Languages · Curated list
International Phonetic Alphabet, Cyrillic script, Greek alphabet and 27 more, ranked by how much of the world has written about each one.
Most written-about first. Each description summarises the writing system's Wikipedia article, which its name links to.
1
System of phonetic notation
Usually shortened to IPA, a system of phonetic notation built mainly on the Latin script. The International Phonetic Association created it, beginning in the late 19th century, as a standard way to write down the sounds of speech.
2
Writing system
A writing system that various languages across Eurasia are written in. It is the official national script of various countries speaking Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic languages in Southeastern and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central, North and East Asia, and many minority languages use it too.
3
Script used to write the Greek language
The alphabet in which Greek has been written ever since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It grew from the older Phoenician alphabet, and is the earliest known alphabet to write vowels systematically as well as consonants.
4
Alphabet of the Arabic language
Also called the Arabic abjad, the Arabic script in the form codified specifically for writing Arabic. It is unicameral, written in a cursive style from right to left, and has 28 letters, most of which change form with their context.
5
Logographic writing system
Logographs used to write the Chinese languages, and other languages of regions historically shaped by Chinese culture, such as Vietnam, Korea and Japan. Of the four writing systems scholars accept as independently invented, they are the only one still in continuous use.
Wikidata · Photo: User:Kjoonlee , User:Tomchen1989, APL
6
Writing system
Also called the Roman script, a writing system whose letters are those of the classical Latin alphabet, which came from a form of the Greek alphabet used in Cumae, an ancient Greek city of Magna Graecia. The Etruscans altered the Greek alphabet, and the Ancient Romans then altered theirs.
7
8
Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent
An Indic script of the Indian subcontinent, also called simply Nāgarī: an abugida written from left to right and based on the ancient Brāhmī script.
Wikidata · Photo: Symphonicallyu, CC0
9
Romanization scheme for Standard Chinese
The Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, usually called Hanyu Pinyin or just pinyin (pīnyīn): the romanisation system most used for Standard Chinese. Hanyu literally means 'Han language', that is, Chinese, and pinyin 'spelled sounds'.
10
11
Alphabet of the Hebrew language
Also called the aleph-bet, and by scholars the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script or block script: a unicameral abjad used to write Hebrew. Alphabets based on it write other Jewish languages too, above all Judeo-Persian, Judeo-Arabic, Ladino and Yiddish.
Wikidata · Photo: see en:Aleppo Codex ; scanned by http://www.aleppocodex.org, Public domain
12
13
Chinese characters used in Japanese writing
Logographic Chinese characters, adapted over time from Chinese writing, used to write Japanese. They were a major part of Japanese writing in the time of Old Japanese and are still used, together with katakana and hiragana, the syllabic (phonographic) scripts later derived from them.
Wikidata · Photo: The original uploader was Cloned67 at Italian Wikipedia ., Public domain
14
Writing system of the ancient Near East
A script mixing word signs and syllable signs, in which several languages of the ancient Near East were written; people used it from early in the Bronze Age right up to the 1st century BC.
Wikidata · Photo: Unknown author, Public domain
15
Japanese syllabary
A Japanese syllabary, one part of the Japanese writing system together with kanji and hiragana, and in some cases the Latin script.
Wikidata · Photo: Unknown author, Public domain
Alphabet of the Latin language
The letters the ancient Romans used to write Classical Latin, later extended with lower-case letters for Medieval Latin. Vernacular languages drove its growth into the core modern set of 26 letters.
17
Ancient Egyptian writing system
The formal writing system of Ancient Egypt, used for the Egyptian language. It mixed alphabetic, syllabic, logographic and ideographic elements, with over 1,000 different characters.
18
Writing system used c. 1050 to 146 BC
An abjad used across Phoenicia, the Mediterranean civilisation, for most of the 1st millennium BC. One of the first alphabets, it is found in Aramaic and Canaanite inscriptions around the Mediterranean basin.
Wikidata · Photo: oncenawhile, CC BY-SA 3.0
19
Alphabet used to write the Armenian language
Also, more broadly, the Armenian script, an alphabetic writing system created for Armenian and occasionally used for other languages. Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian church leader and linguist, developed it around 405 AD.
