| Arabic script | |
| Type: | Abjad |
| Typedesc: | primarily, alphabet |
| Languages: | See below |
| Time: | 4th century CE to the present[1] |
| Fam1: | Egyptian hieroglyphs |
| Fam2: | Proto-Sinaitic |
| Fam3: | Phoenician |
| Fam4: | Aramaic |
| Fam5: | Nabataean |
| Children: | N'Ko Thaana Hanifi script Persian alphabet |
| Iso15924: | Arab |
| Official Script: | Co-official script in:Official script at regional level in: |
| Sample: | Arabic-script.png |
| Worldwide use of the Arabic and Perso-Arabic script | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Countries where the Arabic script is: | |||
| → | the sole official script | ||
| → | official alongside other scripts | ||
| → | official at a provincial level (China, India, Tanzania) or a recognized second script of the official language (Malaysia, Tajikistan) | ||
The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (after the Latin script),[2] the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it, and the third-most by number of users (after the Latin and Chinese scripts).[3]
The script was first used to write texts in Arabic, most notably the Quran, the holy book of Islam. With the religion's spread, it came to be used as the primary script for many language families, leading to the addition of new letters and other symbols. Such languages still using it are: Persian (Farsi and Dari), Malay (Jawi), Cham (Akhar Srak),[4] Uyghur, Kurdish, Punjabi (Shahmukhi), Sindhi, Balti, Balochi, Pashto, Luri, Urdu, Kashmiri, Rohingya, Somali, Mandinka, and Mooré, among others.[5] Until the 16th century, it was also used for some Spanish texts, and—prior to the script reform in 1928—it was the writing system of Turkish.[6]
The script is written from right to left in a cursive style, in which most of the letters are written in slightly different forms according to whether they stand alone or are joined to a following or preceding letter. The script does not have capital letters.[7] In most cases, the letters transcribe consonants, or consonants and a few vowels, so most Arabic alphabets are abjads, with the versions used for some languages, such as Kurdish dialect of Sorani, Uyghur, Mandarin, and Bosniak, being alphabets. It is the basis for the tradition of Arabic calligraphy.
See main article: History of the Arabic alphabet.
The Arabic alphabet is derived either from the Nabataean alphabet[8] [9] or (less widely believed) directly from the Syriac alphabet,[10] which are both derived from the Aramaic alphabet (which also gave rise to the Hebrew alphabet), which, in turn, descended from the Phoenician alphabet. In addition to the Aramaic script (and, therefore, the Arabic and Hebrew scripts), the Phoenician script also gave rise to the Greek alphabet (and, therefore, both the Cyrillic alphabet and the Latin alphabet used in America and most European countries.).
In the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, northern Arab tribes emigrated and founded a kingdom centred around Petra, Jordan. These people (now named Nabataeans from the name of one of the tribes, Nabatu) spoke Nabataean Arabic, a dialect of the Arabic language. In the 2nd or 1st centuries BCE,[11] [12] the first known records of the Nabataean alphabet were written in the Aramaic language (which was the language of communication and trade), but included some Arabic language features: the Nabataeans did not write the language which they spoke. They wrote in a form of the Aramaic alphabet, which continued to evolve; it separated into two forms: one intended for inscriptions (known as "monumental Nabataean") and the other, more cursive and hurriedly written and with joined letters, for writing on papyrus.[13] This cursive form influenced the monumental form more and more and gradually changed into the Arabic alphabet.
