Arabic alphabet

E38326

The Arabic alphabet is a cursive, right-to-left abjad script used across the Arab world and adapted for many other languages, including Persian, Urdu, and Pashto.

All labels observed (6)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (91)

Predicate Object
instanceOf abjad
writing system
associatedWithReligion Islam
derivedFrom Nabataean alphabet
hasAdditionalLettersForPersian 4
hasAdditionalLettersForUrdu several additional letters
hasContextualLetterForms yes
hasCoreLetters 28
hasDiacritics shadda
short vowel marks
sukun
tanwin
hasFinalForm yes
hasInitialForm yes
hasIsolatedForm yes
hasLetter alif
baʼ
dal
dhal
faʼ
ghayn
haʼ
jim
kaf
khaʼ
lam
mim
nun
qaf
raʼ
shin
sin
taʼ
thaʼ
waw
yaʼ
zay
ʿayn
ḍad
ḥaʼ
ṣad
ṭaʼ
ẓaʼ
hasLetterCount 28 basic letters
hasLigature lam-alif
hasMedialForm yes
hasTransliterationSystems multiple Latin-based systems
hasUppercaseLowercaseDistinction no
ISO15924Code Arab
primaryUse writing the Arabic language
religiousUse Islamic calligraphy
writing the Quran
scriptType cursive
standardizationBody Academy of the Arabic Language (various national academies)
ultimatelyDerivedFrom Aramaic alphabet (historically)
surface form: Aramaic alphabet
unicodeBlock Arabic
Arabic Extended-A
Arabic Extended-B
Arabic Supplement
usedFor Arabic
surface form: Arabic language

Balochi
surface form: Baluchi language

Berber languages (Ajami)
Fula language
surface form: Fulani language (Ajami)

Hausa
surface form: Hausa language (Ajami)

Jawi script
Kashmiri language
Kurdish language
Malay language
Malayalam
surface form: Malayalam language (Arabi-Malayalam)

Mande languages
surface form: Mandinka language (Ajami)

Ottoman Turkish
surface form: Ottoman Turkish language

Pashto language
Persian language
Shahmukhi script
surface form: Punjabi language (Shahmukhi)

Saraiki
surface form: Saraiki language

Sindhi
surface form: Sindhi language

Swahili language (Ajami)
Urdu language
Uyghur Arabic alphabet
surface form: Uyghur language

Wolof
surface form: Wolof language (Ajami)
usedForNumberSystem Abjad numerals
usedInRegion Arab world
Middle East
North Africa
parts of Central Asia
parts of South Asia
parts of Southeast Asia
vowelRepresentation optional diacritics
writingCategory consonant-based script
writingDirection right-to-left
writingSystemFamily Arabic script

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (202)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Nogai language historicalWritingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Chenoui writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Tacenwit hasWritingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Maranao language script Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Tisiway writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Ziauddin writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Zenati writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Mālaqa script Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Peninsular Arabic writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Idris (Arabic name) writingSystem Arabic alphabet
Abjad numerals usesAlphabet Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Urdu alphabet
Southern Najdi Arabic writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Jhelumi writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Pothohari writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Damascene Arabic writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
development of the six classical scripts (al-aqlam al-sitta) appliesTo Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Serhedi writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Al-Hinakiya writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Qubee orthography replacedWritingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Osmanya script influencedBy Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Thadiq writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Ayman writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Susu writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Zawia writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Asayish scriptUsedForName Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Hasakah writingSystemOfName Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Hofuf writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
East African languages hasWritingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Ajami script basedOn Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Malek hasScriptOfOrigin Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Malika writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Ormur writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Harari language historicallyWrittenWith Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Shirin writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Munji writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Iraqi people writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Karluk languages writingSystemUsed Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Dom people scriptUsedForLanguage Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Mozarabs wroteInScript Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Afif writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Kamkata-vari writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Pashayi languages script Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Hubuna writingSystemUsed Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Tachelhit writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Al-Doha writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Furawi hasWritingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Konjara hasWritingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Awni script Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Yakan people traditionalWritingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script
Bahri writingSystem Arabic alphabet
this entity surface form: Arabic script