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[[File:Writing systems worldwide.svg|460px|thumb
 | {{Navbox with columns |border=none |style=font-size:90%;
    | abovestyle = background:transparent;font-size:110%;padding:0;font-weight:bold;
    | above = Predominant national and selected regional or minority scripts
    | colheaderstyle=padding:0.15em 0.15em 0.25em;font-weight:normal; |colstyle=white-space:nowrap;
    | col1header = Abjad
    | col1 = {{legend|#008000|Arabic}} {{legend|#00FF7F|[[Social:Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]]}} {{legend|#00FF40|Tifinagh}}
    | col2header = Abugida
    | col2 = {{legend|#FFFF80|Canadian syllabic}} {{legend|#803F00|Ethiopic}} {{legend|#FFC000|North Indic}} {{legend|#FF8000|South Indic}} {{legend|#808000|Thaana}}
    | col3header = [[Social:Alphabet|Alphabet]]ic
    | col3 = {{legend|#1E90FF|Armenian}} {{legend|#008080|[[Social:Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]]}} {{legend|#00FFFF|Georgian}} {{legend|#0000FF|Greek}} {{legend|#FF00FF|Hangul}} {{legend|#AAA|Latin}} {{legend|#FF7E7E|[[Social:Mongolian script|Mongolian]]}}
    | col4header = {{longitem|[L]ogographic<br />and [S]yllabic}}
    | col4 = {{legend|#9B0000|[[Social:Chinese characters|Hanzi]] {{smaller|[L]}}}} {{legend|#F40000|Kana {{smaller|[S]}}{{\}}[[Social:Kanji|Kanji]] {{smaller|[L]}}{{nbsp|2}}}}
   }}
]]
[[File:World alphabets & writing systems.svg|thumb|460px|Writing systems of the world today.]]
{{Special characters}}

This is a '''list of [[Social:Writing system|writing system]]s''' (or '''scripts'''), classified according to some common distinguishing features.

The usual name of the script is given first; the name of the [[Social:Language|language(s)]] in which the script is written follows (in brackets), particularly in the case where the language name differs from the script name. Other informative or qualifying annotations for the script may also be provided.

==Pictographic/ideographic writing systems==
Ideographic scripts (in which graphemes are [[Ideogram|ideogram]]s representing concepts or ideas rather than a specific word in a language) and pictographic scripts (in which the graphemes are iconic pictures) are not thought to be able to express all that can be communicated by language, as argued by the linguists John DeFrancis and J. Marshall Unger.  Essentially, they postulate that no ''full'' writing system can be completely pictographic or ideographic; it must be able to refer directly to a language in order to have the full expressive capacity of a language.  Unger disputes claims made on behalf of [[Blissymbols]] in his 2004 book ''Ideogram''.

Although a few pictographic or ideographic scripts exist today, there is no single way to read them because there is no one-to-one correspondence between symbol and language.  Hieroglyphs were commonly thought to be ideographic before they were translated, and to this day, Chinese is often erroneously said to be ideographic.<ref>Halliday, M.A.K., ''Spoken and written language,'' Deakin University Press, 1985, p.19</ref> In some cases of ideographic scripts, only the author of a text can read it with any certainty, and it may be said that they are ''interpreted'' rather than read.  Such scripts often work best as mnemonic aids for oral texts or as outlines that will be fleshed out in speech.
*Adinkra
*[[Social:Aztec script|Aztec script]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Nahuatl|Nahuatl]] (includes syllabic and logographic elements)
*Birch-bark glyphs{{spaced ndash}}[[Biography:Ojibwe language|Anishinaabemowin]]
*Dongba{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Naxi language|Naxi]]{{spaced ndash}} Although this is often supplemented with syllabic Geba script.
*[[Emoji]] – used in electronic messages and web pages.
*[[Social:Ersu Shaba script|Ersu ''Shābā'']] – [[Social:Ersu language|Ersu]]
*[[Kaidā glyphs]]
*Lusona
*Nsibidi{{spaced ndash}} Ekoi, Efik/Ibibio, [[Social:Igbo language|Igbo]]
*Siglas poveiras
*Suckerfish script{{spaced ndash}} Mi'kmawi'sit{{spaced ndash}} Does have phonetic components, however.
*Testerian – used for missionary work in Mexico.

There are also symbol systems used to represent things other than language, or to represent constructed languages. Some of these are:

*[[Blissymbols]] – A constructed ideographic script used primarily in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).
*[[IConji|iConji]] – A constructed ideographic script used primarily in social networking
*[[Isotype (picture language)]]
*A wide variety of [[Notation|notation]]s

[[Social:Linear B|Linear B]] also incorporates ideograms.

==Logographic writing systems==
In logographic writing systems, glyphs represent words or [[Social:Morpheme|morpheme]]s (meaningful components of words, as in ''mean-ing-ful'') rather than phonetic elements.

No logographic script is composed solely of logograms. All contain graphemes that represent phonetic (sound-based) elements as well. These phonetic elements may be used on their own (to represent, for example, grammatical inflections or foreign words), or may serve as phonetic complements to a logogram (used to specify the sound of a logogram that might otherwise represent more than one word). In the case of Chinese, the phonetic element is built into the logogram itself; in Egyptian and Mayan, many glyphs are purely phonetic, whereas others function as either logograms or phonetic elements, depending on context. For this reason, many such scripts may be more properly referred to as logosyllabic or complex scripts; the terminology used is largely a product of custom in the field, and is to an extent arbitrary.

===Consonant-based logographies===
*Hieroglyphic, [[Social:Hieratic|Hieratic]], and Demotic – the writing systems of Ancient Egypt
**[[Social:Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian hieroglyphs]]
***List of Egyptian hieroglyphs by common name

===Syllable-based logographies===
*Anatolian hieroglyphs – [[Social:Luwian language|Luwian]]
*Cuneiform – [[Social:Sumerian language|Sumerian]], [[Social:Akkadian language|Akkadian]], other Semitic languages, [[Social:Elamite language|Elamite]], [[Social:Hittite language|Hittite]], [[Social:Luwian language|Luwian]], Hurrian, and [[Social:Urartian language|Urartian]]
*Chinese characters (Hanzi) – [[Social:Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Social:Japanese language|Japanese]] (called [[Social:Kanji|Kanji]]), [[Social:Korean language|Korean]] (called [[Social:Hanja|Hanja]]), [[Social:Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] (called Chu Nom, obsolete)
**[[Social:Sawndip|Sawndip]] – [[Social:Zhuang languages|Zhuang]]
**[[Social:Khitan large script|Khitan large script]] – [[Social:Khitan language|Khitan]]
**[[Social:Khitan small script|Khitan small script]] – [[Social:Khitan language|Khitan]]
**[[Social:Jurchen script|Jurchen script]] – [[Social:Jurchen language|Jurchen]]
**[[Social:Tangut script|Tangut script]] – [[Social:Tangut language|Tangut]] 
*Eghap (or Bagam) script
*[[Social:Maya script|Mayan]] – Chorti, [[Social:Yucatec Maya language|Yucatec]], and other Classic Maya languages
*[[Social:Sui script|Sui script]] – [[Social:Sui language|Sui language]]
*Yi (classical) – various Yi/Lolo languages

==Syllabaries==<!-- This section is linked from Syllabary -->
In a syllabary, graphemes represent syllables or moras. (The 19th-century term ''syllabics'' usually referred to ''abugidas'' rather than true syllabaries.)