| / | ||||||
| أ | آ | إ | ئ | ؠ | ء | ࢬ |
| alif hamza↑ | alif madda | alif hamza↓ | yā’ hamza↑ | kashmiri yā’ | hamza | rohingya yā’ |
| ى | ٱ | ی | ە | ً | ٌ | ٍ |
| alif maksura | alif wasla | farsi yā’ | ae | fathatan | dammatan | kasratan |
| َ | ُ | ِ | ّ | ْ | ٓ | ۤ |
| fatha | damma | kasra | shadda | sukun | maddah | madda |
| ں | ٹ | ٺ | ٻ | پ | ٿ | ڃ |
| nūn ghunna | ttā’ | ttāhā’ | bāā’ | pā’ | tāhā’ | nyā’ |
| ڄ | چ | ڇ | ڈ | ڌ | ڍ | ڎ |
| dyā’ | tchā’ | tchahā’ | ddāl | dāhāl | ddāhāl | duul |
| ڑ | ژ | ڤ | ڦ | ک | ڭ | گ |
| rrā’ | jā’ | vā’ | pāḥā’ | kāḥā’ | ng | gāf |
| ڳ | ڻ | ھ | ہ | ة | ۃ | ۅ |
| gueh | rnūn | hā’ doachashmee | hā’ goal | tā’ marbuta | tā’ marbuta goal | kirghiz oe |
| ۆ | ۇ | ۈ | ۉ | ۋ | ې | ے |
| oe | u | yu | kirghiz yu | ve | e | yā’ barree |
The Arabic script has been adapted for use in a wide variety of languages aside from Arabic, including Persian, Malay and Urdu, which are not Semitic. Such adaptations may feature altered or new characters to represent phonemes that do not appear in Arabic phonology. For example, the Arabic language lacks a voiceless bilabial plosive (the pronounced as /[p]/ sound), therefore many languages add their own letter to represent pronounced as /[p]/ in the script, though the specific letter used varies from language to language. These modifications tend to fall into groups: Indian and Turkic languages written in the Arabic script tend to use the Persian modified letters, whereas the languages of Indonesia tend to imitate those of Jawi. The modified version of the Arabic script originally devised for use with Persian is known as the Perso-Arabic script by scholars.
When the Arabic script is used to write Serbo-Croatian, Sorani, Kashmiri, Mandarin Chinese, or Uyghur, vowels are mandatory. The Arabic script can, therefore, be used as a true alphabet as well as an abjad, although it is often strongly, if erroneously, connected to the latter due to it being originally used only for Arabic.
Use of the Arabic script in West African languages, especially in the Sahel, developed with the spread of Islam. To a certain degree the style and usage tends to follow those of the Maghreb (for instance the position of the dots in the letters and ).[14] [15] Additional diacritics have come into use to facilitate the writing of sounds not represented in the Arabic language. The term , which comes from the Arabic root for "foreign", has been applied to Arabic-based orthographies of African languages.
| Script or style | Alphabet(s) | Language(s) | Region | Derived from | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naskh | Arabic, Pashto, & others | Arabic, Pashto, Sindhi, & others | Every region where Arabic scripts are used | Sometimes refers to a very specific calligraphic style, but sometimes used to refer more broadly to almost every font that is not Kufic or Nastaliq. | |
