Fonts : Unicode Fonts : by writing system

The project is permanently beta and under construction.
These are primarily Windows, Linux/Unix and Mac OS unicode fonts, although some may work on other platforms.
Note that this list is categorized by writing system. For example, you'll find both IPA and Vietnamese under "Latin", but Japanese under "Japanese".
  • Aegean scripts
    • Cypriot Syllabary (test page)  + Show- Hide
      The Cypriot syllabary was used on the island of Cyprus from about 800 to 200 BCE, primarily to write the local dialect of Greek. It was written from right to left and seems to be derived from Cypro-Minoan scripts.
    • Linear B Ideograms (test page)  + Show- Hide
      Most Linear B texts are accounting records from around 1550-1200 BCE. They are the oldest recorded form of Greek and were found on the island of Crete and the nearby mainland. Linear B is split into three Unicode blocks: Linear B Syllabary, Linear B Ideograms, and Aegean Numbers.
      Linear B "ideograms" are non-phonetic signs (some of them pictograms) used mainly to identify commodities.
    • Linear B Syllabary (test page)  + Show- Hide
      Most Linear B texts are accounting records from around 1550-1200 BCE. They are the oldest recorded form of Greek and were found on the island of Crete and the nearby mainland. Linear B is split into three Unicode blocks: Linear B Syllabary, Linear B Ideograms, and Aegean Numbers.
    • Phaistos  + Show- Hide
      The Phaistos script consists of the symbols found on a clay disk during a 1908 archaeological excavation in Phaistos, Crete. The disk is referred to as the "Phaistos Disk" and has been dated to 1700 BCE. It is the only known example of this writing and remains undeciphered.
      Phaistos is not part of the Unicode Standard. However the ConScript Unicode Registry (CSUR) has defined a range of the Unicode Private Use Area for Phaistos. CSUR coordinates artificial/constructed scripts (mostly), which facilitates font development and interoperability.
      Note that the Phaistos Disk script is proposed for inclusion in Unicode 5.1 based on N3066.
  • Akkadian Cuneiform: See Cuneiform
  • Arabic script, including adaptations (ARABIC, ARABIC SUPPLEMENT, ARABIC PRESENTATION FORMS-A/B)
    • Arabic, Ajami, Berber, Comorian, Jawi, ... (test page) (example)  + Show- Hide
      Arabic Script
      Arabic script is a cursive writing system used for the Arabic language. Over the centuries it has been adapted to write a large number of other languages. Some of these languages employ additional or modified letters. Specific font pages are provided for those that differ significantly: Kurdish, Pashto, Persian, Sindhi, Uighur, and Urdu.
      Arabic script is written from right-to-left but numbers are written from left-to-right. Numerals vary by language and Unicode has set aside two ranges for Arabic script numbers: "Arabic-Indic digits" (U+0660 - U+0669) for use with the Arabic language and "Eastern Arabic-Indic digits" (U+06F0 - U+06F9) for use with all other languages that employ Arabic script.
      Since Arabic script is cursive, the appearance of a letter changes depending on its context/position: isolated, initial (joined on the left), medial (joined on both sides), and final (joined on the right). Arabic codepoints in the U+0600 - U+06FF range represent all of the letters without regard to their position. It is up to the font to show the letter with the proper appearance. For compatibility with existing standards, Unicode also defined codepoints with explicit positions for most letters (ARABIC PRESENTATION FORMS-A & -B), although use of these characters is discouraged. Likewise, explicit ligatures are also encoded in the PRESENTATION blocks.
      Arabic Supplement block
      Unicode version 4.1.0 added the Arabic Supplement block (U+0750 - U+077F) which contains additional, extended Arabic letters mainly for languages used in Northern and Western Africa (such as Fulfulde, Hausa, Songhoy and Wolof). On Windows, a new version of the Uniscribe engine (usp10.dll) is required for the Arabic Supplement letters to join properly. Refer to SIL's "Replacing your Uniscribe dll" page.
      Assume the fonts shown here do not support the Arabic Supplement block unless it is noted in the font's "Support" line.
      Berber
      Berber languages are spoken across North Africa and include Kabyle, Tamajeq, Tamasheq, and Tamazight. They are written in a variety of ways: Arabic script, Tifinagh, and the Latin alphabet.
      Assume the fonts shown here do not support Berber unless it is specifically noted along with Arabic script in the Support line.
      Also, because the alphabets vary between Berber languages, a font noted as supporting "Berber" may or may not have all of the letters for a specific language.
      Comorian
      Comorian is written in both the Latin alphabet and Arabic script.
      Assume the fonts shown here do not support Comorian unless it is specifically noted along with Arabic script in the Support line.
      Hausa Ajami
      Hausa is usually written with the Latin alphabet. Prior to the 20th century a version of Arabic script called "Ajami" was used. Ajami is still occasionally used for Hausa and other languages.
      Assume the fonts shown here do not support Hausa Ajami unless "Ajami" is noted along with Arabic script in the Support line.
      Also, because Ajami has never been standardized, a font noted as supporting "Ajami" may or may not have all of the letters for a specific language.
      Malaysian Jawi
      Malay is usually written with the Latin alphabet. Prior to the 20th century a version of Arabic script called "Jawi" was used. In some places it is still used.
      Assume the fonts shown here do not support Malaysian Jawi unless "Jawi" is noted along with Arabic script in the Support line.