20
Ancient Germanic letters
The letters of a set of related alphabets, called runic alphabets, rune-rows or futharks, native to the Germanic peoples. They mostly stood for sounds (phonemes), but were also used for the concepts they are named after.
Wikidata · Photo: Template:Asztalos Gyula, Public domain
.svg?width=800)
21
Standardized set of Chinese characters
One of the two standard sets of characters for writing Chinese, the other being traditional characters. Their wide adoption in the 20th century was part of the People’s Republic of China's (PRC) drive to spread literacy.
22
Three related alphabets used to write Georgian
The three systems for writing Georgian: Mkhedruli, Nuskhuri and Asomtavruli. They look different, but their letters have the same names and alphabetical order, and all are written horizontally from left to right.
Wikidata · Photo: Emperor of Emperors, CC BY-SA 4.0
23
Ancient script of Central and South Asia
An ancient Indian script that is already fully formed when it first appears, in the 3rd century BCE. The scripts descended from it, called Brahmic, are still written today across Southeastern and South Asia.
Wikidata · Photo: Symphonicallyu, CC0
24
Chinese characters used in Korean writing
Also spelled Hancha, Chinese characters used in writing Korean. They first reached Korea as the script of Literary Chinese, and by the time of Gojoseon they had already been adapted to Korean itself.
Wikidata · Photo: Psiĥedelisto, Public domain
.png?width=800)
25
Standardized set of Chinese characters
One of the two standard sets of characters for writing Chinese, the other being simplified characters. Until the mid-20th century they dominated written Chinese, long the lingua franca of East Asia.
26
Writing system
The writing system of Arabic and of several other languages of Africa and Asia. It is the world's second most used alphabetic system, second too by number of countries that use it, and third by number of users.
Wikidata · Photo: Unknown Calligrapher, Public domain
27
Japanese syllabic writing systems
Syllabaries that write the phonological units of Japanese, called morae. Today kana usually means katakana and hiragana.
Wikidata · Photo: Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241), Public domain
28
Tibetan writing system
A segmental writing system, or abugida, belonging to the Brahmic scripts and used for some Tibetic languages, among them Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, Jirel and Balti. Its exact origins are still researched, but tradition says Thonmi Sambhota created it for King Songtsen Gampo.
Wikidata · Photo: Symphonicallyu, CC0
29
30
Oldest known Slavic alphabet
The oldest Slavic alphabet known. Scholars broadly agree that Cyril, a Christian monk from Thessalonica, created it in the 9th century to translate Greek liturgical texts into Old Church Slavonic.
Wikidata · Photo: Trubar, Primož [editor] Anton Dalmatin [translator] Consul, Stephan [translator], Public domain
Every Wikidata item that is a writing system, or a kind of one, and that has its own English Wikipedia article, ranked by the number of Wikimedia sites with a page about it — Wikipedia's language editions, mostly, and sister projects such as Wikiquote. That counts how many communities independently thought it worth describing, and nobody can buy a place on it. The top 30 are shown.
Wikidata files these under this list's query, but they are not what the list is about:
Fetched from Wikidata on 2026-09-25. Each description is this site's summary of the entry's Wikipedia article, which its name links to: the wording is ours, the facts are Wikipedia's, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. To correct an entry, correct it there; the next refresh carries the change.
If you are reading this on the way somewhere: Computatus eSIM sells prepaid data eSIMs for 190 countries, installed by QR code before you leave, so maps, tickets and messages work without a roaming bill.
| Country | Cheapest plan | Price | Order |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 1GB per day | $2.33 | Get it → |
| France | 2GB per day | $2.15 | Get it → |
| Italy | 2GB per day | $1.81 | Get it → |
| United Kingdom | 2GB per day | $1.81 | Get it → |
| Germany | 2GB per day | $1.81 | Get it → |
| Canada | 1GB per day | $2.47 | Get it → |
| India | 1GB per day | $3.26 | Get it → |
| Australia | 1GB per day | $1.79 | Get it → |
See all Computatus eSIM plans →
A commission on plans bought through these links is what pays for this site. Nothing above depends on it: every entry is chosen and ranked before any price is looked up.
.svg){kind=link}
.png){kind=link}
![Trubar, Primož [editor] Anton Dalmatin [translator] Consul, Stephan [translator]](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tabla_Za_Dicu_03.jpg){kind=link}