| Nastaliq | Urdu, Shahmukhi, Persian, & others | Urdu, Punjabi, Persian, Kashmiri & others | Southern and Western Asia | Taliq | Used for almost all modern Urdu and Punjabi text, but only occasionally used for Persian. (The term "Nastaliq" is sometimes used by Urdu-speakers to refer to all Perso-Arabic scripts.) |
| Taliq | Persian | Persian | A predecessor of Nastaliq. | ||
| Kufic | Arabic | Arabic | Middle East and parts of North Africa | ||
| Rasm | Restricted Arabic alphabet | Arabic | Mainly historical | Omits all diacritics including i'jam. Digital replication usually requires some special characters. See: (links to Wiktionary). | |
| Alphabet | Letters | Additional Characters | Script or Style | Languages | Region | Derived from: (or related to) | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | 28 | Naskh, Kufi, Rasm, & others | North Africa, West Asia | Aramaic, Syriac, Nabataean | ||||
| Ajami script | 33 | Arabic: {{script/Arabic| [[:wiktionary: ٻ|ٻ]] [[:wiktionary: تٜ|تٜ]] [[:wiktionary: تٰٜ|تٰٜ]] | Naskh | Hausa, Yoruba, Swahili | West Africa | Arabic | Abjad | documented use likely between the 15th to 18th century for Hausa, Mande, Pulaar, Swahili, Wolof, and Yoruba Languages |
| Aljamiado | 28 | Maghrebi, Andalusi variant | Old Spanish, Andalusi Romance, Ladino, Aragonese, Valencian, Old Galician-Portuguese | Southwest Europe | Arabic | 8th–13th centuries for Andalusi Romance, 14th–16th centuries for the other languages | ||
| Arebica | 30 | Bosnian: [[:wiktionary: ڄ|ڄ]] [[:wiktionary: ە|ە]] [[:wiktionary: اٖى|اٖى]] [[:wiktionary: ي|ي]] [[:wiktionary: ڵ|ڵ]] [[:wiktionary: ںٛ|ںٛ]] [[:wiktionary: ۉ|ۉ]] [[:wiktionary: ۆ|ۆ]] | Naskh | Serbo-Croatian | Southeastern Europe | Perso-Arabic | Latest stage has full vowel marking | |
| Arwi alphabet | 41 | Tamil: {{script/Arabic| [[:wiktionary: ڊ|ڊ]] [[:wiktionary: ڍ|ڍ]] [[:wiktionary: ڔ|ڔ]] [[:wiktionary: صٜ|صٜ]] [[:wiktionary: ۻ|ۻ]] [[:wiktionary: ࢳ|ࢳ]] [[:wiktionary: ڣ|ڣ]] [[:wiktionary: ࢴ|ࢴ]] [[:wiktionary: ڹ|ڹ]] [[:wiktionary: ݧ|ݧ]] | Naskh | Tamil | Southern India, Sri Lanka | Perso-Arabic | ||
| Belarusian Arabic alphabet | 32 | Bosnian: [[:wiktionary: ࢮ|ࢮ]] [[:wiktionary: ࢯ|ࢯ]] | Naskh | Belarusian | Eastern Europe | Perso-Arabic | 15th / 16th century | |
| Balochi Standard Alphabet(s) | 29 | Baluchi: [[:wiktionary: ٹ|ٹ]] [[:wiktionary: ڈ|ڈ]] [[:wiktionary: ۏ|ۏ]] [[:wiktionary: ݔ|ݔ]] [[:wiktionary: ے|ے]] | Naskh and Nastaliq | Balochi | South-West Asia | Perso-Arabic, also borrows multiple glyphs from Urdu | This standardization is based on the previous orthography. For more information, see Balochi writing. | |
| Berber Arabic alphabet(s) | 33 | Arabic: [[:wiktionary: چ|چ]] [[:wiktionary: ژ|ژ]] [[:wiktionary: ڞ|ڞ]] [[:wiktionary: ݣ|ݣ]] [[:wiktionary: ء|ء]] | Various Berber languages | North Africa | ||||