    • Kurdish  + Show- Hide
      Kurdish (Kurdi, Kurmanji, and various dialects) is used in parts of Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Syria, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. It is generally written with a form of Arabic script in Iran, Iraq, and Syria. The Latin alphabet is used in Turkey while the Cyrillic alphabet is used in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Omniglot has a nice chart comparing Kurdish letters in those three writing systems.
      This page covers only those fonts that support Kurdish using Arabic script. Several letters specific to Kurdish were added to the Persian script, which itself is an adaptation of Arabic script.
      Arabic script is written from right-to-left but numbers are written from left-to-right. Numerals vary by language and Unicode has set aside two ranges for Arabic script numbers: "Arabic-Indic digits" (U+0660 - U+0669) for use with the Arabic language and "Eastern Arabic-Indic digits" (U+06F0 - U+06F9) for use with all other languages that employ Arabic script.
      Since Arabic script is cursive, the appearance of a letter changes depending on its context/position: isolated, initial (joined on the left), medial (joined on both sides), and final (joined on the right). Arabic codepoints in the U+0600 - U+06FF range represent all of the letters without regard to their position. It is up to the font to show the letter with the proper appearance. For compatibility with existing standards, Unicode also defined codepoints with explicit positions for most letters (ARABIC PRESENTATION FORMS-A & -B), although use of these characters is discouraged. Likewise, explicit ligatures are also encoded in the PRESENTATION blocks.
    • Pashto  + Show- Hide
      The Pashto language (also known as Pashtu) is used in parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and a handful of other countries. It is written using a form of Arabic script.
      Several letters specific to Pashto were added to the Persian script, which itself is an adaptation of Arabic script.
      Arabic script is written from right-to-left but numbers are written from left-to-right. Numerals vary by language and Unicode has set aside two ranges for Arabic script numbers: "Arabic-Indic digits" (U+0660 - U+0669) for use with the Arabic language and "Eastern Arabic-Indic digits" (U+06F0 - U+06F9) for use with all other languages that employ Arabic script.
      Since Arabic script is cursive, the appearance of a letter changes depending on its context/position: isolated, initial (joined on the left), medial (joined on both sides), and final (joined on the right). Arabic codepoints in the U+0600 - U+06FF range represent all of the letters without regard to their position. It is up to the font to show the letter with the proper appearance. For compatibility with existing standards, Unicode also defined codepoints with explicit positions for most letters (ARABIC PRESENTATION FORMS-A & -B), although use of these characters is discouraged. Likewise, explicit ligatures are also encoded in the PRESENTATION blocks.
    • Persian, Azeri, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Uzbek, ...  + Show- Hide
      Persian Script
      Persian script is an adaptation of Arabic script. It has been adapted to write many additional languages. There's a separate page for Urdu script was adapted from Persian.
      Arabic script is written from right-to-left but numbers are written from left-to-right. Numerals vary by language and Unicode has set aside two ranges for Arabic script numbers: "Arabic-Indic digits" (U+0660 - U+0669) for use with the Arabic language and "Eastern Arabic-Indic digits" (U+06F0 - U+06F9) for use with all other languages that employ Arabic script.
      Since Arabic script is cursive, the appearance of a letter changes depending on its context/position: isolated, initial (joined on the left), medial (joined on both sides), and final (joined on the right). Arabic codepoints in the U+0600 - U+06FF range represent all of the letters without regard to their position. It is up to the font to show the letter with the proper appearance. For compatibility with existing standards, Unicode also defined codepoints with explicit positions for most letters (ARABIC PRESENTATION FORMS-A & -B), although use of these characters is discouraged. Likewise, explicit ligatures are also encoded in the PRESENTATION blocks.
      Arabic Supplement block
      Unicode version 4.1.0 added the Arabic Supplement block (U+0750 - U+077F) which contains additional, extended Arabic letters mainly for languages used in Northern and Western Africa (such as Fulfulde, Hausa, Songhoy and Wolof). On Windows, a new version of the Uniscribe engine (usp10.dll) is required for the Arabic Supplement letters to join properly. Refer to SIL's "Replacing your Uniscribe dll" page.
      Assume the fonts shown here do not support the Arabic Supplement block unless it is noted in the font's "Support" line.
      Persian
      The Persian/Farsi language is used in parts of Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and a large number of other countries. All of the fonts on this page will, at a minimum, support Persian/Farsi.
      Azeri, Kazakh, Kirghiz, and Uzbek
      All of these languages have used Persian script, the Cyrillic alphabet, and the Latin alphabet at some point.
      Depending on geographic location, Persian script with added letters is still used.
      Assume the fonts shown here do not support a given language unless it is specifically noted along with Arabic script in the Support line.
      Tajiki and Dari
      It appears that no additional letters are required for these languages.
    • Sindhi & Parkari  + Show- Hide
      Sindhi
      The Sindhi language is used in parts of Pakistan and India. Sindhi is one of India's "official" languages. It is generally written using a form of Arabic script although Devanagari script is often used by Hindus. This page covers only those fonts that support Sindhi using Arabic script.
      Several letters specific to Sindhi were added to the Urdu script, which itself is an adaptation of Persian and Arabic scripts.
      Arabic script is written from right-to-left but numbers are written from left-to-right. Numerals vary by language and Unicode has set aside two ranges for Arabic script numbers: "Arabic-Indic digits" (U+0660 - U+0669) for use with the Arabic language and "Eastern Arabic-Indic digits" (U+06F0 - U+06F9) for use with all other languages that employ Arabic script.
      Since Arabic script is cursive, the appearance of a letter changes depending on its context/position: isolated, initial (joined on the left), medial (joined on both sides), and final (joined on the right). Arabic codepoints in the U+0600 - U+06FF range represent all of the letters without regard to their position. It is up to the font to show the letter with the proper appearance. For compatibility with existing standards, Unicode also defined codepoints with explicit positions for most letters (ARABIC PRESENTATION FORMS-A & -B), although use of these characters is discouraged. Likewise, explicit ligatures are also encoded in the PRESENTATION blocks.
      Parkari
      The Parkari language is used in parts of Pakistan and utilizes the same script as Sinhdi with the addition of three letters. These letters were added with Unicode version 4.0, so very few fonts support them. Assume the font does not include the Parkari-specific letters unless Parkari is noted along with Arabic script in the Support line. The samples here do not use any of the Parkari-specific letters.
    • Uighur  + Show- Hide
      The Uighur (or Uyghur) language is used in parts of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and a large number of other countries. It is primarily written using a form of Arabic script, although the Cyrillic alphabet is used in parts of the former Soviet Union.
      Several letters specific to Uighur were added to the Persian script, which itself is an adaptation of Arabic script.
      Arabic script is written from right-to-left.
      Since Arabic script is cursive, the appearance of a letter changes depending on its context/position: isolated, initial (joined on the left), medial (joined on both sides), and final (joined on the right). Arabic codepoints in the U+0600 - U+06FF range represent all of the letters without regard to their position. It is up to the font to show the letter with the proper appearance.
      For compatibility with existing standards, Unicode also defined codepoints with explicit positions for most letters (ARABIC PRESENTATION FORMS-A & -B), although use of these characters is discouraged. Likewise, explicit ligatures are also encoded in the PRESENTATION blocks.
    • Urdu, Baluchi, Brahui, Kashmiri, Lahnda, Shahmukhi, ...  + Show- Hide
      Urdu Script
      Several letters specific to Urdu were added to the Persian script, which itself is an adaptation of Arabic script.
      In time, letters for additional languages were added to Urdu script.
      Arabic script is written from right-to-left but numbers are written from left-to-right. Numerals vary by language and Unicode has set aside two ranges for Arabic script numbers: "Arabic-Indic digits" (U+0660 - U+0669) for use with the Arabic language and "Eastern Arabic-Indic digits" (U+06F0 - U+06F9) for use with all other languages that employ Arabic script.
      Since Arabic script is cursive, the appearance of a letter changes depending on its context/position: isolated, initial (joined on the left), medial (joined on both sides), and final (joined on the right). Arabic codepoints in the U+0600 - U+06FF range represent all of the letters without regard to their position. It is up to the font to show the letter with the proper appearance. For compatibility with existing standards, Unicode also defined codepoints with explicit positions for most letters (ARABIC PRESENTATION FORMS-A & -B), although use of these characters is discouraged. Likewise, explicit ligatures are also encoded in the PRESENTATION blocks.
      Arabic Supplement block
      Unicode version 4.1.0 added the Arabic Supplement block (U+0750 - U+077F) which contains additional, extended Arabic letters mainly for languages used in Northern and Western Africa (such as Fulfulde, Hausa, Songhoy and Wolof). On Windows, a new version of the Uniscribe engine (usp10.dll) is required for the Arabic Supplement letters to join properly. Refer to SIL's "Replacing your Uniscribe dll" page.
      Assume the fonts shown here do not support the Arabic Supplement block unless it is noted in the font's "Support" line.
      Urdu
      The Urdu language is used in Pakistan and parts of India and other countries. It is one of India's "official" languages. It is also the state language of Jammu & Kashmir, India, although Kashmiri is more widely used. All of the fonts on this page will, at a minimum, support Urdu
      Balochi / Baluchi
      The Balochi language is used in parts of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. It is written using Urdu script with added letters. (It is sometimes written using the Latin alphabet.) Assume the fonts shown here do not support Balochi unless it is specifically noted along with Arabic script in the Support line.
      Brahui
      The Brahui language is used in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is seldom written, but in Pakistan Urdu script is used with one added letter (U+06B7). Assume the fonts shown here do not support Brahui unless it is specifically noted along with Arabic script in the Support line.
      Kashmiri
      Kashmiri is one of India's "official" languages. The Kashmiri language was traditionally written using the Brahmi-derived Sharada script but is now usually written using either the Urdu script with added letters or Devanagari. Assume the fonts shown here do not support Kashmiri unless it is specifically noted along with Arabic script in the Support line.
      Lahnda / Seraiki
      Lahnda / Seraiki is spoken in parts of Pakistan and India. Hindus generally write it with the Lahnda script, which has not yet been encoded in Unicode. Muslims generally write it using Urdu script with added letters. Note that two alternate letters, U+0759 and U+0768, are in Unicode's "Arabic Supplement" block. See the notes above about this block and its Uniscribe requirements.
      Assume the fonts shown here do not support Lahnda / Seraiki unless "Lahnda" is specifically noted along with Arabic script in the Support line. And assume the font does not support U+0759 and U+0768 unless the Support line also notes the Arabic Supplement block.
      Punjabi Shahmukhi
      Shahmukhi is a version of Persian script similar to Urdu that is used to write Punjabi in Pakistan. Gurmukhi script is used for writing Punjabi in India, especially by Sikhs. Assume the fonts shown here do not support Punjabi Shahmukhi unless "Shahmukhi" is noted along with Arabic script in the Support line.
