ဃ | င | စ | ဆ | ဇ | ဈ | ဉ/ည | ဋ | ဌ | ဍ | ဎ | ဏ | တ | ထ | ဒ | ဓ | န | ပ | ဖ | ဗ | ဘ | မ | ယ | ရ | လ | ဠ | ၔ | ဝ | ၐ | ၑ | သ | ဟ | ||
| Khmer | ក | ខ | គ | ឃ | ង | ច | ឆ | ជ | ឈ | ញ | ដ | ឋ | ឌ | ឍ | ណ | ត | ថ | ទ | ធ | ន | ប | ផ | ព | ភ | ម | យ | រ | ល | ឡ | វ | ឝ | ឞ | ស | ហ | |||
| Thai | ก | ข | ค | ฆ | ง | จ | ฉ | ช | ฌ | ญ | ฏ | ฐ | ฑ | ฒ | ณ | ต | ถ | ท | ธ | น | ป | ผ | พ | ภ | ม | ย | ร | ล | ฬ | ว | ศ | ษ | ส | ห | |||
| Lao Lao alphabet The Lao alphabet, Aksone Lao , is the main script used to write the Lao language and other minority languages in Laos. It is ultimately of Indic origin, the alphabet includes 27 consonants , 7 consonantal ligatures , 33 vowels , and 4 tone marks... |
ກ | ຂ | ຄ | ງ | ຈ | ຊ | ຍ | ຕ | ຖ | ທ | ນ | ປ | ຜ | ຟ | ພ | ມ | ຢ | ຣ | ລ | ວ | ສ | ຫ | |||||||||||||||
| Balinese Balinese language Balinese or simply Bali is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by 3.3 million people on the Indonesian island of Bali, as well as northern Nusa Penida, western Lombok and eastern Java... |
ᬓ | ᬔ | ᬕ | ᬖ | ᬗ | ᬘ | ᬙ | ᬚ | ᬛ | ᬜ | ᬝ | ᬞ | ᬟ | ᬠ | ᬡ | ᬢ | ᬣ | ᬤ | ᬥ | ᬦ | ᬧ | ᬨ | ᬩ | ᬪ | ᬫ | ᬬ | ᬭ | ᬮ | ᬯ | ᬰ | ᬱ | ᬲ | ᬳ | ||||
| Baybayin Baybayin Baybayin , is a pre-Spanish Philippine writing system. It is a member of the Brahmic family and is recorded as being in use in the 16th century... |
ᜃ | ᜄ | ᜅ | ᜆ | ᜇ | ᜈ | ᜉ | ᜊ | ᜋ | ᜌ | ᜇ | ᜎ | ᜐ | ᜑ |
Vowels
Vowels are presented in their independent form on the left of each column, and in their corresponding dependent form (vowel sign) combined with the consonant k on the right. A glyph for ka is an independent consonant letter itself without any vowel sign, where the vowel a is inherentInherent vowel
An inherent vowel is part of an abugida script. It is the vowel sound which is used with each unmarked or basic consonant symbol....
.
| ISO | |ā | |ǣ | |ī | |ū | |ē | |o | |au | |r̥̄ | |l̥̄ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | a | ɑː | æ | æː | i | iː | u | uː | e | eː | ai | o | oː | au | r̩ | r̩ː | l̩ | l̩ː | ||||||||||||||||||
| Oriya | ଅ | କ | ଆ | କା | ଅଽ | କଽ | ଇ | କି | ଈ | କୀ | ଉ | କୁ | ଊ | କୂ | ଏ | କେ | ଐ | କୈ | ଓ | କୋ | ଔ | କୌ | ଋ | କୃ | ୠ | କୃ୍ | ଌ | କ୍ଲୃ | ୡ | କ୍ଳୃ | ||||||
| E. Nagari | অ | ক | আ | কা | অ্যা | ক্যা | ই | কি | ঈ | কী | উ | কু | ঊ | কূ | এ | কে | ঐ | কৈ | ও | কো | ঔ | কৌ | ঋ | কৃ | ৠ | কৄ | ঌ | কৢ | ৡ | কৣ | ||||||