*Afaka{{spaced ndash}} Ndyuka
*Alaska or Yugtun script{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Yupik languages|Central Yup'ik]]
*Bété
*Cherokee{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Cherokee language|Cherokee]]
*[[Social:Cypriot syllabary|Cypriot]]{{spaced ndash}} Arcadocypriot Greek
*Geba{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Naxi language|Naxi]]
*[[Social:Iban language#Writing system|Iban]] or Dunging script{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Iban language|Iban]]
*Kana{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Japanese language|Japanese]] (although primarily based on moras rather than syllables)
**Hiragana
**Katakana
**Man'yōgana
*Kikakui – Mende
*Kpelle{{spaced ndash}} Kpelle
*[[Social:Linear B|Linear B]]{{spaced ndash}} Mycenean Greek
*[[Social:Lisu language#Lisu syllabary|Lisu Bamboo script]] 
*Loma{{spaced ndash}} Loma
*[[Social:Bambara language#Writing|Masaba]] – [[Social:Bambara language|Bambara]]
*[[Social:Nüshu|Nüshu]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Chinese language|Chinese]]
*Nwagu Aneke script{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Igbo language|Igbo]]
*Vai{{spaced ndash}} Vai
*[[Social:Woleai script|Woleaian]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Woleaian language|Woleaian]] (a likely syllabary)
*Yi (modern){{spaced ndash}} various [[Social:Nuosu language|Yi/Lolo languages]]

===Semi-syllabaries: Partly syllabic, partly alphabetic scripts===
In most of these systems, some consonant-vowel combinations are written as syllables, but others are written as consonant plus vowel. In the case of Old Persian, all vowels were written regardless, so it was ''effectively'' a true alphabet despite its syllabic component. In Japanese a similar system plays a minor role in foreign borrowings; for example, [tu] is written [to]+[u], and [ti] as [te]+[i]. Paleohispanic semi-syllabaries behaved as a syllabary for the stop consonants and as an [[Social:Alphabet|alphabet]] for the rest of consonants and vowels.

The Tartessian or Southwestern script is typologically intermediate between a pure alphabet and the Paleohispanic full semi-syllabaries. Although the letter used to write a stop consonant was determined by the following vowel, as in a full semi-syllabary, the following vowel was also written, as in an alphabet. Some scholars treat Tartessian as a redundant semi-syllabary, others treat it as a redundant alphabet. Zhuyin is semi-syllabic in a different sense: it transcribes half syllables. That is, it has letters for syllable onsets and rimes ''(kan = "k-an")'' rather than for consonants and vowels ''(kan = "k-a-n").''

*[[Bamum script]]{{spaced ndash}}Bamum (a defective syllabary, with alphabetic principles used to fill the gaps)
*[[Social:Bopomofo|Bopomofo or Zhuyin fuhao]]{{spaced ndash}} phonetic script for the different varieties of Chinese.
*Eskayan{{spaced ndash}} Bohol, {{wipe|Philippines}} (a syllabary apparently based on an alphabet; some alphabetic characteristics remain)
*[[Social:Khom script (Ong Kommadam)|Khom script]]{{spaced ndash}} Bahnaric languages, including Alak and Jru'.  (Onset-rime script)
*[[Social:Linear Elamite|Linear Elamite]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Elamite language|Elamite language]]
*[[Social:Paleohispanic scripts|Paleohispanic semi-syllabaries]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Paleo-Hispanic languages|Paleo-Hispanic languages]]
**[[Social:Celtiberian script|Celtiberian script]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Celtiberian language|Celtiberian language]]
**[[Social:Northeastern Iberian script|Northeastern Iberian script]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Iberian language|Iberian language]]
**[[Social:Southeastern Iberian script|Southeastern Iberian script]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Iberian language|Iberian language]]
**Tartessian or Southwestern script{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Tartessian language|Tartessian or Southwestern language]]
*[[Social:Old Persian cuneiform|Old Persian cuneiform]]{{spaced ndash}} Old Persian
*[[Social:History of writing in Vietnam#Quốc Âm Tân Tự|Quốc Âm Tân Tự]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] (Onset-rime script)

==Segmental scripts==
{{anchor|Segmental script}}
A '''segmental script''' has [[Social:Grapheme|grapheme]]s which represent the [[Social:Phoneme|phoneme]]s (basic unit of sound) of a language.

Note that there need not be (and rarely is) a one-to-one correspondence between the graphemes of the script and the phonemes of a language. A phoneme may be represented only by some combination or string of graphemes, the same phoneme may be represented by more than one distinct grapheme, the same grapheme may stand for more than one phoneme, or some combination of all of the above.

Segmental scripts may be further divided according to the types of phonemes they typically record:

===Abjads===
An abjad is a segmental script containing symbols for consonants only, or where vowels are ''optionally'' written with diacritics ("pointing") or only written word-initially.

*[[Social:Ancient North Arabian|Ancient North Arabian]]{{spaced ndash}} Dadanitic, Dumaitic, Hasaitic, Hismaic, Safaitic, Taymanitic, and Thamudic
*[[Social:Ancient South Arabian script|Ancient South Arabian]]{{spaced ndash}} Old South Arabian languages including Himyaritic, [[Social:Hadramautic language|Hadhramautic]], Minaean, [[Social:Sabaean language|Sabaean]] and Qatabanic; also the Ethiopic language [[Social:Geʽez|Geʽez]]. 
*[[Social:Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]], including [[Social:Khwarezmian language#Writing system|Khwarezmian]] ({{sc|aka}} [[Chorasmian (Unicode block)|Chorasmian]]), [[Social:Elymaic|Elymaic]], [[Social:Palmyrene alphabet|Palmyrene]], and Hatran
*Arabic{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Arabic|Arabic]], Azeri, [[Social:Chittagonian language|Chittagonian]] (historically), [[Social:Punjabi language|Punjabi]], Baluchi, [[Social:Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]], [[Social:Pashto|Pashto]], [[Social:Persian language|Persian]], Kurdish (vowels ''obligatory''), [[Social:Sindhi language|Sindhi]], [[Social:Uyghur language|Uighur]] (vowels ''obligatory''), [[Social:Urdu|Urdu]], [[Social:Malay language|Malay]] (as Jawi) and many other languages spoken in [[Earth:Africa|Africa]] and [[Place:Western Asia|Western]], [[Place:Central Asia|Central]], and [[Place:Southeast Asia|Southeast Asia]],
*Hebrew{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and other Jewish languages
*[[Social:Manichaean script|Manichaean script]]
*[[Social:Nabataean alphabet|Nabataean]]{{spaced ndash}} the Nabataeans of [[Earth:Petra|Petra]]
*Pahlavi script{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Middle Persian|Middle Persian]]
**[[Social:Parthian language|Parthian]]
**Psalter
*[[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Phoenician language|Phoenician]] and other [[Place:Canaan|Canaan]]ite languages
*[[Social:Proto-Canaanite alphabet|Proto-Canaanite]]
*[[Social:Sogdian alphabet|Sogdian]]
*Samaritan (Old Hebrew){{spaced ndash}} Aramaic, [[Social:Arabic|Arabic]], and [[Social:Hebrew language|Hebrew]]
*Syriac{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Assyrian Neo-Aramaic|Assyrian Neo-Aramaic]], Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Syriac, Turoyo and other Neo-Aramaic languages
*[[Social:Tifinagh|Tifinagh]]{{spaced ndash}} Tuareg
*[[Social:Ugaritic alphabet|Ugaritic]]{{spaced ndash}} Ugaritic, Hurrian