  • Armenian
  • Balinese
  • Bengali
    • The Bengali script, also called Bangla script, is a Brahmi-derived writing system used in Bangladesh and parts of India to write various languages, including these:
      • Bengali (the national language of Bangladesh and the state language of West Bengal, India)
      • Assamese (the state language of Assam, India)
      • Meitei/Manipuri (the state language of Manipur, India - which is also written using a script of its own)
  • Braille Patterns
    • Braille Patterns  + Show- Hide
      This writing system of raised dots was created by Louis Braille (1809-1852), a French teacher of the blind. It is now used by blind people worldwide. Correspondence of dot patterns to letters (or entire words) varies by language so the Unicode standard simply identifies the pattern, not the meaning.
  • Buginese
    • The Buginese script is used on parts of the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia for writing the Buginese/Bugis language. Modern usage is limited but the script was previously used for contracts, trade laws, treaties, and maps. It was also used to write the Makassar, Bimanese, and Madurese languages. The script is also called "Lontara".
      Letters have an inherent -a vowel. The other vowels are indicated by a mark above, below, to the left, or to the right of the letter, depending on the vowel. Vowels at the beginning of syllables are represented by using U+1A15 (A) as a base for the vowel mark. Syllables ending in a consonant are not differentiated.
  • Buhid
    • scriptItemName (test page)  + Show- Hide
      The Buhid script is used by the Buhid people in the mountains of Mindoro Island, The Philippines.
      Consonants have an inherent -a vowel. The other two vowels (-i and -u) are indicated by a diacritic above (for -i) or below (for -u) the consonant. Depending on the consonant, ligatures are formed, changing the shape of the consonant-vowel combination. Vowels at the beginning of syllables are represented by their own, independent characters. Syllables ending in a consonant are written without the final consonant.
  • Burmese: See Myanmar
  • Cambodian: See Khmer
  • Canadian Syllabics
    • All Canadian Syllabaries (test page)  + Show- Hide
      This block "unifies" Algonquin, Blackfoot, Carrier, Chipewyan, Cree, Inuktitut, Naskapi, Ojibwe, Sayisi, Slavey, and many other syllabaries. It was organized based on a 1994 Canadian Aboriginal Syllabic Encoding Committee (CASEC) report: Repertoire of Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Proposed for Inclusion into ISO/IEC 10646.
      As the name suggests these syllabaries are used primarily in Canada. They all originated from James Evans' 1830s syllabary for Ojibwe, which he revised in 1940 for Cree.
      The fonts shown on this page cover the entire block of characters. Additional font pages are syllabary-specific:
      • The Cree / Ojibwe Syllabary including Naskapi
      • The Inuktitut Syllabary including additions for Aivilik, Nunavik, and Nunavut
    • Cree/Ojibwe Syllabary (test page)  + Show- Hide
      The fonts shown on this page cover the Cree Syllabary subset of the Canadian Syllabics Unicode block.
    • Inuktitut Syllabary (test page)  + Show- Hide
      The fonts shown on this page cover the Inuktitut Syllabary subset of the Canadian Syllabics Unicode block.
  • Cherokee Syllabary
    • Cherokee Syllabary (test page) (example)  + Show- Hide
      Sequoyah is credited with inventing the Cherokee syllabary in the early 1800s. It is used to write Cherokee / Tsalagi. Most Cherokee is now written using the Latin alphabet. Fluent, mother-tongue speakers of the language usually prefer the Cherokee syllabary to Latin transliteration. Many older Cherokee speakers, in fact, are unable to read Cherokee written with Latin characters--even those who use the Latin alphabet to write English.
  • Chinese
    • Chinese Simplified Han Ideographs  + Show- Hide
      Chinese languages/dialects are written using Han Ideographs. In the 1950s China began reforming the Chinese writing system in an attempt to simplify it. The reformed variety of writing is called "jiantizi" (简体字), which means "simple writing". This simplified writing is used in Singapore and most of China. Traditional writing is used elsewhere.
    • Chinese Traditional Han Ideographs  + Show- Hide
      Chinese languages/dialects are written using Han Ideographs. Chinese populations outside of China did not adopt the writing reforms implemented by mainland China in the 1950s. Therefore they continue to use the traditional variety of writing called fantizi (繁体字), which means "complex writing". This traditional writing is used in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese communities. Simplified writing is used in Singapore and most of China.
  • Cirth: See Fictional Scripts
  • Coptic
    • Greek and Coptic were "disunified" with Unicode version 4.1. Coptic is now considered a separate script from Greek and is defined in the Coptic block (U+2C80 - U+2CFF) with a small section (U+03E2 - U+03EF) of the Greek block retained. This page shows fonts that support those two ranges.
      If you want to see legacy fonts that support Coptic using only the Greek Unicode block (U+0370 - U+03FF), see my Greek Coptic page.
      The Coptic alphabet is a historical adaptation of the Greek alphabet with additional letters based on Egyptian Demotic script. The alphabet came into general use in the 4th century CE. It is employed primarily to write Coptic, which is now used only as a liturgical language (by Coptic Christians).
    • Coptic using the Greek block (test page)  + Show- Hide
      Greek and Coptic were "disunified" with Unicode version 4.1. Coptic is now considered a separate script from Greek and is defined in the Coptic block (U+2C80 - U+2CFF) with a small section (U+03E2 - U+03EF) of the Greek block retained.
      This page shows legacy fonts that support Coptic using only the Greek Unicode block (U+0370 - U+03FF). Additional pages show modern (monotonic) Greek and classical (polytonic) Greek fonts.
      Very few Greek fonts contain the letters specific to Coptic. Most of these fonts use a different style for the Coptic-specific letters than for the letters used by both Greek and Coptic, giving Coptic text an incongruent look. Only two fonts here (GR Uncial and Unicopt) use the uncial style that is common for Coptic text.