| Devanagari | अ | क | आ | का | अॅ | कॅ | ऑ | कॉ | इ | कि | ई | की | उ | कु | ऊ | कू | ऎ | कॆ | ए | के | ऐ | कै | ऒ | कॊ | ओ | को | औ | कौ | ऋ | कृ | ॠ | कॄ | ऌ | कॢ | ॡ | कॣ |
| Gujarati | અ | ક | આ | કા | ઇ | કિ | ઈ | કી | ઉ | કુ | ઊ | કૂ | એ | કે | ઐ | કૈ | ઓ | કો | ઔ | કૌ | ઋ | કૃ | ૠ | કૄ | ઌ | કૢ | ૡ | કૣ | ||||||||
| Gurmukhi | ਅ | ਕ | ਆ | ਕਾ | ਇ | ਕਿ | ਈ | ਕੀ | ਉ | ਕੁ | ਊ | ਕੂ | ਏ | ਕੇ | ਐ | ਕੈ | ਓ | ਕੋ | ਔ | ਕੌ | ||||||||||||||||
| Tibetan | ཨ | ཀ | ཨཱ | ཀཱ | ཨི | ཀི | ཨཱི | ཀཱི | ཨུ | ཀུ | ཨཱུ | ཀཱུ | ཨེ | ཀེ | ཨཻ | ཀཻ | ཨོ | ཀོ | ཨཽ | ཀཽ | རྀ | ཀྲྀ | རཱྀ | ཀཷ | ལྀ | ཀླྀ | ལཱྀ | ཀླཱྀ | ||||||||
| Brahmi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Telugu | అ | క | ఆ | కా | ఇ | కి | ఈ | కీ | ఉ | కు | ఊ | కూ | ఎ | కె | ఏ | కే | ఐ | కై | ఒ | కొ | ఓ | కో | ఔ | కౌ | ఋ | కృ | ౠ | కౄ | ఌ | కౢ | ౡ | కౣ | ||||
| Kannada | ಅ | ಕ | ಆ | ಕಾ | ಇ | ಕಿ | ಈ | ಕೀ | ಉ | ಕು | ಊ | ಕೂ | ಎ | ಕೆ | ಏ | ಕೇ | ಐ | ಕೈ | ಒ | ಕೊ | ಓ | ಕೋ | ಔ | ಕೌ | ಋ | ಕೃ | ೠ | ಕೄ | ಌ | ಕೢ | ೡ | ಕೣ | ||||
| Sinhala | අ | ක | ආ | කා | ඇ | කැ | ඈ | කෑ | ඉ | කි | ඊ | කී | උ | කු | ඌ | කූ | එ | කෙ | ඒ | කේ | ඓ | කෛ | ඔ | කො | ඕ | කෝ | ඖ | කෞ | ඍ | කෘ | ඎ | කෲ | ඏ | කෟ | ඐ | කෳ |
| Malayalam | അ | ക | ആ | കാ | ഇ | കി | ഈ | കീ | ഉ | കു | ഊ | കൂ | എ | കെ | ഏ | കേ | ഐ | കൈ | ഒ | കൊ | ഓ | കോ | ഔ | കൗ | ഋ | കൃ | ൠ | കൄ | ഌ | കൢ | ൡ | കൣ | ||||
| Tamil | அ | க | ஆ | கா | இ | கி | ஈ | கீ | உ | கு | ஊ | கூ | எ | கெ | ஏ | கே | ஐ | கை | ஒ | கொ | ஓ | கோ | ஔ | கௌ | ||||||||||||
| Burmese | အ | က | အာ | ကာ | ဣ | ကိ | ဤ | ကီ | ဥ | ကု | ဦ | ကူ | ဧ | ကေ | အေး | ကေး | ဩ | ကော | ဪ | ကော် | ၒ | ကၖ | ၓ | ကၗ | ၔ | ကၘ | ၕ | ကၙ | ||||||||
| Khmer | ឣ | ក | ឤ | កា | ឥ | កិ | ឦ | កី | ឧ | កុ | ឩ | កូ | ឯ | កេ | ឰ | កៃ | ឱ | កោ | ឳ | កៅ | ឫ | ក្ឫ | ឬ | ក្ឬ | ឭ | ក្ឭ | ឮ | ក្ឮ | ||||||||
| Thai | อะ | ก | อา | กา | อิ | กิ | อี | กี | อุ | กุ | อู | กู | เ | เก | อาย | กาย | โอ | โก | อาว | กาว | ฤ | กฤ | ฤๅ | กฤๅ | ฦ | กฦ | ฦๅ | กฦๅ | ||||||||
| Balinese | ᬅ | ᬓ | ᬆ | ᬓᬵ | ᬇ | ᬓᬶ | ᬈ | ᬓᬷ | ᬉ | ᬓᬸ | ᬊ | ᬓᬹ | ᬏ | ᬓᬾ | ᬐ | ᬓᬿ | ᬑ | ᬓᭀ | ᬒ | ᬓᭁ | ᬋ | ᬓᬺ | ᬌ | ᬓᬻ | ᬍ | ᬓᬼ | ᬎ | ᬓᬽ | ||||||||
| Baybayin | ᜀ | ᜁ | ᜃᜒ | ᜂ | ᜃᜓ | ᜁ | ᜃᜒ | ᜂ | ᜃᜓ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: Glyphs for r̥̄, l̥, l̥̄ and a few other glyphs are obsolete or very rarely used.