===True alphabets===
A true [[Social:Alphabet|alphabet]] contains separate letters (not diacritic marks) for both consonants and vowels.

====Linear nonfeatural alphabets====
[[File:Alphabets in Europe.svg|thumb|300px|Writing systems used in countries of Europe.<ref group="note">This maps shows languages official in the respective countries; if a country has an independent breakaway republic, both languages are shown. Moldova's sole official language is Romanian (Latin-based), but the unrecognized de facto independent republic of Transnistria uses three Cyrillic-based languages: Ukrainian, Russian, and Moldovan. Georgia's official languages are Georgian and Abkhazian (in Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia), the sparsely recognized de facto independent republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia use Cyrillic-based languages: Both republics use Russian. Additionally, Abkhazia also uses Abkhaz, and South Ossetia uses Ossetian. Azerbaijan's sole official language is Azerbaijani, but the unrecognized de facto independent republic of Nagorno-Karabakh uses Armenian as its sole language. Additionally, Serbia's sole official language is Cyrillic Serbian, but within the country, Latin script for Serbian is also widely used.</ref>
{{legend|#008000|Greek }}
{{legend|#008080|Greek & Latin ([[Place:Cyprus|Cyprus]])}}
{{legend|#000080|Latin}}
{{legend|#8000C0|Latin & Cyrillic (Bosnia, Serbia, Moldova)}}
{{legend|#FF0000|Cyrillic}}
{{legend|#FF9955|Georgian }}
{{legend|#80B0FF|Latin & Armenian ([[Place:Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan]])}}
{{legend|#FFCC00|Armenian}}]]

''Linear'' alphabets are composed of lines on a surface, such as ink on paper.

*Adlam{{spaced ndash}} Fula
*Armenian{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Armenian language|Armenian]]
*[[Social:Ariyaka script|Ariyaka script]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Pali|Pali]], [[Social:Isan language|Isan]], [[Social:Lao language|Lao]]
*[[Social:Avestan alphabet|Avestan]]{{spaced ndash}} Avestan
*Avoiuli{{spaced ndash}} Raga
*Borama{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Somali language|Somali]]
*Bosančica – Bosnian
*[[Social:Carian alphabets|Carian]]{{spaced ndash}}Carian
*[[Social:Caucasian Albanian alphabet|Caucasian Albanian]]{{spaced ndash}} Caucasian Albanian
*[[Social:Coorgi–Cox alphabet|Coorgi–Cox alphabet]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Kodava language|Kodava]]
*[[Social:Coptic alphabet|Coptic]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Egyptian language|Egyptian]]
*[[Social:Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]]{{spaced ndash}} Eastern South Slavic languages ([[Social:Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] and [[Social:Macedonian language|Macedonian]]), the Western South Slavic [[Social:Serbian language|Serbian]],  Eastern Slavic languages ([[Social:Belarusian language|Belarusian]], [[Social:Russian language|Russian]], [[Social:Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]), the other [[Social:Languages of Russia|languages of Russia]], [[Social:Kazakh language|Kazakh language]], [[Social:Kyrgyz language|Kyrgyz language]], [[Social:Tajik language|Tajik language]], [[Social:Mongolian language|Mongolian language]]. [[Place:Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan]], Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are changing to the Latin alphabet but still have considerable use of Cyrillic. See Languages using Cyrillic.
*[[Social:Deseret alphabet|Deseret alphabet]] – proposed for English but never adopted
*Eclectic shorthand{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:English language|English]]
*[[Social:Elbasan script|Elbasan]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Albanian language|Albanian]]
*[[Social:Fraser alphabet|Fraser]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Lisu language|Lisu]]
*Gabelsberger shorthand{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:German language|German]]
*Garay{{spaced ndash}} Wolof and Mandinka
*Georgian{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Georgian language|Georgian]] and other [[Social:Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian languages]]
*[[Social:Gjirokastër alphabet|Gjirokastër]] (also called Veso Bey){{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Albanian language|Albanian]]
*Glagolitic{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Old Church Slavonic|Old Church Slavonic]]
*[[Social:Gothic alphabet|Gothic]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Gothic language|Gothic]]
*Greek{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Greek language|Greek]], historically a variety of other languages
*[[Social:Hanifi Rohingya script|Hanifi]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Rohingya language|Rohingya]]
*[[International Phonetic Alphabet]]
*Kaddare{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Somali language|Somali]]
*Latin {{sc|aka}} Roman{{spaced ndash}} originally [[Social:Latin language|Latin language]]; most current western and central European languages, [[Social:Turkic languages|Turkic languages]], sub-Saharan African languages, [[Social:Indigenous languages of the Americas|indigenous languages of the Americas]], languages of [[Place:Maritime Southeast Asia|maritime Southeast Asia]] and languages of Oceania use developments of it. Languages using a non-Latin writing system are generally also equipped with [[Social:Romanization|Romanization]] for transliteration or secondary use.
*[[Social:Lycian alphabet|Lycian]]{{spaced ndash}} Lycian
*[[Social:Lydian alphabet|Lydian]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Lydian language|Lydian]]
*[[Social:Manchu alphabet|Manchu]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Manchu language|Manchu]]
*Mandaic{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Mandaic language|Mandaic]] dialect of Aramaic
*[[Medefaidrin]]{{spaced ndash}} also called Obɛri Ɔkaimɛ; used for the religious language of the same name
*[[Social:Mongolian script|Mongolian]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Mongolian language|Mongolian]]
*[[Social:Mundari Bani|Mundari Bani]]{{spaced ndash}} Mundari
*Mru{{spaced ndash}} Mru
*Neo-Tifinagh{{spaced ndash}} Tamazight
*[[Social:Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong|Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Hmong language|Hmong]]
*[[Social:N'Ko script|N'Ko]]{{spaced ndash}} Maninka language, [[Social:Bambara language|Bambara]], Dyula language
*Oduduwa script{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Yoruba language|Yoruba]]
*[[Social:Ogham|Ogham]]{{spaced ndash}} Gaelic, Britannic, [[Social:Pictish language|Pictish]]
*[[Social:Ol Chiki script|Ol Chiki]] {{sc|aka}} Ol Cemet' or Ol Chemet'{{spaced ndash}} Santali
*[[Social:Old Hungarian script|Old Hungarian]] (in Hungarian ''magyar rovásírás'' or ''székely-magyar rovásírás''){{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Hungarian language|Hungarian]]
*Old Italic{{spaced ndash}} a family of connected alphabets for the [[Social:Etruscan language|Etruscan]], Oscan, Umbrian, Messapian, South Picene, Raetic, Venetic, [[Social:Lepontic language|Lepontic]], Camunic languages
*[[Social:Old Permic script|Old Permic]] (also called ''Abur''){{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Komi language|Komi]]
*[[Social:Old Turkic script|Old Turkic]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Old Turkic|Old Turkic]]
*[[Social:Old Uyghur alphabet|Old Uyghur]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Old Uyghur|Old Uyghur]]
*[[Social:Ol Onal|Ol Onal]]{{spaced ndash}} Bhumij Language
*[[Social:Osmanya script|Osmanya]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Somali language|Somali]]
*Pau Cin Hau script{{spaced ndash}} Zomi and other Northern Kuki-Chin languages
*[[Social:Runes|Runes]]{{spaced ndash}} Germanic languages
*Sayaboury (also called Eebee Hmong or ''Ntawv Puaj Txwm''){{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Hmong language|Hmong Daw]]
*[[Social:Sorang Sompeng script|Sorang Sompeng]]{{spaced ndash}} Sora
*[[Social:Tai Lue language|Tai Lue]]{{spaced ndash}} Lue
*Tangsa{{spaced ndash}} Tangsa language
*[[Social:Todhri alphabet|Todhri]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Albanian language|Albanian]]
*[[Social:Kurukh language#Writing systems|Tolong Siki]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Kurukh language|Kurukh]]
*Toto{{spaced ndash}} Toto 
*Unifon – proposed for English, never adopted
*Vah{{spaced ndash}} Bassa 
*[[Social:Vellara alphabet|Vellara]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Albanian language|Albanian]]
*[[Social:Vithkuqi script|Vithkuqi {{sc|aka}} Beitha Kukju]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Albanian language|Albanian]]
*[[Social:Wancho script|Wancho]]{{spaced ndash}} Wancho
*Yezidi{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Kurmanji|Kurmanji]]
*[[Social:Zaghawa script|Zaghawa]]{{spaced ndash}} Zaghawa
*Zoulai{{spaced ndash}} Zou (also has alphasyllabic characteristics)