| 53 | {{nq| [[:wiktionary: ݳ|ݳ]] [[:wiktionary: ݴ|ݴ]] [[:wiktionary: ݼ|ݼ]] [[:wiktionary: څ|څ]] [[:wiktionary: ڎ|ڎ]] [[:wiktionary: ݽ|ݽ]] [[:wiktionary: ڞ|ڞ]] [[:wiktionary: ݣ|ݣ]] [[:wiktionary: ݸ|ݸ]] [[:wiktionary: ݹ|ݹ]] [[:wiktionary: ݶ|ݶ]] [[:wiktionary: ݷ|ݷ]] [[:wiktionary: ݺ|ݺ]] [[:wiktionary: ݻ|ݻ]] (see note) | Nastaliq | South-West Asia (Pakistan) | Also uses the additional letters shown for Urdu. Sometimes written with just the Urdu alphabet, or with the Latin alphabet. | ||||
| Chagatai alphabet | 32 | Arabic: [[:wiktionary: ݣ|ݣ]] | Nastaliq and Naskh | Chagatai | Central Asia | Perso-Arabic | ݣ is interchangeable with نگ and ڭ. | |
| Dobrujan Tatar | 32 | Naskh | Dobrujan Tatar | Southeastern Europe | Chagatai | |||
| Galal | 32 | Naskh | Somali | Horn of Africa | Arabic | |||
| Jawi | 36 | Malay: {{script/Arabic| [[:wiktionary: ڠ|ڠ]] [[:wiktionary: ڤ|ڤ]] [[:wiktionary: ݢ|ݢ]] [[:wiktionary: ڽ|ڽ]] [[:wiktionary: ۏ|ۏ]] [[:wiktionary: ى|ى]] | Naskh | Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and part of Borneo | Perso-Arabic | Since 1303 AD (Trengganu Stone) | ||
| Kashmiri | 44 | Kashmiri: {{nq| [[:wiktionary: ۆ|ۆ]] [[:wiktionary: ۄ|ۄ]] [[:wiktionary: ؠ|ؠ]] [[:wiktionary: ێ|ێ]] | Nastaliq | Kashmiri | South Asia | Urdu | This orthography is fully voweled. 3 out of the 4 (ۆ, ۄ, ێ) additional glyphs are actually vowels. Not all vowels are listed here since they are not separate letters. For further information, see Kashmiri writing. | |
| Kazakh Arabic alphabet | 35 | Kazakh: [[:wiktionary: ٵ|ٵ]] [[:wiktionary: ٶ|ٶ]] [[:wiktionary: ۇ|ۇ]] [[:wiktionary: ٷ|ٷ]] [[:wiktionary: ۋ|ۋ]] [[:wiktionary: ۆ|ۆ]] [[:wiktionary: ە|ە]] [[:wiktionary: ھ|ھ]] [[:wiktionary: ى|ى]] [[:wiktionary: ٸ|ٸ]] [[:wiktionary: ي|ي]] | Naskh | Kazakh | Central Asia, China | Chagatai | In use since 11th century, reformed in the early 20th century, now official only in China | |
| Khowar | 45 | {{nq| [[:wiktionary: ݯ|ݯ]] [[:wiktionary: ݮ|ݮ]] [[:wiktionary: څ|څ]] [[:wiktionary: ځ|ځ]] [[:wiktionary: ݱ|ݱ]] [[:wiktionary: ݰ|ݰ]] [[:wiktionary: ڵ|ڵ]] | Nastaliq | Khowar | South Asia | Urdu, however, borrows multiple glyphs from Pashto | ||
| Kyrgyz Arabic alphabet | 33 | Kirghiz; Kyrgyz: [[:wiktionary: ۅ|ۅ]] [[:wiktionary: ۇ|ۇ]] [[:wiktionary: ۉ|ۉ]] [[:wiktionary: ۋ|ۋ]] [[:wiktionary: ە|ە]] [[:wiktionary: ى|ى]] [[:wiktionary: ي|ي]] | Naskh | Central Asia | Chagatai | In use since 11th century, reformed in the early 20th century, now official only in China | ||
| Pashto | 45 | Pushto; Pashto: [[:wiktionary: ټ|ټ]] [[:wiktionary: څ|څ]] [[:wiktionary: ځ|ځ]] [[:wiktionary: ډ|ډ]] [[:wiktionary: ړ|ړ]] [[:wiktionary: ږ|ږ]] [[:wiktionary: ښ|ښ]] [[:wiktionary: ګ|ګ]] [[:wiktionary: ڼ|ڼ]] [[:wiktionary: ۀ|ۀ]] [[:wiktionary: ي|ي]] [[:wiktionary: ې|ې]] [[:wiktionary: ۍ|ۍ]] [[:wiktionary: ئ|ئ]] | Naskh and occasionally, Nastaliq | Pashto | South-West Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan | Perso-Arabic | ګ is interchangeable with گ. Also, the glyphs ی and ې are often replaced with ے in Pakistan. | |