      The Coptic alphabet is a historical adaptation of the Greek alphabet with additional letters based on Egyptian Demotic script. The alphabet came into general use in the 4th century CE. It is employed primarily to write Coptic, which is now used only as a liturgical language (by Coptic Christians).
  • Cuneiform
  • Cypriot Syllabary: See Aegean scripts
  • Cyrillic
    • Cyrillic for Slavic Languages (test page) (example)  + Show- Hide
      The Cyrillic alphabet has traditionally been used to write Slavic languages (Russian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, and Ukrainian). The fonts shown on this page support Russian and, if noted, other Slavic languages.
      The alphabet has also been extended to support dozens of other, non-Slavic languages. See my "Beyond Slavic" Cyrillic fonts page instead of this one if you're looking for a font that supports non-Slavic as well as Slavic languages. See my OCS Cyrillic fonts page if you're looking for a font that supports Old Church Slavonic.
      Most fonts that are primarily for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean have been omitted from these samples for brevity.
    • Cyrillic Beyond Just the Slavic Languages  + Show- Hide
      Over the years the Cyrillic alphabet has been extended to support dozens of non-Slavic languages. The fonts shown on this page support additional characters beyond what's needed for Slavic languages.
      See my "Slavic" Cyrillic fonts page instead of this one if you only need a font that supports the letters for Slavic languages (Russian, Belarussian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, and Ukrainian). See my OCS Cyrillic fonts page if you're looking for a font that supports Old Church Slavonic.
      Most fonts that are primarily for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean have been omitted from these samples for brevity.
    • Cyrillic for Old Church Slavonic (OCS) (example)  + Show- Hide
      This page shows the subset of Cyrillic fonts that contain the unique, historical letters needed for Old Church Slavonic (OCS). Separate pages show Cyrillic fonts for modern Slavic and non-Slavic languages.
      The Unicode standard defines the historical Cyrillic letters as part of the Cyrillic Unicode block. Few Cyrillic fonts contain the historical letters needed for OCS. Additionally, only a subset of the fonts shown below use a style that is appropriate for OCS.
      Most fonts that are primarily for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean have been omitted from these samples for brevity.
  • Deseret: See Latin Alternatives
  • Devanagari
    • Devanagari (test page)  + Show- Hide
      The Devanagari script is a Brahmi-derived writing system used originally to write Sanskrit. It is used in India and Nepal to write many languages, including these:
      • Konkoni: The state language of Goa, India
      • Hindi: The official language of the Indian government and the state language of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, India
      • Marathi: The state language of Maharashtra, India
      • Nepali: The national language of Nepal, also used in parts of India and Bhutan
      • classical Sanskrit
  • Ethiopic Syllabary
    • Ethiopic Syllabary (test page)  + Show- Hide
      The Ethiopic syllabary is used in central east Africa for Amharic, Bilen, Oromo, Tigré, Tigrinya, and other languages. It evolved from the script for classical Ge'ez, which is now strictly a liturgical language.
  • Ewellic: See Latin Alternatives
  • Fictional Scripts
    • Star Trek, Ferengi  + Show- Hide
      Star Trek, Ferengi
    • Star Trek: Klingon  + Show- Hide
      This alphabet was created at Paramount Pictures to write Klingon, an artificial language invented by linguist Dr. Marc Okrand for use in Star Trek movies.
      Klingon is not part of the Unicode Standard. However the ConScript Unicode Registry (CSUR) has defined a range of the Unicode Private Use Area for Klingon. CSUR coordinates artificial/constructed scripts (mostly), which facilitates font development and interoperability.
    • J.R.R Tolkien: Cirth Runes  + Show- Hide
      The Cirth script was invented by J.R.R. Tolkien and was published in his "Lord of the Rings" series and other works. Cirth was used to write Sindarin, Khuzdul, and other fictional languages of Middle-Earth, as well as English translations.
      Cirth is not part of the Unicode Standard. However the ConScript Unicode Registry (CSUR) has defined a range of the Unicode Private Use Area for Cirth. CSUR coordinates artificial/constructed scripts (mostly), which facilitates font development and interoperability.
    • J.R.R Tolkien: Feanor's Tengwar  + Show- Hide
      The Tengwar script was invented by J.R.R. Tolkien and was published in his "Lord of the Rings" series and other works. Tengwar was used to write Quenya, Sindarin, Black Speech / Orkish, and other fictional languages of Middle-Earth. It can also be used to write English and a variety of other languages of this Earth. Tengwar is a rich and complex writing system that highlights Tolkien's linguistic skills.
      Tengwar is not part of the Unicode Standard. However the ConScript Unicode Registry (CSUR) has defined a range of the Unicode Private Use Area for Tengwar. CSUR coordinates artificial/constructed scripts (mostly), which facilitates font development and interoperability.
  • Georgian
    • Modern Georgian is written with the Mkhedruli alphabet. There is no uppercase/lowercase distinction. In titles and headlines the characters are usually shown thicker and stretched so that they are uniform in height. Emphasis is shown by increasing the spacing between characters in a word. Mkhedruli occupies U+10D0 - U+10FF of the Georgian range.
      Mkhedruli developed in the tenth century from an earlier manuscript alphabet called Nuskhuri. Today Nuskhuri is used only for liturgical purposes. Prior to Unicode version 4.1, Nuskhuri occupied the same codepoints as Mkhedruli (U+10D0 - U+10FF). With version 4.1, Nuskhuri has its own range (Georgian Supplement: U+2D00 - U+2D2F).