====Featural linear alphabets====
A featural script has elements that indicate the components of articulation, such as bilabial consonants, fricatives, or back vowels. Scripts differ in how many features they indicate.

*[[Social:ASL-phabet|ASL-phabet]]
*Ditema tsa Dinoko {{sc|aka}} IsiBheqe SoHlamvu for Southern Bantu languages
*Duployan Shorthand
*Gregg Shorthand
*Hangul{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Korean language|Korean]]
*[[Social:Osage alphabet|Osage]]{{spaced ndash}} Osage
*Shavian alphabet – proposed for English, never adopted
*SignWriting and its descendants si5s and ASLwrite for sign languages
*[[Social:Stokoe notation|Stokoe notation]] for [[Social:American Sign Language|American Sign Language]], and its descendant, the Hamburg Notation System or HamNoSys
*[[Social:Tengwar|Tengwar]] (a fictional script)
*[[Social:Visible Speech|Visible Speech]] (a phonetic script)

====Linear alphabets arranged into syllabic blocks====
*Hangul{{spaced ndash}}[[Social:Korean language|Korean]]
*Great Lakes Algonquian syllabics{{spaced ndash}}Fox, Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, Ojibwe
*IsiBheqe SoHlamvu{{spaced ndash}}Southern Bantu languages
*[[Social:ʼPhags-pa script|ʼPhags-pa script]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Social:Mongolian language|Mongolian]], [[Social:Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Social:Persian language|Persian]], [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]]

====Manual alphabets====
Manual alphabets are frequently found as parts of [[Social:Sign language|sign language]]s. They are not used for writing ''per se'', but for spelling out words while signing.
*American manual alphabet (used with slight modification in [[Place:Hong Kong|Hong Kong]], Malaysia, Paraguay, {{wipe|Philippines}}, [[Place:Singapore|Singapore]], Taiwan, Thailand)
*British manual alphabet (used in some of the [[Organization:Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth of Nations]], such as {{wipe|Australia}} and [[Earth:New Zealand|New Zealand]])
*Catalan manual alphabet
*Chilean manual alphabet
*Chinese manual alphabet
*Dutch manual alphabet
*Ethiopian manual alphabet (an abugida)
*French manual alphabet
*Greek manual alphabet
*Icelandic manual alphabet (also used in {{wipe|Denmark}})
*Indian manual alphabet (a true alphabet?; used in Devanagari and [[Social:Gujarati language|Gujarati]] areas)
*International manual alphabet (used in {{wipe|Germany}}, Austria, {{wipe|Norway}}, {{wipe|Finland}})
*Iranian manual alphabet (an abjad; also used in [[Place:Egypt|Egypt]])
*Israeli manual alphabet (an abjad)
*Italian manual alphabet
*Korean manual alphabet
*Latin American manual alphabets
*Polish manual alphabet
*Portuguese manual alphabet
*Romanian manual alphabet
*Russian manual alphabet (also used in Bulgaria and ex-[[Place:Soviet Union|Soviet]] states)
*Spanish manual alphabet ([[Place:Madrid|Madrid]])
*Swedish manual alphabet
*Yugoslav manual alphabet

====Other non-linear alphabets====
These are other alphabets composed of something other than lines on a surface.

*[[Braille|Braille (Unified)]]{{spaced ndash}} an embossed alphabet for the visually impaired, used with some extra letters to transcribe the Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic alphabets, as well as Chinese
*Braille (Korean)
*Braille (American) (defunct)
*New York Point{{spaced ndash}} a defunct alternative to Braille
*[[Engineering:International maritime signal flags|International maritime signal flags]] (both alphabetic and ideographic)
*[[Engineering:Morse code|Morse code (International)]]{{spaced ndash}} a trinary code of dashes, dots, and silence, whether transmitted by electricity, light, or sound) representing characters in the Latin alphabet.
*[[American Morse code]] (defunct)
*[[Engineering:Semaphore line|Optical telegraphy]] (defunct)
*[[Engineering:Flag semaphore|Flag semaphore]]{{spaced ndash}} (made by moving hand-held flags)

===Abugidas===
An abugida, or ''alphasyllabary'', is a segmental script in which vowel sounds are denoted by diacritical marks or other systematic modification of the consonants. Generally, however, if a single letter is understood to have an inherent unwritten vowel, and only vowels other than this are written, then the system is classified as an abugida regardless of whether the vowels look like diacritics or full letters. The vast majority of abugidas are found from India to Southeast Asia and belong historically to the Brāhmī family, however the term is derived from the first characters of the abugida in Ge'ez: አ (A) ቡ (bu) ጊ (gi) ዳ (da) — (compare with ''[[Social:Alphabet#Etymology|alphabet]]''). Unlike abjads, the diacritical marks and systemic modifications of the consonants are not optional.