| Pegon script | 35 | Javanese: {{script/Arabic| [[:wiktionary: ڎ|ڎ]] [[:wiktionary: ڟ|ڟ]] [[:wiktionary: ڠ|ڠ]] [[:wiktionary: ڤ|ڤ]] [[:wiktionary: ڮ|ڮ]] [[:wiktionary: ۑ|ۑ]] | Naskh | Javanese, Sundanese | South-East Asia (Indonesia) | Perso-Arabic | ||
| Persian | 32 | Persian: [[:wiktionary: پ|پ]] [[:wiktionary: چ|چ]] [[:wiktionary: ژ|ژ]] [[:wiktionary: گ|گ]] | Naskh and Nastaliq | Persian (Farsi) | West Asia (Iran etc.) | Arabic | Also known as Perso-Arabic. | |
| Shahmukhi | 41 | Panjabi; Punjabi: {{nq| [[:wiktionary: ݪ|ݪ]] [[:wiktionary: ݨ|ݨ]] | Punjabi | South Asia (Pakistan) | Perso-Arabic | |||
| Saraiki | 45 | {{nq| [[:wiktionary: ٻ|ٻ]] [[:wiktionary: ڄ|ڄ]] [[:wiktionary: ݙ|ݙ]] [[:wiktionary: ڳ|ڳ]] | Nastaliq | Saraiki | South Asia (Pakistan) | Urdu | ||
| Sindhi | 52 | Sindhi: [[:wiktionary: ڪ|ڪ]] [[:wiktionary: ڳ|ڳ]] [[:wiktionary: ڱ|ڱ]] [[:wiktionary: گ|گ]] [[:wiktionary: ک|ک]] <br/> [[:wiktionary: پ|پ]] [[:wiktionary: ڀ|ڀ]] [[:wiktionary: ٻ|ٻ]] [[:wiktionary: ٽ|ٽ]] [[:wiktionary: ٿ|ٿ]] [[:wiktionary: ٺ|ٺ]] <br/> [[:wiktionary: ڻ|ڻ]] [[:wiktionary: ڦ|ڦ]] [[:wiktionary: ڇ|ڇ]] [[:wiktionary: چ|چ]] [[:wiktionary: ڄ|ڄ]] [[:wiktionary: ڃ|ڃ]] <br/> [[:wiktionary: ھ|ھ]] [[:wiktionary: ڙ|ڙ]] [[:wiktionary: ڌ|ڌ]] [[:wiktionary: ڏ|ڏ]] [[:wiktionary: ڎ|ڎ]] [[:wiktionary: ڍ|ڍ]] [[:wiktionary: ڊ|ڊ]] | Naskh | Sindhi | South Asia (Pakistan) | Perso-Arabic | ||
| Sorabe | 28 | Naskh | Malagasy | Madagascar | ||||
| Soranî | 33 | Kurdish: [[:wiktionary: ڕ|ڕ]] [[:wiktionary: ڤ|ڤ]] [[:wiktionary: ڵ|ڵ]] [[:wiktionary: ۆ|ۆ]] [[:wiktionary: ێ|ێ]] | Naskh | Kurdish languages | Middle-East | Perso-Arabic | Vowels are mandatory, i.e. alphabet | |
| Swahili Arabic script | 28 | Naskh | Swahili | Western and Southern Africa | Arabic | |||
| İske imlâ | 35 | Tatar: [[:wiktionary: ۋ|ۋ]] | Naskh | Tatar | Volga region | Chagatai | Used prior to 1920. | |
| Ottoman Turkish | 32 | ﭖ ﭺ ﮊ ﮒ ﯓ ئە ی | Ottoman Turkish | Ottoman Empire | Chagatai | Official until 1928 | ||
| Urdu | 39+ (see notes) | Urdu: {{nq| [[:wiktionary: ٹ|ٹ]] [[:wiktionary: ڈ|ڈ]] [[:wiktionary: ڑ|ڑ]] [[:wiktionary: ں|ں]] [[:wiktionary: ہ|ہ]] [[:wiktionary: ھ|ھ]] [[:wiktionary: ے|ے]] (see notes) | Urdu | South Asia | Perso-Arabic | 58 letters including digraphs representing aspirated consonants. Urdu: [[:wiktionary: بھ|بھ]] [[:wiktionary: پھ|پھ]] [[:wiktionary: تھ|تھ]] [[:wiktionary: ٹھ|ٹھ]] [[:wiktionary: جھ|جھ]] [[:wiktionary: چھ|چھ]] [[:wiktionary: دھ|دھ]] [[:wiktionary: ڈھ|ڈھ]] [[:wiktionary: کھ|کھ]] [[:wiktionary: گھ|گھ]] | ||
| Uyghur | 32 | Uighur; Uyghur: [[:wiktionary: ئا|ئا]] [[:wiktionary: ئە|ئە]] [[:wiktionary: ھ|ھ]] [[:wiktionary: ئو|ئو]] [[:wiktionary: ئۇ|ئۇ]] [[:wiktionary: ئۆ|ئۆ]] [[:wiktionary: ئۈ|ئۈ]] [[:wiktionary: ۋ|ۋ]] [[:wiktionary: ئې|ئې]] [[:wiktionary: ئى|ئى]] | Naskh | Uyghur | China, Central Asia | Chagatai | Reform of older Arabic-script Uyghur orthography that was used prior to the 1950s. Vowels are mandatory, i.e. alphabet | |