      Nuskhuri developed from yet an older, inscriptional alphabet called Asomtavruli that was in use from the 5th to the 9th century. Religious texts used Asomtavruli characters for titles and the first letter of sentences. (Nuskhuri and Asomtavruli together are sometimes categorized as Khutsuri / ecclesiastical.) Asomtavruli occupies U+10A0 - U+10CF of the Georgian range.
  • Glagolitic
    • Glagolitic (test page)  + Show- Hide
      The Glagolitic alphabet was created around 860 CE for translation of liturgical texts into the Slavonic language.
      There are two versions of the Glagolitic alphabet: the original "round" style and the later "square" style (also known as Croatian Glagolitic). The round style was used in the Unicode charts for all letters except for the ones that existed only in the square style.
      A round Glagolitic font may or may not include the square-only letters. Likewise a square font may or may not include the round-only letters.
  • Gothic
    • This alphabet was created by bishop Wulfila (311-383 CE) who was the religious leader of the Visigoths. It was created in the fourth century for his Gothic translation of the Bible. (Gothic is the oldest known Germanic language.) The alphabet is mostly derived from Greek letters. The Gothic language was previously written using 'pagan' runic letters.
  • Greek
    • This page shows fonts for modern Greek. They all support the monotonic style of Greek writing officially adopted in 1982. Separate pages show classical (polytonic) Greek and Coptic (using the Greek block) fonts.
      Most fonts that are primarily for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean have been omitted from these samples for brevity.
    • Polytonic Greek  + Show- Hide
      This page shows the subset of Greek fonts that support classical (polytonic) Greek writing. Separate pages show modern (monotonic) Greek and Coptic (using the Greek block) fonts.
      The fonts listed here don't necessarily support every polytonic Unicode character. Refer to TLG's polytonic font page for specifics on which characters are absent from specific polytonic Greek fonts.
    • Coptic: See Coptic
  • Gujarati
  • Gurmukhi
    • The Gurmukhi script is a Brahmi-derived writing system used for writing Punjabi in India, especially by Sikhs. (Punjabi is the state language of Punjab, India.) A version of Persian script similar to Urdu is used to write Punjabi in Pakistan.
  • Hanunóo
    • The Hanunóo script is used by the Hanunóo people in the mountains of Mindoro Island, The Philippines. It is used to write Hanunóo (Hanunoo/Hanuno'o).
      Consonants have an inherent -a vowel. The other two vowels (-i and -u) are indicated by a diacritic above (for -i) or below (for -u) the consonant. Depending on the consonant, ligatures are formed, changing the shape of the consonant-vowel combination. Vowels at the beginning of syllables are represented by their own, independent characters. Syllables ending in a consonant are written with a special sign (pamudpod) to cancel out the inherent vowel.
  • Hebrew
    • Hebrew script is used to write Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, and other languages. Historically Hebrew was one of the scripts used to write Aramaic (extinct).
      The script is written from right to left. The letters represent consonants. Long vowels can be represented by three of the letters (ALEF, VAV & YOD). Short vowels are generally not marked, but can be by using "points" (small diacritic marks). Liturgical texts also use "cantillation marks" (more small diacritic marks) to indicate stress and musical motif. Most Hebrew fonts do not support cantillation marks, those that do are noted in the samples below.
  • Hmong: See Pahawh Hmong
  • IPA: See Latin
  • Japanese
    • Japanese is written using a mixture of three scripts: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Latin letters (Romaji) and symbols/dingbats (Kigo) are also mixed into modern written Japanese. Hiragana & Katakana are syllabaries. The Unicode Standard refers to Kanji characters as "Han Ideographs". Some Kanji are visually different in Japan than they are in other countries but they share the same codepoints in Unicode.
  • Kannada
    • The Kannada script is a Brahmi-derived writing system used for Kannada (the state language of Karnataka, India) and sometimes other languages such as Tulu. (There is an outline of a proposal to encode Tulu's own script in the Unicode Standard.)
  • Kharoshthi
    • Kharoshthi (test page)  + Show- Hide
      Kharoshthi is an ancient Indian writing system in use from around the 3rd century BCE to the 4th century CE. It is a right-to-left script that was used to write Gandhari and Sanskrit. Kharoshthi is also spelled as Kharosthi and Kharoṣṭhī. And it is also called Gāndhārī script.
      The script requires complex processing. Still looking for a Unicode font and word processor that can properly render Kharoshthi.
  • Khmer
    • The Khmer script is used in Cambodia and Vietnam to write Khmer / Cambodian and other languages such as Tampuan and Krung.
      Correctly rendering Khmer on Windows requires at least the 1.0460.3707.0 version of the Uniscribe engine (usp10.dll).
  • Klingon: See Fictional Scripts"
  • Korean
  • Lao
  • Latin, including adaptations
    • Medieval Latin  + Show- Hide
      Medieval Latin
    • IPA: the International Phonetic Alphabet  + Show- Hide
      The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) was created by the International Phonetic Association in the 1880s to transcribe the sounds of all spoken languages. It is based (mostly) on Latin letters and uses a large number of diacritics.
      There are specific handwritten forms of IPA-unique characters.
      The alphabet is caseless even though some of its characters look like uppercase forms. Some IPA characters have been adopted into alphabets for specific languages, so uppercase forms have been created. For example the African language Hausa uses the hooked "b" (U+0253) so a non-IPA uppercase hooked "b" (U+0181) was created. (Hausa also uses a few other IPA characters.)