====Abugidas of the Brāhmī family====
[[File:Manuscripts in the Yunnan Nationalities Museum - DSC03945.JPG|thumb|A [[Social:Palaung language|Palaung]] manuscript written in a Brahmic abugida]]
*[[Social:Ahom alphabet|Ahom]]
*Balinese
*Batak{{spaced ndash}} Toba and other Batak languages
*[[Social:Baybayin|Baybayin]]{{spaced ndash}} Formerly used for Ilokano, [[Social:Pangasinan language|Pangasinan]], [[Social:Tagalog language|Tagalog]], Bikol languages, Visayan languages, and possibly other Philippine languages
*Bengali and Assamese —  Bengali, Assamese, Meithei, [[Social:Bishnupriya Manipuri language|Bishnupriya Manipuri]]
*[[Social:Bhaiksuki alphabet|Bhaiksuki]] 
*Brahmi{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]], [[Social:Prakrit|Prakrit]]
*Buda{{spaced ndash}} Old Sundanese and Old Javanese
*Buhid
*Burmese{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Burmese language|Burmese]], Karen languages, [[Social:Mon language|Mon]], and Shan
*Cham
*[[Social:Chakma alphabet|Chakma]] 
*Devanagari{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Hindi|Hindi]], [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]], [[Social:Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Social:Nepali language|Nepali]], and many other languages of northern India
*[[Social:Dhives Akuru|Dhives Akuru]]
*Grantha{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]]
*Gujarati{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Gujarati language|Gujarati]], Kutchi, Vasavi, [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]], [[Social:Avestan|Avestan]]
*Gurmukhi script{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Punjabi language|Punjabi]]
*Hanuno’o
*Javanese
*[[Social:Kaithi|Kaithi]]
*[[Social:Kannada script|Kannada]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Kannada|Kannada]], [[Social:Tulu language|Tulu]], [[Social:Konkani language|Konkani]], [[Social:Kodava language|Kodava]]
*[[Social:Kawi script|Kawi]]
*Khema script{{spaced ndash}} Gurung
*Khojki 
*[[Social:Saka language|Khotanese]]
*Khudabadi 
*Khmer
*Kulitan alphabet
*Lai Tay{{spaced ndash}} Tai Yo
*Lampung
*Lao
*Leke{{spaced ndash}} Eastern Pwo, Western Pwo, and Karen
*Lepcha
*Limbu
*Lontara’{{spaced ndash}} Buginese, Makassar, and Mandar
*[[Social:Mahajani|Mahajani]]
*[[Social:Makasar script|Makasar]]{{spaced ndash}} Formerly used for Makassar
*Malayalam
*[[Social:Marchen script|Marchen]] – Zhang-Zhung 
*Meitei Mayek – [[Social:Meitei language|Meitei]]
*Modi{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Marathi language|Marathi]]
*[[Social:Multani alphabet|Multani]] – Saraiki 
*[[Social:Nandinagari|Nandinagari]] – [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]]
*Naoriya Phulo script – Meitei
*[[Social:New Tai Lue alphabet|New Tai Lue]]
*Odia
*Phags-pa{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Mongolian language|Mongolian]], [[Social:Chinese language|Chinese]], and other languages of the Yuan dynasty Mongol Empire
*Pracalit script {{sc|aka}} Newa{{spaced ndash}} Nepal Bhasa, [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]], [[Social:Pali|Pali]]
*[[Social:Pyu script|Pyu]]{{spaced ndash}} Pyu
*Ranjana{{spaced ndash}} Nepal Bhasa, [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]]
*Rejang
*Rencong
*Saurashtra
*Sharada{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]], [[Social:Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]]
*Siddham{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]]
*Sinhala
*[[Social:Sirmauri language#Script|Sirmauri]]
*[[Social:Soyombo script|Soyombo]]
*Sundanese
*Sylheti Nagri – Sylheti
*Tagbanwa{{spaced ndash}} Languages of Palawan
*Tai Le {{sc|aka}} Dehong Dai{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Tai Nuea language|Tai Nuea]] 
*Tai Tham{{spaced ndash}} Khün, and [[Social:Northern Thai language|Northern Thai]]
*Tai Viet
*[[Social:Takri alphabet|Takri]] 
*Tamil
*[[Social:Telugu script|Telugu]]
*Thai
*Tibetan
*Tigalari {{spaced ndash}}[[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]], [[Social:Tulu language|Tulu]]
*[[Social:Tirhuta|Tirhuta]]{{spaced ndash}} used to write [[Social:Maithili language|Maithili]]
*[[Social:Tocharian script|Tocharian]]
*Vatteluttu
*[[Social:Horizontal square script|Zanabazar Square]] 
*[[Social:Zhang-Zhung language|Zhang zhung]] scripts

====Other abugidas====
*Canadian Aboriginal syllabics{{spaced ndash}} Cree syllabics (for [[Social:Cree language|Cree]]), Inuktitut syllabics (for Inuktitut), Ojibwe syllabics (for [[Biography:Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]]), and various systems for other languages of Canada.  Derived scripts with identical operating principles but divergent character repertoires include Carrier and [[Social:Blackfoot language#Syllabic writing system|Blackfoot]] syllabics.
*Dham{{spaced ndash}} Dhimal
*[[Social:Geʽez|Ge'ez]]{{spaced ndash}} Amharic, Ge’ez, Tigrigna
*Kharoṣṭhī{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Gandhari language|Gandhari]], [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]]
*[[Social:Kurukh language#Writing systems|Kurukh Banna]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Kurukh language|Kurukh]]
*Lontara Bilang-bilang script{{spaced ndash}} Buginese
*Mandombe
*[[Social:Meroitic script|Meroitic]]{{spaced ndash}} Meroë
*Mwangwego{{spaced ndash}} Chewa and other [[Social:Bantu languages|Bantu languages]] of Malawi
*Pitman Shorthand
*Pollard script{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Hmong language|Miao]]
*Sapalo script{{spaced ndash}} Oromo
*Rma script{{spaced ndash}} Qiang
*Sunuwar {{sc|aka}} Jenticha
*Thaana{{spaced ndash}} Dhivehi
*Tikamuli{{spaced ndash}} Sunuwar
*Thomas Natural Shorthand

====Final consonant-diacritic abugidas====
In at least one abugida, not only the vowel but any syllable-final consonant is written with a diacritic. That is, if representing [o] with an under-ring, and final [k] with an over-cross, [sok] would be written as {{IPA|s̥̽}}.

