Arabic script
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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 alphabet), the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or...
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Script type primarily, alphabet

Time period

4th century CE to the present[1]Official script

20 sovereign states

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Co-official script in:

9 sovereign states

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LanguagesSee belowRelated scripts

Parent systems

Child systems

N'Ko

Thaana

Hanifi script

Persian alphabetISO 15924ISO 15924Arab (160), ​ArabicUnicode

Unicode alias

Arabic

U+0600–U+06FF Arabic

U+0750–U+077F Arabic Supplement

U+08A0–U+08FF Arabic Extended-A

U+0870–U+089F Arabic Extended-B

U+10EC0–U+10EFF Arabic Extended-C

U+FB50–U+FDFF Arabic Pres. Forms-A

U+FE70–U+FEFF Arabic Pres. Forms-B

U+1EE00–U+1EEFF Arabic Mathematical...

U+1EC70–U+1ECBF Indic Siyaq Numbers

U+1ED00–U+1ED4F Ottoman Siyaq Numbers

U+10E60–U+10E7F Rumi Numeral Symbols

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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 alphabet), the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or a script directly derived from it, and the third-most by number of users (after the Latin and Chinese scripts).

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), Malay (Jawi), Uyghur, Kurdish, Punjabi (Shahmukhi), Sindhi, Balti, Balochi, Pashto, Lurish, Urdu, Kashmiri, Rohingya, Somali and Mandinka, Mooré among others. Until the 16th century, it was also used for some Spanish texts, and—prior to the language reform in 1928—it was the writing system of Turkish.

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. However, the basic letter form remains unchanged. The script does not have capital letters. 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 Sorani, Uyghur, Mandarin, and Serbo-Croatian, being alphabets. It is also the basis for the tradition of Arabic calligraphy.

Overview[]

the Arabic alphabet خ ‎ ح ‎ ج ‎ ث ‎ ت ‎ ب ‎ ا ‎ khā’ ḥā’ jīm tha’ tā’ bā’ alif ص ‎ ش ‎ س ‎ ز ‎ ر ‎ ذ ‎ د ‎ ṣād shīn sīn zāy /

zayn rā’ dhāl dāl ق ‎ ف ‎ غ ‎ ع ‎ ظ ‎ ط ‎ ض ‎ qāf fā’ ghayn ‘ayn ẓā’ ṭā’ ḍād ي ‎ و ‎ ه ‎ ن ‎ م ‎ ل ‎ ك ‎ yā’ wāw hā’ nūn mīm lām kāf 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

Gallery[]

See also[]

Arabic language

Arabic numerals

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Arabic script