    • Vietnamese (example)  + Show- Hide
      Vietnamese is written using an adapted form of the Latin alphabet: Diacritics are used to differentiate vowel sounds and tones.
      Historically Vietnamese was written using Han ideographs, called "chữ Hán" or "chữ nho Hán" in Vietnam.
      There are a large number of Unicode fonts that support Vietnamese. For brevity some of the font samples here are shown in groups.
  • Latin alternatives, replacements, and attempts at reform
    • This phonemic alphabet was created for English in the 1850s by regents at the University of Deseret (now the University of Utah). Up until the 1870s it was promoted as an alternative to the Latin alphabet by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (also known as the LDS or Mormon Church).
    • Ewellic  + Show- Hide
      The Ewellic alphabet was invented in 1980 by Doug Ewell as an alternate way to write English. It is phonemic instead of phonetic, which means it indicates the approximate (instead of precise) pronunciation of words.
      Ewellic is not part of the Unicode Standard. However the ConScript Unicode Registry (CSUR) has defined a range of the Unicode Private Use Area for Ewellic. CSUR coordinates artificial/constructed scripts (mostly), which facilitates font development and interoperability.
    • The Shavian 'Proposed British Alphabet' was created in the 1950s by Kingsley Reed as part of a £500 competition financed by a trust set up under George Bernard Shaw's will. Shaw's goal was to both reform spelling and speed writing. The alphabet met the goal but was never adopted.
    • Monofon  + Show- Hide
    • Unifon  + Show- Hide
    • Visible Speech  + Show- Hide
      Visible Speech is not part of the Unicode Standard. However the ConScript Unicode Registry (CSUR) has defined a range of the Unicode Private Use Area for Visible Speech. CSUR coordinates artificial/constructed scripts (mostly), which facilitates font development and interoperability.
      Visible Speech is a writing system developed by Alexander Melville Bell in 1867. This phonetic alphabet was used in America in the 1800s to help deaf children learn spoken language. The components of the symbols convey information about the sound to be produced. Because of that, Visible Speech is categorized as an "iconic notation".
      In 1880 Henry Sweet, a former pupil of Bell's, published an updated version called the "Revised Organic Alphabet". His changes were based in part on years of practical use of Bell's original system. In Britain, Sweet's version became preferred. Sweet was a supporter of the FTA (Dhi Fonètik Tîcerz' Asóciécon) which evolved into the International Phonetic Association.
      The ConScript Unicode Registry definition covers only the majority of symbols for Bell's original Visible Speech, not the Revised Organic Alphabet.
      Work is being done on an official proposal for adding all of the characters needed for both Visible Speech and the Revised Organic Alphabet to Unicode Plane 1.
  • Limbu
    • The Limbu script is a Brahmi-derived writing system primarily used to write the Limbu language. The language is used in parts of eastern Nepal and the neighboring Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal (in the Darjeeling district). The script is also known as Kirat, Kirant, Kiranti, and Sirijonga.
  • Linear A / Linear B: See Aegean Scripts
  • Malayalam
  • Medieval Latin: See Latin
  • Mongolian
    • The Mongolian Unicode block covers the very closely related scripts of Mongolian, Todo, Sibe, and Manchu. These scripts are cursive and are written top-to-bottom in columns that progress from left-to-right. The Mongolian encoding, and the processing required to properly render it, are "works in progress". The Unicode Consortium will publish addition information as a Unicode Technical Report. The issues are exceedingly complex.
      Microsoft Word (version 2003 and earlier) doesn't properly display Mongolian text. Use WorldPad (free), BabelPad (free), or Internet Explorer instead.
      In the 1940s the Mongolian script was replaced by Cyrillic in the Soviet Union. Mongolia is now reintroducing the script. Inner Mongolia (in China) did not switch to Cyrillic and continues to use this traditional script.)
  • Myanmar
    • Myanmar (or Burmese) script is Brahmi-derived, but distantly so. It is used to write Burmese and other languages in Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand including Mon, Shan, and the Karen group of languages.
      Most distributed versions of the Uniscribe engine (usp10.dll) don't support Myanmar. And very few Myanmar fonts faithfully follow the Unicode Standard. The Padauk font uses the Graphite package instead of relying on the Uniscribe engine and OpenType tables.
  • N'Ko
    • N'Ko  + Show- Hide
      N'Ko script was devised by Solomana Kante in 1949 for writing the Mande languages of West Africa. The script is written right-to-left with connected letters and obligatory tone & vowel marks.
      Still looking for a Unicode word processor that can properly render the complex N'ko script.
  • New Tai Lue
  • Ogham
    • Ogham writing was used between the 4th and 7th centuries to record archaic Irish and perhaps Pictish (which is undeciphered). Stone inscriptions have been found in Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales. Notes in manuscripts were often written using Ogham until the 17th century.
  • Old Italic
    • Old Italic (test page)  + Show- Hide
      The Old Italic Unicode block unifies several related alphabets that were used historically (700-1 BCE) on the Italian peninsula. The alphabets include archaic Etruscan (7th-5th centuries BCE), neo- and late-Etruscan (4th-1st centuries BCE), Faliscan, Messapic, Middle Adriatic, Oscan, North Picene, South Picene, and Umbrian. Language-specific fonts must be used in order to get the right alphabet. Also, writing direction (right-to-left, left-to-right, or boustrophedon) varies based on the language and even the time period. For simplicity most scholars use left-to-right and this is the Unicode default direction for the Old Italic block.
