Burmese
Burmese
(မြန်မာ)
is a Sino-Tibetan language
with approximately 33M speakers speakers.
It is written using the
Myanmar (Burmese)
script.
Its BCP 47 language code is my.
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ) is a Sino-Tibetan language and the official language of Myanmar. It is spoken by approximately 33 million people as a first language, with many more using it as a lingua franca.
Burmese is written in the Myanmar script, a circular, rounded abugida derived from the Mon script. The script's rounded letterforms evolved because early texts were scratched onto palm leaves — angular strokes would have torn the leaf. Burmese is a tonal language, though its tones developed more recently in its history than in many other Asian tonal languages.
Writing Systems Used for Burmese
Frequently Asked Questions
What alphabet or script does Burmese use?
What direction is Burmese written?
How many people speak Burmese?
What language family does Burmese belong to?
What is the language code for Burmese?
Language Facts
- BCP 47 Code
- my
- ISO 639-3
- mya
- Status
- living
- Speakers
- 33M speakers
- Language Family
- Sino-Tibetan
- Scripts
- 1
- Primary Script
- Myanmar (Burmese)
Data sourced from Unicode CLDR and ISO 639-3. Last updated April 20, 2026.