Numerals
| English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oriya | ୦ | ୧ | ୨ | ୩ | ୪ | ୫ | ୬ | ୭ | ୮ | ୯ |
| E. Nagari | ০ | ১ | ২ | ৩ | ৪ | ৫ | ৬ | ৭ | ৮ | ৯ |
| Devanagari | ० | १ | २ | ३ | ४ | ५ | ६ | ७ | ८ | ९ |
| Gujarati | ૦ | ૧ | ૨ | ૩ | ૪ | ૫ | ૬ | ૭ | ૮ | ૯ |
| Gurmukhi | ੦ | ੧ | ੨ | ੩ | ੪ | ੫ | ੬ | ੭ | ੮ | ੯ |
| Tibetan | ༠ | ༡ | ༢ | ༣ | ༤ | ༥ | ༦ | ༧ | ༨ | ༩ |
| Brahmi | ||||||||||
| Telugu | ౦ | ౧ | ౨ | ౩ | ౪ | ౫ | ౬ | ౭ | ౮ | ౯ |
| Kannada | ೦ | ೧ | ೨ | ೩ | ೪ | ೫ | ೬ | ೭ | ೮ | ೯ |
| Malayalam | ൦ | ൧ | ൨ | ൩ | ൪ | ൫ | ൬ | ൭ | ൮ | ൯ |
| Tamil | ೦ | ௧ | ௨ | ௩ | ௪ | ௫ | ௬ | ௭ | ௮ | ௯ |
| Burmese | ၀ | ၁ | ၂ | ၃ | ၄ | ၅ | ၆ | ၇ | ၈ | ၉ |
| Khmer | ០ | ១ | ២ | ៣ | ៤ | ៥ | ៦ | ៧ | ៨ | ៩ |
| Thai | ๐ | ๑ | ๒ | ๓ | ๔ | ๕ | ๖ | ๗ | ๘ | ๙ |
| Lao | ໐ | ໑ | ໒ | ໓ | ໔ | ໕ | ໖ | ໗ | ໘ | ໙ |
| Balinese | ᭐ | ᭑ | ᭒ | ᭓ | ᭔ | ᭕ | ᭖ | ᭗ | ᭘ | ᭙ |
| Javanese | ꧐ | ꧑ | ꧒ | ꧓ | ꧔ | ꧕ | ꧖ | ꧗ | ꧘ | ꧙ |
Historical
The Brahmi script was already divided into regional variants at the time of the earliest surviving epigraphy around the 3rd century BCE. Cursives of the Brahmi script began to diversify further from around the 5th century CE and continued to give rise to new scripts throughout the Middle Ages. The main division in antiquity was between northern and southern Brahmi. In the northern group, the Gupta scriptGupta script
The Gupta script was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with the Gupta Empire of India which was a period of material prosperity and great religious and scientific developments. The Gupta script was descended from Brahmi and gave rise to the Nagari, Sharada and Siddham scripts...
was very influential, and in the southern group the Grantha and Old-Kannada
Halegannada
Proto-Kannada is said to have evolved after separating from its source around c. 1500 BCE, while its script evolved during Ashokan times around the 4th or 3rd century BCE from ancient Brahmi...
Scripts with the spread of Hinduism
Hinduism in Southeast Asia
Hinduism in Southeast Asia gave birth to the former Champa civilization in southern parts of Central Vietnam, Funan in Cambodia, the Khmer Empire in Indochina, Langkasuka Kingdom, Gangga Negara and Old Kedah in the Malay Peninsular, the Srivijayan kingdom on Sumatra, the Singhasari kingdom and the...
spread Brahmic scripts throughout Southeast Asia.
- Northern Brahmic
- Anga LipiAnga Lipi-Etymology & History:Anga referred to a region in what is now Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal states of India, and Lipi meant script.Anga Script is mentioned in an ancient Sanskrit language Buddhist book "Lalitvistar" , which says Anga Lipi was one of the most important scripts among 64 other scripts...
, 6th century BCE - Gupta scriptGupta scriptThe Gupta script was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with the Gupta Empire of India which was a period of material prosperity and great religious and scientific developments. The Gupta script was descended from Brahmi and gave rise to the Nagari, Sharada and Siddham scripts...
, 5th century- Sharada, 8th century
- Siddham, 7th century
- PhagspaPhagspa scriptThe Phags-pa script was an alphabet designed by the Tibetan Lama 'Gro-mgon Chos-rgyal 'Phags-pa for Yuan emperor Kublai Khan, as a unified script for the literary languages of the Yuan Dynasty....
, 13th century
- Phagspa
- Nagari, 8th century
- OriyaOriya languageOriya , officially Odia from November, 2011, is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian states of Orissa and West Bengal...
,10th century - Eastern Nagari, 11th century
- DevanagariDevanagariDevanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
, 13th century - KaithiKaithiKaithi , also called "Kayathi" or "Kayasthi", is the name of a historical script used widely in parts of North India, primarily in the former North-Western Provinces, Oudh and Bihar...
, Sylheti NagariSylheti NagariSylheti Nagari or Syloti Nagri is the original script used for writing the Sylheti language. It is an almost extinct script, this is because the Sylheti Language itself was reduced to only dialect status after Bangladesh gained independence and because it did not make sense for a dialect to have...
, 16th century - ModiModi script' is one of the scripts used to write the Marathi language& Rajasthani language, which is the primary language spoken in the state of Maharashtra & Rajasthan in western India respectively. MoDiis also known as MuDiya, MuDi & VañiyāvaTi...
, 17th century
- Oriya
- NepalNepal scriptNepal script is a group of scripts that developed from the Brahmi script and are used primarily in Nepal Bhasa. It is also used to write Sanskrit.-Scripts based on Nepal script:The scripts are as follows-*Ranjana script...
- BhujimolBhujimolBhujimol is the name of the most ancient form of the Nepal script. It is used to write Nepal Bhasa.-Etymology:The word "Bhujimol" comes from Nepalbhasa words "bhuji" meaning housefly and "mol" a word written at the end of scripts ....