*Róng{{spaced ndash}} Lepcha

====Vowel-based abugidas====
In a few abugidas, the vowels are basic, and the consonants secondary. If no consonant is written in Pahawh Hmong, it is understood to be /k/; consonants are written after the vowel they precede in speech. In Japanese Braille, the vowels but not the consonants have independent status, and it is the vowels which are modified when the consonant is ''y'' or ''w''.

*Boyd's Syllabic Shorthand
*Japanese Braille{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Japanese language|Japanese]]
*[[Social:Pahawh Hmong|Pahawh Hmong]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Hmong language|Hmong]]

== List of writing systems by adoption ==

{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left"
|-
! Name of script
! Type
! Population actively using (in millions)
! Languages associated with
! Regions using script de facto
|-
| '''Latin'''  <br/> Latin 
| [[Social:Alphabet|Alphabet]]
| {{hs|3900000}}4900+<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=The World's 5 Most Commonly Used Writing Systems {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/list/the-worlds-5-most-commonly-used-writing-systems |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref group="note">Difficult to determine, as it is used to write a very large number of languages with varying literacy rates among them.</ref>
| [[Social:Latin|Latin]]<ref group="note">alphabet originally created to this language</ref>  and Romance languages (languages that evolved from Latin: [[Social:Italian language|Italian]], [[Social:French language|French]], [[Social:Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Social:Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Social:Romanian language|Romanian]])<br/> Germanic languages ([[Social:English language|English]], [[Social:Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Social:German language|German]], Nordic languages)<ref group="note">replaced the [[Social:Runes|runic alphabet]]</ref><br/>Celtic languages ([[Social:Welsh language|Welsh]], [[Social:Irish language|Irish]] and [[Social:Scottish Gaelic|Scottish Gaelic]])<ref group="note">replaced the [[Social:Ogham|Ogham]]</ref><br/>Baltic languages ([[Social:Latvian language|Latvian]] and [[Social:Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]])<br/>Some [[Social:Slavic languages|Slavic languages]] ([[Social:Polish language|Polish]], [[Social:Czech language|Czech]], [[Social:Slovak language|Slovak]], Croatian, Slovenian)<br/> [[Social:Albanian language|Albanian]]<br/>  [[Social:Uralic languages|Uralic languages]] (Finnish, [[Social:Estonian language|Estonian]] and [[Social:Hungarian language|Hungarian]])<br/> Malayo-Polynesian languages ([[Social:Malaysian language|Malaysian]],<ref group="note">replaced the Arabic alphabet</ref> [[Social:Indonesian language|Indonesian]], [[Social:Filipino language|Filipino]], etc.)<br/> [[Social:Turkic languages|Turkic languages]] ([[Social:Turkish language|Turkish]],<ref group="note">replaced the Arabic script</ref> [[Social:Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]], [[Social:Uzbek language|Uzbek]], [[Social:Turkmen language|Turkmen]])<br/> Some Cushitic languages (Somali, Afar, Oromo)<br/> [[Social:Bantu languages|Bantu languages]] (for example: Swahili)<br/> [[Social:Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] (an Austroasiatic language)<ref group="note">replaced the Chu Nom</ref><br/> others
| Worldwide
|-
| '''[[Social:Chinese characters|Chinese]]''' <br/> 汉字 <br/> 漢字
| Logographic
|{{hs|1541000}}1541<ref name=":1">Population using script where it is official, according to 100% alphabetization.</ref>
| Sinitic languages ([[Social:Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]], [[Social:Min Chinese|Min]], [[Social:Wu Chinese|Wu]], [[Social:Yue Chinese|Yue]], [[Social:Jin Chinese|Jin]], Gan, [[Social:Hakka Chinese|Hakka]] and others)<br/>[[Social:Japanese language|Japanese]] ([[Social:Kanji|Kanji]])<br/> [[Social:Korean language|Korean]] ([[Social:Hanja|Hanja]])<ref group="note">[[Social:Hanja|Hanja]] has been banned{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} in North Korea and is increasingly being phased out in South Korea. It is mainly used in official documents, newspapers, books, and signs to identify Chinese roots to Korean words.</ref><br/> [[Social:Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] (Chu Nom obsolete)<br/> [[Social:Zhuang languages|Zhuang]] ([[Social:Sawndip|Sawndip]])
| Eastern Asia, [[Place:Singapore|Singapore]]
|-
| '''Arabic''' <br/> العربية
| Abjad or Abugida (when [[Religion:Arabic diacritics|diacritics]] are used)
|{{hs|0828000}}828<ref name=":1" />
| [[Social:Arabic|Arabic]] (a Semitic language)<br/>Several [[Social:Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian languages]] ([[Social:Persian language|Persian]], Kurdish, [[Social:Urdu|Urdu]], [[Social:Punjabi language|Punjabi]] <small>(Shahmukhi in {{wipe|Pakistan}})</small>, [[Social:Pashto|Pashto]], [[Social:Sindhi language|Sindhi]], Balochi, [[Social:Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]])<br />Some [[Social:Turkic languages|Turkic languages]] ([[Social:Uyghur language|Uyghur]], [[Social:Kazakh language|Kazakh]] <small>(in {{wipe|China}})</small>, [[Social:Azerbaijani language|Azeri]] <small>(in [[Religion:Iran|Iran]])</small>)
[[Social:Malay language|Malay]] <small>(in Brunei)</small><br />others
| Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, [[Place:Egypt|Egypt]], Eritrea, [[Religion:Iran|Iran]], Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, [[Place:Lebanon|Lebanon]], Mauritania, Morocco, [[Place:Libya|Libya]], Oman, {{wipe|Pakistan}}, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, [[Place:Syria|Syria]], Tunisia, [[Place:United Arab Emirates|United Arab Emirates]] and Yemen
|-
| '''Devanagari''' <br/> देवनागरी
| Abugida
|{{hs|0480500}}480.5
| [[Social:Hindi|Hindi]], [[Social:Nepali language|Nepali]], [[Social:Marathi language|Marathi]], Bhojpuri
