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Supported Scripts

The Unicode Standard encodes scripts rather than languages. When writing systems for more than one language share sets of graphical symbols that have historically related derivations, the union of all of those graphical symbols is treated as a single collection of characters for encoding and is identified as a single script. Each script then serves as an inventory of graphical symbols, which are drawn upon for the writing systems of particular languages. In many cases, a single script, such as the Latin script, may be used to write tens or even hundreds of languages. In other cases, only one language employs a particular script—for example, Hangul, which is typically used only to write the Korean language. The writing systems for some languages may also use more than one script; for example, Japanese traditionally makes use of the Han (Kanji), Hiragana, and Katakana scripts, and modern Japanese usage commonly mixes in the Latin script as well.

The scripts supported by the Unicode Standard include all of those listed in the following table. The listing in the table is ordered by the version of the Unicode Standard in which a particular script was first encoded. In many instances, supplemental characters for a given script have been encoded in subsequent versions of the standard, after the initial addition of the script. Details about most of these scripts can be looked up at the ScriptSource website.

 

Version (Year) Scripts Added Totals
1.1 (1993)   23
  Arabic Gujarati Lao  
Armenian Gurmukhi Latin
Bengali Han Malayalam
Bopomofo Hangul Oriya
Cyrillic Hebrew Tamil
Devanagari Hiragana Telugu
Georgian Kannada Thai
Greek Katakana  
2.0 (1996)   +1, = 24
  Tibetan      
3.0 (1999)   +13, = 37
  Braille (patterns) Mongolian Syriac  
Canadian Syllabics Myanmar Thaana
Cherokee Ogham Yi
Ethiopic Runic  
Khmer Sinhala  
3.1 (2001)   +3, = 40
  Deseret Gothic Old Italic  
3.2 (2002)   +4, = 44
  Buhid Tagalog    
Hanunóo Tagbanwa  
4.0 (2003)   +7, = 51
  Cypriot Osmanya Ugaritic  
Limbu Shavian  
Linear B Tai Le  
4.1 (2005)   +8, = 59
  Buginese Kharoshthi Syloti Nagri  
Coptic New Tai Lue Tifinagh
Glagolitic Old Persian Cuneiform  
5.0 (2006)   +5, = 64
  Balinese Phags-pa Sumero-Akkadian Cuneiform  
N'Ko Phoenician  
5.1 (2008)   +11, = 75
  Carian Lycian Saurashtra  
Cham Lydian Sundanese
Kayah Li Ol Chiki Vai
Lepcha Rejang  
5.2 (2009)   +15, = 90
  Avestan Inscriptional Parthian Old South Arabian  
Bamum Javanese Old Turkic
Egyptian Hieroglyphs Kaithi Samaritan
Imperial Aramaic Lisu Tai Tham
Inscriptional Pahlavi Meetei Mayek Tai Viet
6.0 (2010)   +3, = 93
  Batak Brahmi Mandaic  
6.1 (2012)   +7, = 100
  Chakma Miao Takri  
Meroitic Cursive Sharada  
Meroitic Hieroglyphs Sora Sompeng  
7.0 (2014)   +23, = 123
  Bassa Vah Mahajani Pahawh Hmong  
Caucasian Albanian Manichaean Palmyrene
Duployan (shorthand) Mende Kikakui Pau Cin Hau
Elbasan Modi Psalter Pahlavi
Grantha Mro Siddham
Khojki Nabataean Tirhuta
Khudawadi Old North Arabian Warang Citi
Linear A Old Permic  
8.0 (2015)   +6, = 129
  Ahom Hatran Old Hungarian  
Anatolian Hieroglyphs Multani Sutton SignWriting
9.0 (2016)   +6, = 135
  Adlam Marchen Osage  
Bhaiksuki Newa Tangut
10.0 (2017)   +4, = 139
  Masaram Gondi Soyombo    
Nushu Zanabazar Square  
11.0 (2018)   +7, = 146
  Dogra Makasar Sogdian  
Gunjala Gondi Medefaidrin  
Hanifi Rohingya Old Sogdian  
12.0 (2019)   +4, = 150
  Elymaic Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong    
Nandinagari Wancho  
13.0 (2020)   +4, = 154
  Chorasmian Khitan Small Script    
Dives Akuru Yezidi  
14.0 (2021)   +5, = 159
  Cypro-Minoan Tangsa Vithkuqi  
Old Uyghur Toto  
15.0 (2022)   +2, = 161
  Kawi Nag Mundari    

 

In addition to the scripts listed above, a large number of other collections of characters are also encoded by Unicode. These collections include the following:

  • Numbers
  • General Diacritics
  • General Punctuation
  • General Symbols
  • Mathematical Symbols (Western and Arabic)
  • Musical Symbols (Western, Byzantine, Ancient Greek, and other)
  • Technical Symbols
  • Emoji: For details, see Emoji Versions
  • Dingbats
  • Arrows, Blocks, Box Drawing Forms, and Geometric Shapes
  • Game Symbols
  • Miscellaneous Symbols
  • Presentation Forms
  • Kangxi and other CJK radicals