, 6th century - RanjanaRanjana scriptThe Rañjanā script is an abugida writing system which developed in the 11th century. It is primarily used for writing Nepal Bhasa but is also used in monasteries of India, Tibet, coastline China, Mongolia, and Japan. It is usually written from left to right but the Kutakshar form is written from...
, 12th century- SoyomboSoyombo scriptThe Soyombo script is an abugida developed by the Mongolian monk and scholar Bogdo Zanabazar in 1686 to write Mongolian.It can also be used to write Tibetan and Sanskrit....
, 17th century
- Soyombo
- PrachalitPrachalit Nepal scriptPrachalit Nepal script is a type of Abugida script developed from the Mol script derivatives of Brahmi Script. It is used to write Nepal Bhasa, Sanskrit and Pali. Various publications are still published in this script and a unicode character set has been purposed....
- Bhujimol
- MithilaksharMithilaksharTirhuta or Mithilakshar is the script traditionally used for the Maithili language, an Indo-European language spoken in the Indian state of Bihar, Jharkhand, parts of West Bengal and eastern Nepal...
, 15th century
- Anga Lipi
- Southern Brahmi (Tamil Brahmi, KalingaKalinga scriptKalinga script is one of many descendants of the ancient Brāhmī script used in territory of modern Orissa. The Kalinga script was used to write an ancient Dravidic language spoken in Kalinga state. It is derived from Brahmi and visually is very close to that ancient script...
, BhattiproluBhattiprolu ScriptThe Bhattiprolu script is a variant of the Brahmi script which has been found in old inscriptions at Bhattiprolu, a small village in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, South India...
), 7th century BCE- Proto Kannada, 4rd century BCE
- KadambaKadamba scriptThe Kadamba script marks the birth of a dedicated Kannada script that was used for Kannada language. It is a descendant of the Brahmi script. The Kadamba script was developed during the reign of the Kadambas in the 4th - 6th centuries. The Kadamba script is also known as Pre-Old-Kannada script...
or Pre-Old-KannadaHalegannadaProto-Kannada is said to have evolved after separating from its source around c. 1500 BCE, while its script evolved during Ashokan times around the 4th or 3rd century BCE from ancient Brahmi...
, 5th century
- Kadamba
- VatteluttuVatteluttuVatteluttu alphabet, also spelled Vattezhuttu alphabet is an abugida writing system originating from the Tamil people of Southern India...
- Grantha, 6th century
- Dhives AkuruDhives AkuruDivehi Akuru or Dhives Akuru is a script formerly used to write the Divehi language. This script was christened "Dives Akuru" by H. C. P...
- Kawi script, 8th century
- Batak, 14th century
- Dhives Akuru
- Proto Kannada, 4rd century BCE
- Tocharian scriptTocharian scriptThe Tocharian language is documented in manuscript fragments, mostly from the 8th century that were written on palm leaves, wooden tablets and Chinese paper, preserved by the extremely dry climate of the Tarim Basin...
("Slanting Brahmi"), 7th century - Ahom, 13th century
- Tai Tham (Lanna), 14th century
- Meeitei Mayek
Contemporary
| script | derivation | period of derivation | usage notes | ISO 15924 ISO 15924 ISO 15924, Codes for the representation of names of scripts, defines two sets of codes for a number of writing systems . Each script is given both a four-letter code and a numeric one.... |
Unicode range | sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anga Lipi Anga Lipi -Etymology & History:Anga referred to a region in what is now Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal states of India, and Lipi meant script.Anga Script is mentioned in an ancient Sanskrit language Buddhist book "Lalitvistar" , which says Anga Lipi was one of the most important scripts among 64 other scripts... |
Brahmi Brahmi Brāhmī is the modern name given to the oldest members of the Brahmic family of scripts. The best-known Brāhmī inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dated to the 3rd century BCE. These are traditionally considered to be early known examples of Brāhmī writing... |
6th century BCE | Angika Angika language Angika is an Indo-Iranian language of the Anga region of India, a 58,000 km² area approx. that falls within the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.... |
U+0900–U+097F | ||
| Balinese Balinese script The Balinese alphabet is an abugida that was used to write the Balinese language, an Austronesian language spoken by about three million people on the Indonesian island of Bali. The use of the Balinese script has mostly been replaced by the Roman alphabet. Although it is learned in school, few... |
Old Kawi Old Kawi Kawi is the name given to the writing system originating in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia in inscriptions and texts from the 8th century to around 1500 AD... |
11th century | Balinese language Balinese language Balinese or simply Bali is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by 3.3 million people on the Indonesian island of Bali, as well as northern Nusa Penida, western Lombok and eastern Java... |
Bali | U+1B00–U+1B7F | |
| Baybayin Baybayin Baybayin , is a pre-Spanish Philippine writing system. It is a member of the Brahmic family and is recorded as being in use in the 16th century... |
Old Kawi Old Kawi Kawi is the name given to the writing system originating in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia in inscriptions and texts from the 8th century to around 1500 AD... |
14th century | Tagalog Tagalog language Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila... , other Philippine languages Philippine languages The Philippine languages are a 1991 proposal by Robert Blust that all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi—except Sama–Bajaw and a few languages of Palawan—form a subfamily of Austronesian languages... |
Tglg | U+1700–U+171F | |
