Explore the World's Writing Systems
Reference pages for every script in the Unicode standard — characters, languages, directions, and side-by-side comparisons.
- Writing Systems
- 216+
- Languages Mapped
- 802+
- Script Comparisons
- 23,220+
- Data Sources
- ISO + CLDR
Featured Writing Systems
Browse all 216 scripts →Compare Any Two Writing Systems
Direction, character count, languages, Unicode ranges — side by side. Over 23,220 unique comparisons available.
About Writing Systems
What is a Script?
A script (or writing system) is a set of visual symbols used to represent language in written form. Scripts are registered in the ISO 15924 standard, which assigns each script a unique 4-letter code like Latn for Latin or Arab for Arabic.
Writing Direction
Scripts read in different directions. Latin, Greek, and most Indian scripts read left-to-right (LTR). Arabic, Hebrew, and Thaana read right-to-left (RTL). Traditional Mongolian and some East Asian scripts read top-to-bottom (TTB).
Scripts vs Languages
One language can be written in multiple scripts (Serbian uses both Latin and Cyrillic). One script can write many languages (Latin writes English, Spanish, French, and hundreds more). ScriptLookup maps both directions.