ScriptLookup

French

Q: What alphabet or script does French use?

French is written using the Latin script (Latn).

Q: What direction is French written?

French is written Left-to-right, the same direction as most European languages.

français

fr 79M speakers

French (français) is a Indo-European language with approximately 79M speakers speakers. It is written using the Latin script. Its BCP 47 language code is fr.

French (français) is a Romance language descended from Vulgar Latin and is spoken on all five continents. It is the official language of 29 countries — more than any other language — and is a major language of diplomacy, literature, and international organizations including the UN, NATO, and the EU.

French is written with the Latin alphabet plus accent marks (acute, grave, circumflex, cedilla, and diaeresis). The Académie française, founded in 1635, formally regulates the French language. French has significantly influenced English, contributing thousands of words through the Norman Conquest of 1066.

Writing Systems Used for French

Frequently Asked Questions

What alphabet or script does French use?

French is written using the Latin script (ISO 15924 code: Latn). Latin is written left-to-right.

What direction is French written?

French is written Left-to-right. Text runs from left to right, the same direction as most European languages.

How many people speak French?

French has approximately 79M speakers speakers worldwide. It is a member of the Indo-European language family.

What language family does French belong to?

French belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is written with the Latin script.

What is the language code for French?

The BCP 47 language code for French is "fr". This code is used in software, web standards (the HTML lang attribute), and internationalization contexts.

Language Facts

BCP 47 Code: fr
ISO 639-3: fra
Status: living
Speakers: 79M speakers
Language Family: Indo-European
Scripts: 1
Primary Script: Latin

Other Latin Languages

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