| Buhid Buhid script Buhid, is an indigenous Brahmic script of the Philippines, closely related to Baybayin, and is used today by the Mangyans to write their language, Buhid.- Unicode :Buhid script was added to the Unicode Standard in March, 2002 with the release of version 3.2.... |
Old Kawi Old Kawi Kawi is the name given to the writing system originating in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia in inscriptions and texts from the 8th century to around 1500 AD... |
14th century | Buhid language Buhid language The Buhid language is a language spoken by Mangyans in the province of Mindoro in the Philippines. It is divided into eastern and western dialects.It uses the Buhid script, which is encoded in the Unicode-Block Buhid .- External links :... |
Buhd | U+1740–U+175F | |
| Burmese | Vatteluttu Vatteluttu Vatteluttu alphabet, also spelled Vattezhuttu alphabet is an abugida writing system originating from the Tamil people of Southern India... |
11th century | Burmese language Burmese language The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as... , numerous modifications for other languages including Chakma, Eastern and Western Pwo Karen, Geba Karen, Kayah, Mon Mon language The Mon language is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Mon, who live in Burma and Thailand. Mon, like the related language Cambodian—but unlike most languages in Mainland Southeast Asia—is not tonal. Mon is spoken by more than a million people today. In recent years, usage of Mon has... , Rumai Palaung Palaung language Palaung is a Mon–Khmer language, or actually a dialect cluster, spoken by over half a million people in Burma and neighboring countries. There are three distinct varieties, Shwe , Ruching , and Rumai, each with their own dialects... , S'gaw Karen, Shan |
Mymr | U+1000–U+109F | |
| Cham | Vatteluttu Vatteluttu Vatteluttu alphabet, also spelled Vattezhuttu alphabet is an abugida writing system originating from the Tamil people of Southern India... |
8th century | Cham language Cham language Cham is the language of the Cham people of Southeast Asia, and formerly the language of the kingdom of Champa in central Vietnam. A member of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian family, it is spoken by 100,000 people in Vietnam and up to 220,000 people in Cambodia . There are also... |
Cham | U+AA00–U+AA5F | |
| Devanagari Devanagari Devanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal... |
Nagari | 13th century | Numerous Indo-Aryan languages Indo-Aryan languages The Indo-Aryan languages constitutes a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family... , including Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand... , Hindi Hindi Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi... , Marathi Marathi language Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most... , Nepali Nepali language Nepali or Nepalese is a language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family.It is the official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal and is also spoken in Bhutan, parts of India and parts of Myanmar... , Bhili Bhili language Bhili is a Western Indo-Aryan language spoken in west-central India, in the region east of Ahmedabad. Other names for the language include Bhagoria and Bhilboli; varieties are Wagdi and Garasia. Bhili is a member of the Bhil language family, which is related to Gujarati and the Rajasthani language... , Konkani Konkani language KonkaniKonkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north... , Angika Angika language Angika is an Indo-Iranian language of the Anga region of India, a 58,000 km² area approx. that falls within the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.... , Bhojpuri Bhojpuri language Bhojpuri is a language spoken in parts of north-central and eastern India. It is spoken in the western part of state of Bihar, the northwestern part of Jharkhand, and the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh , as well as adjoining parts of the Nepal Terai. Bhojpuri is also spoken in Guyana,... , Magahi, Maithili Maithili language Maithili language is spoken in the eastern region of India and South-eastern region of Nepal. The native speakers of Maithili reside in Bihar, Jharkhand,parts of West Bengal and South-east Nepal... , Kurukh Kurukh language Kurukh , also called Kurux, Kuṛux or Kuruḵẖ, is a Dravidian language spoken by the Oraon and Kisan tribal peoples of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and West Bengal, India, as well as in northern Bangladesh. It is most closely related to Brahui and Malto... , Nepal Bhasa Nepal Bhasa Nepal Bhasa is one of the major languages of Nepal, and is also spoken in India, particularly in Sikkim where it is one of the 11 official languages. Nepal Bhasa is the mother tongue of about 3% of the people in Nepal . It is spoken mainly by the Newars, who chiefly inhabit the towns of the... and sometimes Sindhi Sindhi language Sindhi is the language of the Sindh region of Pakistan that is spoken by the Sindhi people. In India, it is among 22 constitutionally recognized languages, where Sindhis are a sizeable minority. It is spoken by 53,410,910 people in Pakistan, according to the national government's Statistics Division... and Kashmiri Kashmiri language Kashmiri is a language from the Dardic sub-group and it is spoken primarily in the Kashmir Valley, in Jammu and Kashmir. There are approximately 5,554,496 speakers in Jammu and Kashmir, according to the Census of 2001. Most of the 105,000 speakers or so in Pakistan are émigrés from the Kashmir... . Formerly used to write Gujarati Gujarati language Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages... . Sometimes used to write or transliterate Sherpa Sherpa language Sherpa is a language spoken in parts of Nepal and Sikkim mainly by the Sherpa community. About 130,000 speakers live in Nepal , some 20,000 in India , and some 800 in Tibet .... |