| {{wipe|India}}, Nepal and Fiji
|-
| '''Cyrillic''' <br/> Кирилица
| [[Social:Alphabet|Alphabet]]
| {{hs|0250000}}289<ref name=":1" />
| The majority of the [[Social:Slavic languages|Slavic languages]] ([[Social:Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] and [[Social:Macedonian language|Macedonian]], [[Social:Russian language|Russian]], [[Social:Serbian language|Serbian]], [[Social:Belarusian language|Belarusian]], [[Social:Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], others). Non-Slavic languages of the former Soviet Union, such as [[Social:Northwest Caucasian languages|West-]] and [[Social:Northeast Caucasian languages|East Caucasian]] languages ([[Social:Abkhaz language|Abkhaz]], [[Social:Chechen language|Chechen]], [[Social:Avar language|Avar]], others), [[Social:Uralic languages|Uralic languages]] ([[Social:Karelian language|Karelian]], others), Iranian languages ([[Social:Ossetian language|Ossetic]], [[Social:Tajik language|Tajik]], others) and Turkic language ([[Social:Kyrgyz language|Kyrgyz]], [[Social:Tatar language|Tatar]], [[Social:Azerbaijani language|Azeri]] (formerly), and others).
| {{wipe|Belarus}}, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, {{wipe|Russia}}, Serbia, Tajikistan and {{wipe|Ukraine}}
|-
| '''Bengali–Assamese''' <br/> বাংলা-অসমীয়া 
| Abugida
|{{hs|0234000}}234
| Some [[Social:Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian languages]] ([[Social:Assamese language|Assamese]], [[Social:Bengali language|Bengali]])
| Bangladesh and {{wipe|India}}
|-
| '''Kana''' <br/> かな <br/> カナ
| Syllabary
|{{hs|0123000}}123
| [[Social:Japanese language|Japanese]]
| {{wipe|Japan}}
|-
| '''[[Social:Telugu script|Telugu]]''' <br /> తెలుగు
| Abugida
|{{hs|0083000}}83
| [[Social:Telugu language|Telugu]] 
| {{wipe|India}}
|-
| '''Hangul''' <br /> 한글 <br /> 조선글
| [[Social:Alphabet|Alphabet]], featural
|{{hs|000
81700}}81.7
| [[Social:Korean language|Korean]], Cia-Cia (an [[Social:Austronesian languages|Austronesian language]])
| North Korea and {{wipe|South Korea}}, Indonesia
|-
| '''Tamil''' <br /> தமிழ்
| Abugida
| {{hs|0078600}}78.6
| [[Social:Tamil language|Tamil]]
| {{wipe|India}}, Sri Lanka, [[Place:Singapore|Singapore]]
|-
| '''Thai''' <br /> ไทย
| Abugida
| {{hs|0070000}}70
| [[Social:Thai language|Thai]]
| Thailand
|-
| '''Gujarati''' <br /> ગુજરાતી
| Abugida
| {{hs|0057100}}57.1
| [[Social:Gujarati language|Gujarati]]
| {{wipe|India}}
|-
| '''[[Social:Kannada script|Kannada]]''' <br /> ಕನ್ನಡ
| Abugida
| {{hs|0045000}}45<ref group="note">Based on 46 million speakers of [[Social:Kannada|Kannada]], [[Social:Tulu language|Tulu]], Konkani, [[Social:Kodava language|Kodava]], Badaga in a state with a 75.6 literacy rate. url=http://updateox.com/india/26-populated-cities-karnataka-population-sex-ratio-literacy</ref>
| [[Social:Kannada|Kannada]] (a Dravidian language)
| {{wipe|India}}
|-
| '''Geʽez''' <br /> ግዕዝ
| Abugida
| {{hs|0041850}}41.85
| [[Social:Amharic|Amharic]], [[Social:Tigrinya language|Tigrinya]]
| Ethiopia, Eritrea
|-
| '''Burmese''' <br/> မြန်မာ
| Abugida
| {{hs|0039000}}39<ref group="note">Based on 42 million speakers of [[Social:Burmese language|Burmese]] in a country (Myanmar) with a 92% literacy rate.</ref>
| [[Social:Burmese language|Burmese]] (a Lolo-Burmese language)
| Myanmar
|-
| '''Malayalam''' <br/> മലയാളം
| Abugida
| {{hs|0038000}}38
| [[Social:Malayalam|Malayalam]]
| {{wipe|India}}
|-
| '''Odia''' <br/> ଓଡ଼ିଆ
| Abugida
| {{hs|0035000}}35
| [[Social:Odia language|Odia]]
| {{wipe|India}}
|-
| '''Gurmukhi''' <br /> ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ
| Abugida
| {{hs|0027743}}27.743
| [[Social:Punjabi language|Punjabi]]
| {{wipe|India}}
|-
| '''Sinhala''' <br /> සිංහල
| Abugida
| {{hs|0016000}}16
| [[Social:Sinhala language|Sinhalese]]
| Sri Lanka
|-
| '''Khmer''' <br /> ខ្មែរ
| Abugida
| {{hs|0016000}}16
| [[Social:Khmer language|Khmer]]
| Cambodia
|-
| '''Greek''' <br /> Ελληνικά
| [[Social:Alphabet|Alphabet]]
| {{hs|0013500}}13.5
| [[Social:Greek language|Greek]]
| Greece, [[Place:Cyprus|Cyprus]]
|-
| '''Lao''' <br /> ລາວ
| Abugida
| {{hs|0007000}}7
| [[Social:Lao language|Lao]] (a Tai language)
| Laos
|-
| '''Hebrew''' <br /> עברית
| Abjad (or rarely Abugida when diacritics are used)
|{{hs|0006500}}6.5
| Hebrew, [[Social:Yiddish|Yiddish]]
| [[Place:Israel|Israel]]
|-
| '''Tibetan''' <br /> བོད་
| Abugida
| {{hs|0006241}}6.241
| Dzongkha, [[Social:Standard Tibetan|Tibetan]] and Sikkimese
| {{wipe|China}}, Bhutan, {{wipe|India}}
|-
|'''Armenian''' <br /> Հայոց
| [[Social:Alphabet|Alphabet]]
| {{hs|0005400}}5.4
| [[Social:Armenian language|Armenian]]
| [[Place:Armenia|Armenia]]
|-
|'''[[Social:Mongolian script|Mongolian]]''' <br/> {{MongolUnicode|ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ}}
| [[Social:Alphabet|Alphabet]]
| {{hs|0005200}}5.2
|[[Social:Mongolian language|Mongolian]]
|Mongolia, {{wipe|China}}
|-
| '''Georgian''' <br /> ქართული
| [[Social:Alphabet|Alphabet]]
| {{hs|0003700}}3.7
| [[Social:Georgian language|Georgian]]
| [[Place:Georgia (country)|Georgia]]
|-
|'''Meitei''' <br /> {{Script|mtei|ꯃꯩꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ}}
| Abugida
| {{hs|0002000}}2<ref name=":1" />
| [[Social:Meitei language|Meitei]] ''(officially termed as "Manipuri")'' (a Sino-Tibetan language)
| {{wipe|India}} 
|-
|'''Thaana''' <br /> ދިވެހި
|Abugida
| {{hs|0000340}}0.34
|Maldivian
|[[History:Maldives|Maldives]]
|-
|'''Canadian Syllabics''' <br /> ᖃᓂᐅᔮᖅᐸᐃᑦ <br /> ᒐᐦᑲᓯᓇᐦᐃᑫᐤ <br /> ᑯᖾᖹ ᖿᐟᖻ ᓱᖽᐧᖿ <br /> ᑐᑊᘁᗕᑋᗸ
| Abugida
| {{hs|0000070}}0.07<ref name=":1" />
| [[Biography:Inuktitut|Inuktitut]] (an Inuit language), some [[Social:Algonquian languages|Algonquian languages]] ([[Social:Cree language|Cree]], Iyuw Iyimuun, Innu-aimun, [[Biography:Ojibwe language|Anishinaabemowin]], [[Social:Blackfoot language|Siksika]]), some [[Social:Athabaskan languages|Athabaskan languages]] ([[Social:Carrier language|Dakelh]], Dene K'e, Denesuline)
|{{wipe|Canada}}
|}

