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Name↕ | Name of script↕ | Type↕ | Population actively using (in millions)↕ | Languages associated with↕ | Regions using script de facto↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Latin Latin | Latin Latin | Alphabet | 4900+ | Latin and Romance languages (languages that evolved from Latin: Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Romanian) Germanic languages (English, Dutch, German, Nordic languages)Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish and Scottish Gaelic)Baltic languages (Latvian and Lithuanian)Some Slavic languages (Polish, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Slovenian) Albanian Uralic languages (Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian) Malayo-Polynesian languages (Malaysian, Indonesian, Filipino, etc.) MalteseTurkic languages (Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Turkmen) Some Cushitic languages (Somali, Afar, Oromo) Bantu languages (for example: Swahili) Vietnamese (an Austroasiatic language) others | Worldwide |
Chinese 汉字 漢字 | Chinese 汉字 漢字 | Logographic | 1,541 | Sinitic languages (Mandarin, Min, Wu, Yue, Jin, Gan, Hakka and others)Japanese (Kanji) Korean (Hanja) Vietnamese (Chữ Nôm obsolete) Zhuang (Sawndip) | Eastern Asia, Singapore |
Arabic العربية | Arabic العربية | Abjad or Abugida (when diacritics are used) | 828 | Arabic (a Semitic language)Several Indo-Iranian languages (Persian, Kurdish, Urdu, Punjabi (Shahmukhi in Pakistan), Pashto, Sindhi, Balochi, Kashmiri)Some Turkic languages (Uyghur, Kazakh (in China), Azeri (in Iran))Malay (in Brunei)others | Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Libya, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen |
Devanagari देवनागरी | Devanagari देवनागरी | Abugida | 480.5 | Indo-Aryan languages (Bhojpuri, Hindi, Kashmiri, Marathi, Nepali, Sanskrit and many more)Tibeto-Burman languages (Bodo, Newar, Sherpa) | India, Nepal and Fiji |
Cyrillic Кирилица | Cyrillic Кирилица | Alphabet | 350 | Many Slavic languages (Bulgarian and Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, others). Non-Slavic languages of the former Soviet Union, such as West- and East Caucasian languages (Abkhaz, Chechen, Avar, others), Uralic languages (Karelian, others), Iranian languages (Ossetic, Tajik, others) and Turkic language (Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Azeri (formerly), Uzbek (unofficially) and others), Mongolic languages (Mongolian). | Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan |
Bengali-Assamese বাংলা | Bengali-Assamese বাংলা | Abugida | 300 | Bengali, Assamese, Meitei, Bishnupriya Manipuri | Bangladesh and India |
Kana かな カナ | Kana かな カナ | Syllabary | 123 | Japanese, Ryukyuan languages, Hachijō, Ainu, Palauan | Japan |
Baybayin ᜊᜌ᜔ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜔ | Baybayin ᜊᜌ᜔ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜔ | Abugida | unknown | Filipino | Philippines |
Telugu తెలుగు | Telugu తెలుగు | Abugida | 83 | Telugu | India |
Hangul 한글 조선글 | Hangul 한글 조선글 | Alphabet, featural | 81.7 | Korean, Cia-Cia (an Austronesian language) | North Korea and South Korea, Indonesia |
Tamil தமிழ் | Tamil தமிழ் | Abugida | 78.6 | Tamil | India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia |
Thai ไทย | Thai ไทย | Abugida | 70 | Thai | Thailand |
Javanese ꦲꦏ꧀ꦱꦫꦗꦮ | Javanese ꦲꦏ꧀ꦱꦫꦗꦮ | Abugida | 68 | Javanese,Madurese | Indonesia |
Gujarati ગુજરાતી | Gujarati ગુજરાતી | Abugida | 57.1 | Gujarati | India |
Kannada ಕನ್ನಡ | Kannada ಕನ್ನಡ | Abugida | 45 | Kannada (a Dravidian language) | India |
Geʽez ግዕዝ | Geʽez ግዕዝ | Abugida | 41.85 | Amharic, Tigrinya | Ethiopia, Eritrea |
Burmese မြန်မာ | Burmese မြန်မာ | Abugida | 39 | Burmese (a Lolo-Burmese language) | Myanmar |
Malayalam മലയാളം | Malayalam മലയാളം | Abugida | 38 | Malayalam | India |
Adlam 𞤀𞤣𞤤𞤢𞤥 | Adlam 𞤀𞤣𞤤𞤢𞤥 | Alphabet | 37 | Fula | Guinea |
Odia ଓଡ଼ିଆ | Odia ଓଡ଼ିଆ | Abugida | 35 | Odia | India |
Gurmukhi ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ | Gurmukhi ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ | Abugida | 33.12 | Punjabi | India |
Sundanese ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ | Sundanese ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ | Abugida | 32 | Sundanese | Indonesia |
Sinhala සිංහල | Sinhala සිංහල | Abugida | 16 | Sinhalese | Sri Lanka |
Khmer ខ្មែរ | Khmer ខ្មែរ | Abugida | 16 | Khmer | Cambodia |
Greek Ελληνικά | Greek Ελληνικά | Alphabet | 13.5 | Greek | Greece, Cyprus |
Coptic ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ | Coptic ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ | Alphabet | unknown | Coptic | Egypt |
Hebrew עברית | Hebrew עברית | Abjad, Abugida (when diacritics are used) or Alphabet (when used for Yiddish) | 9.3 | Hebrew, Yiddish | Israel |
N'Ko ߒߞߏ | N'Ko ߒߞߏ | Alphabet | 9.1 | N'Ko and other Manding languages | Guinea |
Ol Chiki ᱚᱞ ᱪᱤᱠᱤ | Ol Chiki ᱚᱞ ᱪᱤᱠᱤ | Alphabet | 7.3 | Santali | India |
Lao ລາວ | Lao ລາວ | Abugida | 7 | Lao (a Tai language) | Laos |
Tibetan བོད་ | Tibetan བོད་ | Abugida | 6.24 | Dzongkha, Tibetan and Sikkimese | China, Bhutan, India |
Armenian Հայոց | Armenian Հայոց | Alphabet | 5.4 | Armenian | Armenia |
Tifinagh ⵜⵉⴼⵉⵏⴰⵖ | Tifinagh ⵜⵉⴼⵉⵏⴰⵖ | Abjad | 5.3 | Berber languages | North Africa |
Mongolian ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ | Mongolian ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ | Alphabet | 5.2 | Mongolian | Mongolia, China |
Syriac ܣܘܪܝܝܐ | Syriac ܣܘܪܝܝܐ | Abjad | 4.8 | Syriac | Syria |
Lontara ᨒᨚᨈᨑ | Lontara ᨒᨚᨈᨑ | Abugida | 4 | Buginese | Indonesia |
Georgian ქართული | Georgian ქართული | Alphabet | 3.7 | Georgian, Mingrelian, Laz, Svan | Georgia |
Balinese ᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭᬩᬮᬶ | Balinese ᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭᬩᬮᬶ | Abugida | 3.3 | Balinese | Indonesia |
Hanifi Rohingya 𐴌𐴗𐴥𐴝𐴙𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝 | Hanifi Rohingya 𐴌𐴗𐴥𐴝𐴙𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝 | Abjad | 3.2 | Rohingya | Bangladesh,Myanmar |
Meitei ꯃꯩꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ | Meitei ꯃꯩꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ | Abugida | 2 | Meitei (officially termed as "Manipuri") (a Sino-Tibetan language) | India |
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