Deva | U+0900–U+097F | |
| Eastern Nagari | Nagari | 11th century | Assamese language Assamese language Assamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in... (Assamese script Assamese script The Assamese script is a variant of the Eastern Nagari script also used for Bengali and Bishnupriya Manipuri. The Eastern Nagari script belongs to the Brahmic family of scripts and has a continuous history of development from Nagari script, a precursor of Devanagari... variant), Bengali language Bengali language Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script... (Bengali script Bengali script The Bengali alphabet is the writing system for the Bengali language. The script with variations is used for Assamese and is basis for Meitei, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Kokborok, Garo and Mundari alphabets. All these languages are spoken in the eastern region of South Asia. Historically, the script has... variant), Bishnupriya Manipuri |
Beng | U+0980–U+09FF | |
| Gujarati Gujarati script The Gujarati script , which like all Nāgarī writing systems is strictly speaking an abugida rather than an alphabet, is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages... |
Nagari | 17th century | Gujarati language Gujarati language Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages... , Kutchi language Kutchi language Kachhi Kachhi Kachhi (also spelt Cutchi, Kutchhi or Kachchhi, is an Indo-Aryan Language spoken in the Kutch region of the Indian state of Gujarat as well as in Sindh.- Closely related languages :... |
Gujr | U+0A80–U+0AFF | |
| Gurmukhi Gurmukhi script Gurmukhi is the most common script used for writing the Punjabi language. An abugida derived from the Laṇḍā script and ultimately descended from Brahmi, Gurmukhi was standardized by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad Dev Ji, in the 16th century. The whole of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji's 1430... |
Sharada | 16th century | Punjabi language Punjabi language Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language... |
Guru | U+0A00–U+0A7F | |
| Hanunó'o | Old Kawi Old Kawi Kawi is the name given to the writing system originating in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia in inscriptions and texts from the 8th century to around 1500 AD... |
14th century | Hanuno'o language | Hano | U+1720–U+173F | |
| Javanese Javanese script The Javanese alphabet, natively known as Hanacaraka or Carakan , known by the Sundanese people as Cacarakan is the pre-colonial script used to write the Javanese language.... |
Old Kawi Old Kawi Kawi is the name given to the writing system originating in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia in inscriptions and texts from the 8th century to around 1500 AD... |
16th century | Javanese language Javanese language Javanese language is the language of the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. In addition, there are also some pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of western Java... |
Java | U+A980–U+A9DF | |
| Kannada Kannada script The Kannada script is an alphasyllabary of the Brahmic family, used primarily to write the Kannada language, one of the Dravidian languages of southern India and also Sanskrit in the past. The Telugu script is derived from Old Kannada, and resembles Kannada script... |
Kadamba Kadamba script The Kadamba script marks the birth of a dedicated Kannada script that was used for Kannada language. It is a descendant of the Brahmi script. The Kadamba script was developed during the reign of the Kadambas in the 4th - 6th centuries. The Kadamba script is also known as Pre-Old-Kannada script... |
12th century | Kannada language Kannada language Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world... , others |
Knda | U+0C80–U+0CFF | |
| Khmer Khmer script The Khmer script is an alphasyllabary script used to write the Khmer language . It is also used to write Pali among the Buddhist liturgy of Cambodia and Thailand.... |
Vatteluttu Vatteluttu Vatteluttu alphabet, also spelled Vattezhuttu alphabet is an abugida writing system originating from the Tamil people of Southern India... |
11th century | Khmer language Khmer language Khmer , or Cambodian, is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. It is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language , with speakers in the tens of millions. Khmer has been considerably influenced by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious... |
Khmr | U+1780–U+17FF, U+19E0–U+19FF | |
| Lao | Khmer Khmer script The Khmer script is an alphasyllabary script used to write the Khmer language . It is also used to write Pali among the Buddhist liturgy of Cambodia and Thailand.... |
14th century | Lao language Lao language Lao or Laotian is a tonal language of the Tai–Kadai language family. It is the official language of Laos, and also spoken in the northeast of Thailand, where it is usually referred to as the Isan language. Being the primary language of the Lao people, Lao is also an important second language for... , others |
Laoo | U+0E80–U+0EFF | |
| Lepcha Lepcha script The Lepcha script, or Róng script is an abugida used by the Lepcha people to write the Lepcha language. Unusually for an abugida, syllable-final consonants are written as diacritics.-History:... |
Tibetan Tibetan script The Tibetan alphabet is an abugida of Indic origin used to write the Tibetan language as well as the Dzongkha language, Denzongkha, Ladakhi language and sometimes the Balti language. The printed form of the alphabet is called uchen script while the hand-written cursive form used in everyday... |
18th century | Lepcha language Lepcha language Lepcha language, or Róng language , is a Himalayish language spoken by the Lepcha people in Sikkim and parts of West Bengal, Nepal and Bhutan.-Population:... |
Lepc | U+1C00–U+1C4F | |
