ScriptLookup

Basque

euskara
eu 750K speakers

Basque (euskara) is a Language Isolate language with approximately 750K speakers speakers. It is written using the Latin script. Its BCP 47 language code is eu.

Basque (Euskara) is a language isolate — it has no known genetic relationship to any other language in the world. It is spoken by approximately 750,000 people in the Basque Country, a region spanning parts of northern Spain and southwestern France.

Basque has survived for millennia despite being surrounded by Indo-European languages (Romance and Celtic). Its origins are unknown; it predates the arrival of Indo-European languages in Western Europe and may be related to the languages spoken by pre-Roman Iberian peoples. Basque is an ergative language with a complex system of suffixes.

Writing Systems Used for Basque

Latin
Primary
Hello World
LTR Latn

Frequently Asked Questions

What alphabet or script does Basque use?
Basque is written using the Latin script (ISO 15924 code: Latn). Latin is written left-to-right.
What direction is Basque written?
Basque is written Left-to-right. Text runs from left to right, the same direction as most European languages.
How many people speak Basque?
Basque has approximately 750K speakers speakers worldwide. It is a member of the Language Isolate language family.
What language family does Basque belong to?
Basque belongs to the Language Isolate language family. It is written with the Latin script.
What is the language code for Basque?
The BCP 47 language code for Basque is "eu". This code is used in software, web standards (the HTML lang attribute), and internationalization contexts.

Language Facts

BCP 47 Code
eu
ISO 639-3
eus
Status
living
Speakers
750K speakers
Language Family
Language Isolate
Scripts
1
Primary Script
Latin

Other Latin Languages

Acehnese Acoli Adangme Afar Afrikaans Aghem Akan Akoose Alabama Albanian Aleut Anii Ao Naga Aragonese Araona Arapaho Arawak Aromanian Arpitan Asturian

Data sourced from Unicode CLDR and ISO 639-3. Last updated April 20, 2026.