| Wolofal | 33 | Wolof: {{script/Arabic| [[:wiktionary: ݖ|ݖ]] [[:wiktionary: گ|گ]] [[:wiktionary: ݧ|ݧ]] [[:wiktionary: ݝ|ݝ]] [[:wiktionary: ݒ|ݒ]] | Naskh | Wolof | West Africa | Arabic, however, borrows at least one glyph from Perso-Arabic | ||
| Xiao'erjing | 36 | Chinese: {{script/Arabic| [[:wiktionary: ٿ|ٿ]] [[:wiktionary: س﮲|س﮲]] [[:wiktionary: ڞ|ڞ]] [[:wiktionary: ي|ي]] | Naskh | Sinitic languages | China, Central Asia | Chagatai | Used to write Chinese languages by Muslims living in China such as the Hui people. | |
| Yaña imlâ | 29 | Tatar: [[:wiktionary: ئا|ئا]] [[:wiktionary: ئە|ئە]] [[:wiktionary: ئی|ئی]] [[:wiktionary: ئو|ئو]] [[:wiktionary: ئۇ|ئۇ]] [[:wiktionary: ئ|ئ]] [[:wiktionary: ھ|ھ]] | Naskh | Tatar | Volga region | İske imlâ alphabet | 1920–1927 replaced with Cyrillic | |
Today Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and China are the main non-Arabic speaking states using the Arabic alphabet to write one or more official national languages, including Azerbaijani, Baluchi, Brahui, Persian, Pashto, Central Kurdish, Urdu, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Punjabi and Uyghur.
An Arabic alphabet is currently used for the following languages:
See also: Arabic alphabet.
With the establishment of Muslim rule in the subcontinent, one or more forms of the Arabic script were incorporated among the assortment of scripts used for writing native languages.[38] In the 20th century, the Arabic script was generally replaced by the Latin alphabet in the Balkans, parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, while in the Soviet Union, after a brief period of Latinisation,[39] use of Cyrillic was mandated. Turkey changed to the Latin alphabet in 1928 as part of an internal Westernizing revolution. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, many of the Turkic languages of the ex-USSR attempted to follow Turkey's lead and convert to a Turkish-style Latin alphabet. However, renewed use of the Arabic alphabet has occurred to a limited extent in Tajikistan, whose language's close resemblance to Persian allows direct use of publications from Afghanistan and Iran.[40]
See main article: Arabic script in Unicode. As of Unicode version=15.1, the following ranges encode Arabic characters:
Most languages that use alphabets based on the Arabic alphabet use the same base shapes. Most additional letters in languages that use alphabets based on the Arabic alphabet are built by adding (or removing) diacritics to existing Arabic letters. Some stylistic variants in Arabic have distinct meanings in other languages. For example, variant forms of kāf are used in some languages and sometimes have specific usages. In Urdu and some neighbouring languages, the letter Hā has diverged into two forms dō-čašmī hē and gōl hē, while a variant form of yā referred to as baṛī yē is used at the end of some words.[45]