==Undeciphered scripts and systems that may be writing==

These systems have not been deciphered. In some cases, such as [[Social:Meroitic script|Meroitic]], the sound values of the glyphs are known, but the texts still cannot be read because the language is not understood. Several of these systems, such as Epi-Olmec and [[Social:Indus script|Indus]], are claimed to have been deciphered, but these claims have not been confirmed by independent researchers. In many cases it is doubtful that they are actually writing. The [[Social:Vinča symbols|Vinča symbols]] appear to be proto-writing, and [[Quipu|quipu]] may have recorded only numerical information. There are doubts that [[Social:Indus script|Indus]] is writing, and the [[Social:Phaistos Disc|Phaistos Disc]] has so little content or context that its nature is undetermined.

*[[Social:Byblos syllabary|Byblos syllabary]]{{spaced ndash}} the city of [[Place:Byblos|Byblos]]
*Cretan hieroglyphs
*[[Social:Indus script|Indus]]{{spaced ndash}} Indus Valley civilization
*Isthmian (apparently logosyllabic)
*[[Social:Linear A|Linear A]] (a syllabary){{spaced ndash}} Minoan
*Lukasa{{spaced ndash}} [[History:Kingdom of Luba|Kingdom of Luba]] (a memory device)
*Mixtec{{spaced ndash}} Mixtec (perhaps pictographic)
*[[Social:Neolithic signs in China|Neolithic signs in China]], including:
**Banpo symbols{{spaced ndash}} Yangshao culture (perhaps proto-writing)
**Jiahu symbols{{spaced ndash}} Peiligang culture (perhaps proto-writing)
**Sawveh{{spaced ndash}} Western Guangxi (disputed; perhaps proto-writing)
*Olmec{{spaced ndash}} Olmec civilization (possibly the oldest [[Place:Mesoamerica|Mesoamerica]]n script)
*[[Social:Alphabets of Asia Minor#Alphabets|Para-Lydian script]]{{spaced ndash}} Unknown language of Asia Minor; script appears related to the Lydian alphabet.
*[[Social:Phaistos Disc|Phaistos Disc]] (a unique text, very possibly not writing)
*[[Social:Proto-Elamite script|Proto-Elamite]]{{spaced ndash}} [[Place:Elam|Elam]] (nearly as old as Sumerian)
*[[Social:Proto-Sinaitic script|Proto-Sinaitic]] (likely an abjad)
*[[Quipu]]{{spaced ndash}} Inca Empire (possibly numerical only)
*Rongorongo{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Rapa Nui language|Rapa Nui]] (perhaps a syllabary)
*Sidetic{{spaced ndash}} [[Social:Sidetic language|Sidetic]] 
*[[Social:Trojan script|Trojan script]]{{spaced ndash}} (possibly related to Linear B)
*Zapotec{{spaced ndash}} Zapotec (another old Mesoamerican script)

==Undeciphered manuscripts==
Comparatively recent manuscripts and other texts written in undeciphered (and often unidentified) writing systems; some of these may represent ciphers of known languages or hoaxes.

*Voynich manuscript
*Rohonc Codex
*Codex Seraphinianus
*Hamptonese
*Dorabella cipher

==Other==
[[Social:Asemic writing|Asemic writing]] is a writing-like form of artistic expression that generally lacks a specific semantic meaning, though it sometimes contains ideograms or pictograms.

===Phonetic alphabets===
This section lists alphabets used to transcribe [[Social:Phonetics|phonetic]] or [[Social:Phoneme|phonemic]] sound; not to be confused with spelling alphabets like the ICAO spelling alphabet. Some of these are used for transcription purposes by linguists; others are pedagogical in nature or intended as general orthographic reforms.

* [[International Phonetic Alphabet]]
** X-SAMPA (and original SAMPA while not covering all of IPA), is an encoding of a phonetic alphabet, i.e. IPA, using just [[ASCII]].
* Americanist phonetic notation
* [[Uralic Phonetic Alphabet]]

===Special alphabets===
Alphabets may exist in forms other than visible symbols on a surface. Some of these are:

====Tactile alphabets====
* [[Braille]]
* Moon type
* New York Point
* Night writing

====Manual alphabets====
* Fingerspelling

For example:

* [[Social:American Sign Language|American Sign Language]]
* American manual alphabet
* Korean manual alphabet
* Cued Speech

====Long-Distance Signaling====
* [[Engineering:International maritime signal flags|International maritime signal flags]]
* [[Engineering:Morse code|Morse code]]
* [[Engineering:Flag semaphore|Flag semaphore]]
* [[Engineering:Semaphore line|Optical telegraphy]]

===Alternative alphabets===
* Gregg Shorthand
* [[Philosophy:Initial Teaching Alphabet|Initial Teaching Alphabet]]
* Pitman Shorthand
* [[Social:Quikscript|Quikscript]]

===Fictional writing systems===
* Ath (alphabet)
* Aurebesh
* D'ni
* Hymmnos
* Klingon
* ''On Beyond Zebra!''
* Scripts from ''The Lord of the Rings''
** [[Social:Cirth|Cirth]]
** Sarati
** [[Social:Tengwar|Tengwar]]
* Unown
* Utopian

===For animal use===
* [[Yerkish]] uses "lexigrams" to communicate with non-human primates.

==Experimental==
* Aravit, a combination of the Arabic and [[Social:Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]]<ref>12</ref>[https://hyperallergic.com/389936/aravrit-liron-lavi-turkenich/]

==See also==
*[[Constructed script]] (artificial script)
*[[Social:Grapheme|Grapheme]]
*List of creators of writing systems
*[[ISO 15924#List of codes|List of ISO 15924 codes]]
*List of languages by first written accounts
*[[Unicode]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group="note"|30em}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://omniglot.com/ Omniglot: a guide to writing systems]
* [http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws.html Ancient Scripts: Home]:(Site with some introduction to different writing systems and group them into [http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws_types.html origins]/[http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws_types.html types]/[http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws_families.html families]/[http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws_regions.html regions]/[http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws_timeline.html timeline]/[http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws_atoz.html A to Z])
* Michael Everson's [http://www.evertype.com/alphabets/index.html Alphabets of Europe]
* [https://www.worldswritingsystems.org/ The World’s Writing Systems], catalogue of 294 writing systems, each with a typographic reference glyph and Unicode status
* [http://copper.chem.ucla.edu/~jericks Deseret Alphabet]
* [http://scriptsource.org/ ScriptSource] – a dynamic, collaborative reference to the writing systems of the world


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[[Category:Encodings]]
[[Category:Writing systems| ]]

{{Sourceattribution|List of writing systems}}