| Limbu Limbu script The Limbu script is used to write the Limbu language. The Limbu script is an abugida derived from the Tibetan script.-History:According to traditional histories, the Limbu script was first invented in the late 9th century by King Sirijonga Haang, then fell out of use, to be reintroduced in the 18th... |
Lepcha Lepcha script The Lepcha script, or Róng script is an abugida used by the Lepcha people to write the Lepcha language. Unusually for an abugida, syllable-final consonants are written as diacritics.-History:... |
18th century | Limbu language Limbu language Limbu is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Kashmir and Darjeeling district, West Bengal, India, by the Limbu community. Virtually all Limbus are bilingual in Nepali.... |
Limb | U+1900–U+194F | |
| Lontara Lontara script The Lontara script is some sort of moon speak traditionally used for the Bugis language, Makassarese language, and Mandar languages of Sulawesi in modern Indonesia. It is also known as the Buginese script. It was largely replaced by the Latin alphabet during the period of Dutch colonization... |
Old Kawi Old Kawi Kawi is the name given to the writing system originating in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia in inscriptions and texts from the 8th century to around 1500 AD... |
17th century | Buginese language Buginese language Buginese is the language spoken by about four million people mainly in the southern part of Sulawesi, Indonesia.-History:The word Buginese derives from the word Bahasa Bugis in Malay. In Buginese, it is called while the Bugis people are called... , others; mostly extinct, restricted to ceremonial use |
Bugi | U+1A00–U+1A1F | |
| Malayalam Malayalam script The Malayalam script is a Brahmic script used commonly to write the Malayalam language—which is the principal language of the Indian state of Kerala, spoken by 36 million people in the world. Like many other Indic scripts, it is an abugida, or a writing system that is partially “alphabetic” and... |
Grantha | 12th century | Malayalam language Malayalam language Malayalam , is one of the four major Dravidian languages of southern India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India with official language status in the state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry. It is spoken by 35.9 million people... , Konkani language Konkani language KonkaniKonkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north... |
Mlym | U+0D00–U+0D7F | |
| Oriya Oriya script The Oriya script or Utkala Lipi or Utkalakshara is used to write the Oriya language, and can be used for several other Indian languages, for example, Sanskrit.- History :... |
Kalinga Kalinga script Kalinga script is one of many descendants of the ancient Brāhmī script used in territory of modern Orissa. The Kalinga script was used to write an ancient Dravidic language spoken in Kalinga state. It is derived from Brahmi and visually is very close to that ancient script... |
10th century | Oriya language Oriya language Oriya , officially Odia from November, 2011, is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian states of Orissa and West Bengal... |
Orya | U+0B00–U+0B7F | |
| Rejang script Rejang script The Rejang script, sometimes spelt Redjang and locally known as Surat Ulu , is an abugida of the Brahmic family, and is related to other scripts of the region, like Batak, Buginese, and others. Rejang is a member of the closely related group of Surat Ulu scripts that include the script variants of... |
Old Kawi Old Kawi Kawi is the name given to the writing system originating in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia in inscriptions and texts from the 8th century to around 1500 AD... |
18th century | Rejang language Rejang language Rejang is spoken by the Rejang people in Bengkulu, Indonesia. It is a Malayo-Polynesian language but has not been further classified. It has five major dialects... , mostly obsolete |
Rjng | U+A930–U+A95F | |
| Saurashtra Saurashtra script Saurashtra is a script used to write the Saurashtra language. Its usage has declined and Tamil script and Latin are now used more commonly.The Saurashtra Language is written in its own script. Because this is a minority language not taught in schools, people learn to write in Sourashtra Script... |
Grantha | 20th century | Saurashtra language Saurashtra language Sourashtra or "Sourashtras" or ꢱꣃꢬꢵꢰ꣄ꢜ꣄ꢬꢵ refers to a community of people who had their original homes in Gujarat and presently settled almost in all major Towns of Tamil Nadu and are concentrated more in Madurai which is considered as their cultural Headquarters.They have also settled in... , mostly obsolete |
Saur | U+A880–U+A8DF | |
| Sinhala | Grantha | 12th century | Sinhala language | Sinh | U+0D80–U+0DFF | |
| Sundanese script Sundanese script Sundanese script Sundanese script Sundanese script (Aksara Sunda, is a writing system which is used by some Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (Aksara Sunda Kuna) which was used by ancientSundanese between 14th and 18th centuries.... |
Old Kawi Old Kawi Kawi is the name given to the writing system originating in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia in inscriptions and texts from the 8th century to around 1500 AD... |
14th century | Sundanese language Sundanese language Sundanese is the language of about 27 million people from the western third of Java or about 15% of the Indonesian population.... |
Sund | U+1B80–U+1BBF | |
| Tai Le Tai Le script Tai Le is the name of Tai Nüa script, the script used for the Tai Nüa language, given by Microsoft.-Unicode:Tai Le script was added to the Unicode Standard in April, 2003 with the release of version 4.0.... |
Tai Lü language Tai Lü language Tai Lü is a language spoken by about 670,000 people in South East Asia. This includes 250,000 people in China, 200,000 in Burma, 134,000 in Thailand, and 5,000 in Vietnam... |
Tale | U+1950–U+197F | |||
