Umê (in Tibetan pronounced as /ume/; variant spellings include ume, u-me) is a semi-formal script used to write the Tibetan alphabet used for both calligraphy and shorthand. The name ume means "headless" and refers to its distinctive feature: the absence of the horizontal guide line ('head') across the top of the letters. Between syllables, the tseg mark often appears as a vertical stroke, rather than the shorter 'dot'-like mark in some other scripts. There are two main kinds of umê writing: