Writing Systems

List of Writing Systems

This list showcases a diverse array of writing systems used throughout history and across cultures. Each system reflects unique linguistic and artistic traditions that have shaped human communication.

171 itemsUpdated Mar 13, 2026

This list compiles 192 distinct writing systems from around the world, encompassing ancient scripts, alphabets, and logographic systems. It serves as a comprehensive reference to the diverse methods humans have developed to visually represent language.

#	Name
1	cuneiform ancient writing system used for many languages, including Akkadian and Hittite
2	Chinese characters logographic writing system with Han origin used in the Sinosphere for Chinese, Japanese, Korean and traditional Vietnamese languages
3	Cyrillic script writing system developed in Bulgaria and used for various oriental Eurasian languages
4	Latin script writing system used to write most Western, Northern and Central European languages
7	Batak script writing system used for several Batak languages
8	Nüshu extinct Chinese script used exclusively by ethnic Yao women
10	Jawi Arabic alphabet adapted to write Malay, Indonesian, Javanese, Ida’an, Acehnese (or Achinese), Banjar, Minangkabau, Tausug (or Sulu), Musi, and several other languages of South East Asia
12	Egyptian hieroglyphs formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians
13	Shahmukhi writing system for Punjabi using a Perso-Arabic based script
14	Beria Erfe bicameral alphabetic script, also known with the name “Beria Giray Erfe” or “Zaghawa”, used since the 1950s for writing the Zaghawa (or Beria, Bera) language in Sudan and Chad
15	Glagolitic oldest known Slavic alphabet
16	Japanese writing system various writing systems used Japanese, using or mixing Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji characters, inherited or derived from Chinese ideographic characters
18	Ol Chiki alphabetic script for Santal, invented in 1925 by Raghunath Murmu and publicized in 1939
19	Egyptian hieratic cursive writing system used in the provenance of the pharaohs in Egypt and Nubia
21	Adinkra symbols Ghanaian symbols that represent concepts or aphorisms
22	Hebrew square script
23	Pahawh Hmong indigenous semi-syllabic script, invented to write two Hmong languages spoken in Laos
24	cursive Hebrew handwritten style of Hebrew letters
25	Medew Netcher ancient Egyptian writing system
26	Singapore Chinese characters writing system for Mandarin Chinese, as used in Singapore
27	Hanja Korean language characters of Chinese origin
29	Pe̍h-ōe-jī latin-character transcription system for Southern Min
30	Wrangel noble family
31	Idu script a Korean language writing system
32	Taiwanese kana writing system for Taiwanese Hokkien based on katakana, used during the colonial era (1896–1945)
33	gugyeol system for rendering texts written in Classical Chinese into understandable Korean
34	Hyangchal archaic writing system for transcribing the Korean language in hanja
35	Celtiberian ancient writing system from the Iberian peninsula
36	Avestan alphabet mainly used in Zoroastrian scriptures to transcribe the old Avestan language
37	Balinese indigenous script of Balinese used in Bali
38	Wylie transliteration method for transliterating Tibetan script
39	standard form of national characters standardized form of Chinese characters by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
41	Jurchen writing system of Jurchen people
43	Chinese bronze inscriptions writing in a variety of Chinese scripts in inscriptions on Chinese ritual bronzes (e.g. zhōng bells, dǐng tripodal cauldrons) from the Shang dynasty to the Zhou dynasty and later
44	Banpo Neolithic signs marks inscribed on Chinese Neolithic pottery
45	Kawi script ancient Javanese abugida
47	Latin script in Unicode characters from the Latin script encoded in the Unicode Standard
48	shinjitai modern simplified form of kanji characters used in Japan after 1946
49	Meyer–Wempe system of the romanisation of Cantonese
50	Khutsuri old cased script used to write Georgian, with Asomtavruli alphabet for traditional inscriptions or uppercase letters of religious manuscripts, and Nuskhuri alphabet for lowercase letters; used in the 9th to 13th centuries
51	Early Steppean script
52	Carpathian Basin Rovas
53	kyūjitai traditional form of kanji used before 1946
54	Naxi Dongba pictographic writing system
55	CJK collective term for the Chinese, Japanese, Korean ideographic writing systems
56	Proto-Rovas
57	Rovas scripts
58	Rasm Arabic writing script
59	Garshuni Arabic writings using the Syriac alphabet
60	Steinheil script
61	Pahlavi scripts abjad-based writing systems used for Middle Iranian languages
62	Lao abugida script for the Lao language
63	Paleohispanic scripts writing systems used before the Latin alphabet
64	Libyc script abjad writing system
65	Inuktitut syllabics abugida-type writing system used in Canada
68	Russian orthography before 1918 spelling of the Russian language before 1918
69	written Cantonese Cantonese written tradition
70	Linear Elamite writing system from Elam
71	Okinawan scripts Historical orthography of the Okinawan language
72	Meetei Mayek writing system used to write Meitei language
73	Cursive hieroglyphs handwritten Egyptian hieroglyphs
74	Malachim artificial script used in occultism
75	Masaba
76	Arebica Bosnian Arabic script
77	English orthography Latin script-based orthography of the English language
78	Skoropis a type of Cyrillic handwriting that developed from semi-ustav in the second half of the 14th century
79	Aṅga-lipi one of 64 script(ure)s in Lalitavistara
80	Romanized Ottoman Turkish
81	Sanskrit writing systems
82	Malayanma script writing system
83	Aragonese writing systems
86	Old Mon script abugida
87	Sidetic unicameral alphabet written right-to-left, used to transcribe the Sidetic language
88	Lao Tham script
89	Shan abugida used for writing Tai Pong in China and Tai Yai in Myanmar
90	Yaryzhka orthography of the Ukrainian language prior to the Russian Revolution
91	Old Italic group of similar ancient pre-Roman alphabets used on the Italian peninsula (Etruscan, Oscan, Umbrian, South Picene, North Italic, Venetic, etc.)
92	Khom script writing system used by a religious rebellion in Laos
93	Pazend Middle Persian writing system
94	Ojibwe writing system writing system
95	Great Lakes Algonquian syllabary writing system
96	Guanhua zimu Chinese phonetic script created by Wang Zhao
97	Khitan large script logographic writing system
98	Khitan small script logographic writing system used by the Khitan people to transcribe the Khitan and Jurchen languages in medieval China
99	Pushkarasari undeciphered ancient script, discovered in the historic Gandhara region, with apparent similarities with the Brahmi and Kharosthi abugidas and some sinograms
100	Koleluttu language script that uses Abugida writing system
101	Wu Chinese characters Chinese characters used in the Wu Chinese language
102	KtbDarija Project to unify the writing system of Moroccan Darija
103	Kulitan Brahmic script
104	Langdi writing system
105	Naxi script writing system used to write naxi
106	Mahajani language script that uses Abugida writing system
107	Church Romanisation Romanization writing system of several Chinese dialects
108	Prachalit Nepal script
109	Lampung writing system used for writing Lampungic languages
110	Turai Scripture from the Iban
111	oracle bone script precursor of Chinese characters
112	si5s writing system for American Sign Language
113	Testerian pictoral writing system used to proselytize Christianity to indigenous Mexican peoples
114	Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols extension of Bopomofo (Zhuyin) to represent Taiwanese Hokkien and other languages
115	Jurchen large script
116	Ba–Shu scripts undeciphered scripts found in Sichuan
117	Ahiru script one of the Jindai Moji scripts
118	Zapotec writing writing system of Oaxaca
119	Aroko prehistoric written language
120	Tai Viet standardized script for the Tai Dam, Thai Song, Tai Dón and Tai Daeng languages
121	curial script
122	Ukrainian orthography of 1918-1921
123	Intersteno Shorthand by Felix von Kunowski
124	Safo Pasigraphy system by André Eckardt
125	Buda script Archaic script used in Java and Bali
126	Ryukyuan Chinese characters
127	Balhae script controversial supposed characters used by the Balhae Kingdom
128	Sukhothai script early Thai script, said to be invented by King Ramkhamhaeng of Siam
129	Ariyaka script a writing system for Pāli in Thailand
130	pureosseugi alternative orthography for Korean, where jamo are layed out linearly instead of being composed into syllable blocks; e.g. ㅎㅏㄴㄱㅡㄹ instead of 한글
131	Sumerian writing cuneiform writing system
132	Thamudic script
133	Sabaean script
134	Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform variant of cuneiform used for the Akkadian language
135	Aryan script
136	Simplified Chinese written Chinese language using a simplified set of Chinese characters, used in People's Republic of China, Singapore, Malaysia
137	Old Hangul Hangul jamo no longer used in modern Korean
138	standard hanzi in mainland China orthodox sinogram used in mainland China based on Xin Zixing
139	Sibe writing system used for Sibe
140	Lisu syllabary
141	Urartian cuneiform
142	Iberian scripts writing systems
143	Masaram Gondi language script that uses Abugida writing system
144	Kamarupi writing system and abugida, also known as Gaudi or ancient Assamese
145	Traditional Chinese written Chinese language using a traditional set of Chinese characters, used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau
146	Leke script
147	Duota
148	Hàn-lô Southern Min writing system that switches between Chinese characters and latin letters
149	Nwagu Aneke script writing system
150	littera cursiva
151	littera hybrida
152	Raetic script
153	Ianzewxua Ladinxua Zmubiaw
154	Valentinian Exposition
155	Hismaic language
156	Neo-Tifinagh modern alphabetical derivative of the traditional script Tifinagh
157	Hutton Hmu script
158	Taiwanese Hangul orthography system for Taiwanese language
159	Tanchangya script abugida script used to write Tanchangya language in Bangladesh
160	Lahu writing systems
161	Yi writing systems
162	proto-Elamite script script used for writing Elamite language in the early Bronze Age
163	Venetic script
164	Thai spelling reform of 1942 attempted orthographic reform of the Thai language. initiated by first Phibunsongkhram cabinet (in use: 1942–1944)
165	Tai Noi script brahmic script historically used in Laos and Isan
166	Sindhi Perso-Arabic script modified and extended Perso-Arabic orthography for Sindhi
167	Litumol script writing system
168	Han with Bopomofo mixed script system which may alternate between the Han ideographic script and the Bopomofo semi-syllabary
169	Massachusett writing systems systems for writing the Native American language Massachusett
170	Cantonese Hangul orthography system for Cantonese language
171	Lota script
172	ASLwrite transcription method for ASL
173	Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong writing system
174	Wancho script unicameral alphabet
175	Holojigak proposed writing system for Southern Min Chinese
176	Mon–Burmese script writing system used for various languages of Myanmar
177	Dunging script semi-syllabary script
178	Aksara Batak Toba writing system used for writing several languages of North sumatra, Samosir
179	Ukrainian orthography of 2019 2019 spelling reform of the Ukrainian language
182	Aravrit writing system
183	Cacarakan script script based on Javanese characters used for writing the Sundanese language
185	Book Pahlavi writing system
186	Old Sogdian writing system
187	Makasar script historical script used to write Makassarese
188	Devanagari

This list is compiled from verified public records and reference sources. Last verified: March 13, 2026.

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