| New Tai Lue New Tai Lue New Tai Lue script, also known as Simplified Tai Lue, is an alphabet used to write the Tai Lü language. Developed in China in the 1950s, New Tai Lue is based on the traditional Tai Lue script developed ca. 1200 AD... |
Tai Tham | 1950s | Tai Lü language Tai Lü language Tai Lü is a language spoken by about 670,000 people in South East Asia. This includes 250,000 people in China, 200,000 in Burma, 134,000 in Thailand, and 5,000 in Vietnam... |
Talu | U+1980-U+19DF | |
| Tagbanwa | Old Kawi Old Kawi Kawi is the name given to the writing system originating in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia in inscriptions and texts from the 8th century to around 1500 AD... |
14th century | various languages of Palawan Palawan Palawan is an island province of the Philippines located in the MIMAROPA region or Region 4. Its capital is Puerto Princesa City, and it is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of jurisdiction. The islands of Palawan stretch from Mindoro in the northeast to Borneo in the... , nearly extinct |
Tagb | U+1760–U+177F | |
| Tamil Tamil script The Tamil script is a script that is used to write the Tamil language as well as other minority languages such as Badaga, Irulas, and Paniya... |
Vatteluttu Vatteluttu Vatteluttu alphabet, also spelled Vattezhuttu alphabet is an abugida writing system originating from the Tamil people of Southern India... |
8th century | Tamil language Tamil language Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore... |
Taml | U+0B80–U+0BFF | |
| Telugu Telugu script Telugu script, an abugida from the Brahmic family of scripts, is used to write the Telugu language, a language found in the South-Central Indian state of Andhra Pradesh as well as several other neighboring states. The Telugu script is derived from the Bhattiprolu script... |
Old Kannada | 13th century | Telugu language Telugu language Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu... |
Telu | U+0C01–U+0C6F | |
| Thai Thai alphabet Thai script , is used to write the Thai language and other, minority, languages in Thailand. It has forty-four consonants , fifteen vowel symbols that combine into at least twenty-eight vowel forms, and four tone marks .... |
Khmer Khmer script The Khmer script is an alphasyllabary script used to write the Khmer language . It is also used to write Pali among the Buddhist liturgy of Cambodia and Thailand.... |
13th century | Thai language Thai language Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively... |
Thai | U+0E00–U+0E7F | |
| Tibetan Tibetan script The Tibetan alphabet is an abugida of Indic origin used to write the Tibetan language as well as the Dzongkha language, Denzongkha, Ladakhi language and sometimes the Balti language. The printed form of the alphabet is called uchen script while the hand-written cursive form used in everyday... |
Siddham | 8th century | Tibetan language Tibetan language The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,... , Dzongkha language Dzongkha language Dzongkha , occasionally Ngalopkha, is the national language of Bhutan. The word "dzongkha" means the language spoken in the dzong, – dzong being the fortress-like monasteries established throughout Bhutan by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in the 17th century."Bhutani" is not another name for... , Ladakhi language Ladakhi language The Ladakhi language , now also called Bhoti, and by linguists more generally called Western Archaic Tibetan when the Balti and Burig or Purig or Purki dialects are included, is the predominant language in the Ladakh region of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India, and is also spoken in Baltistan... |
Tibt | U+0F00–U+0FFF | |
| Tai Viet | Tai Dam language Tai Dam language Tai Dam Black Tai is a Tai language spoken by the Tai Dam in Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and China . It is called ภาษาไทดำ "Black Tai language" in Thai and Dǎidānyǔ 傣担语 in Chinese.... |
Tavt | U+AA80–U+AADF |
See also
- ISCIIISCIIIndian Standard Code for Information Interchange is a coding scheme for representing various writing systems of India. It encodes the main Indic scripts and a Roman transliteration. The supported scripts are: Assamese, Bengali , Devanagari, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya , Tamil,...
— the coding scheme specifically designed to represent Indic scripts - Indus scriptIndus scriptThe term Indus script refers to short strings of symbols associated with the Indus Valley Civilization, in use during the Early Harappan and Mature Harappan period, between the 35th and 20th centuries BC. In spite of many attempts at decipherments and claims, it is as yet undeciphered...
— the earliest writing system on the Indian subcontinent - Devanagari transliterationDevanagari transliterationThere are several methods of transliteration from Devanāgarī to the Roman script, which is a process also known as Romanization in the Indian subcontinent...
- International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration
- National Library at Kolkata romanizationNational Library at Kolkata romanizationThe National Library at Kolkata romanization is the most widely used transliteration scheme in dictionaries and grammars of Indic languages. This transliteration scheme is also known as Library of Congress and is nearly identical to one of the possible ISO 15919 variants.The tables below mostly use...
External links
- Online Tool which supports Conversion between various Brahmic Scripts
- Windows Indic Script Support
- An Introduction to Indic Scripts
- South Asian Writing Systems
- Indian Transliterator A means to transliterate from romanized to Unicode Indian scripts.
- Imperial Brahmi Font and Text-Editor
- Brahmi Script
- IndiX: Indian Language support for the Linux Operating System
- Xlit: Tool for Transliteration between English and Indian Languages
- Padma: Transformer for Indic Scripts – a Firefox add-on