  • Old Persian Cuneiform: See Cuneiform
  • Oriya
    • The Oriya script is a Brahmi-derived writing system used for Oriya (the state language of Orissa, India) and other languages such as Khondi and Santali.
  • Osmanya
    • The Osmanya script was created in 1922 and sporadically used to write Somali until 1972. (It is also known as the "Somali alphabet" or "Somali writing".) The Latin alphabet was adopted for Somali in 1973.
  • Pahawh Hmong
    • Pahawh Hmong  + Show- Hide
      There is a proposal to add Pahawh Hmong to Unicode in the pipeline but it seems to be stalled.
      However Jason Glavy has mapped 3 Hmong fonts to Unicode Private Use Area codepoints.
  • Phags-pa
  • Phaistos: See Aegean scripts
  • Phoenician
    • Phoenician  + Show- Hide
      The Phoenician Unicode block unifies various paleographic scripts of the Phoenician alphabet and its successors dating from the 12th century BCE to the 2nd century BCE. These related scripts were used in areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea: Paleo-Hebrew, Archaic Phoenician, Phoenician, Early Aramaic, Late Phoenician cursive, Phoenician papyrus, Siloam Hebrew, Hebrew seals, Ammonite, Moabite, and Punic. Language/alphabet-specific fonts must be used in order to get the right alphabet.
      Writing direction is right-to-left for words as well as numbers.
  • Punjabi: See Gurmukhi
  • Runic
    • Runes have been used in one form or another from the 1st to the 19th century. (The majority of Runic inscriptions were made in the 11th century.) Inscriptions in various languages have been found throughout Europe including Scandinavia and the British Isles. Vikings spread Runic writing to Greenland and Iceland.
  • Shavian: See Latin alternatives
  • Sinhala
  • Syloti Nagri
    • Syloti Nagri (test page)  + Show- Hide
      Syloti Nagri is a Brahmi-derived script used for writing the Sylheti language (which is usually written with Bengali script). Other names for the Syloti Nagri script include Siloti Nagri and Jalalavadi Nagri.
  • Syriac
    • Syriac script is used for Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (also known as modern Syriac and modern Assyrian), literary & liturgical Syriac, Garshuni (Arabic written in Syriac), and other languages.
      The Syriac script is written from right to left. There are three varieties: Estrangelo, East Syriac (Nestorian), and Serto.
  • Tagalog
    • The Tagalog script (also known as "Baybayin" and "Alibata") was used in the Philippines to write Tagalog, Bisaya, Ilocano, and other languages until the mid-1700s. Philippine languages are now normally written with the Latin alphabet.
      Consonants have an inherent -a vowel. The other two vowels (-i and -u) are indicated by a diacritic above (for -i) or below (for -u) the consonant. Vowels at the beginning of syllables are represented by their own, independent characters. Syllables ending in a consonant were usually written without the final consonant, but could also be written with a special diacritic (introduced in 1620) to cancel out the inherent vowel.
  • Tagbanwa
  • Tai Le
    • The Tai Le script (also known as the Liek or Dehong alphabet) is used to write Dehong Dai in China, Myanmar, and Laos. (Dehong Dai is a language of many names, including Tai Le, Tai Nüa, Tai Mau, Tai Kong, and Chinese Shan.)
      The modern form of Tai Le script was developed in the 1950s. At that time combining diacritics were used to indicate tones. In 1988 spacing tone marks (U+1970 - U+1974) were added to replace the diacritics.
  • Tamil
  • Telugu
  • Tengwar: See Fictional Scripts
  • Thaana
    • The Thaana (or Taana) script is used to write Dhivehi (also known as Divehi and Maldivian). Dhivehi is the official language of the Republic of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean.
      Thaana is written right-to-left, similar to Arabic. Vowels are written as diacritics above and below the consonants.
  • Thai
    • The Thai script is Indic in origin and is used in Thailand. It is similar to the Lao script. Thai script is used to write Thai and other Southeast Asian languages. Within Thailand, Lao is often written using Thai script.
  • Tibetan
    • Tibetan script is used to write Tibetan and Dzongkha (the official language of Bhutan). The script is syllabic with consonant clusters written using groups of characters, some of which stack horizontally into conjunct characters. Vowels (other than a short "a") are indicated using diacritics. Syllables are separated with dots.
      Correctly rendering Tibetan on Windows is a complex task and requires a font with OpenType tables as well as a current version of the Uniscribe engine (usp10.dll). See "Instructions for using OpenType Fonts for Tibetan in the MS Windows Operating System" and SIL's "Replacing your Uniscribe dll" page" for more information.
  • Tifinagh
    • Berber languages in North Africa (such as Tarifit, Tamazight, and Tachelhit) are sometimes written with Tifinagh script. A version of the script has been taught in primary schools in Morocco since 2003.
      Today the script is usually written left-to-right, but in some places it's written from right-to-left instead. See the notes following the samples for more information.
      Letter shapes vary depending on geographic location and language. And ligatures are common in Tifinagh. See the notes following the samples for more information about using ligatures.
  • Ugaritic: See Cuneiform
  • Vietnamese: See Latin
  • Visible Speech: See Latin Alternatives
  • Yi Syllabary
    • Yi Syllabary  + Show- Hide
      The Yi Syllabary is a modern (1970s) transformation of classical Yi characters (also called Cuan script or Wei writing). Each character of modern Yi represents one syllable plus the tone.
      The syllabary is used to write several, but not all, "Yi" languages (also known as Lolo).
Public Domain 2006-2015 Alexander Krassotkin