Greek
Greek
(Ελληνικά)
is a Indo-European language
with approximately 13M speakers speakers.
It is written using the
Greek
script.
Its BCP 47 language code is el.
Greek (Ελληνικά) is an Indo-European language with the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning over 3,400 years. Modern Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and is spoken by approximately 13 million people.
Greek has a uniquely rich cultural and intellectual legacy — it was the language of philosophy (Plato, Aristotle), early science, the New Testament, and the Byzantine Empire. The Greek alphabet was the first true alphabet (representing both consonants and vowels) and became the ancestor of the Latin, Cyrillic, and Coptic writing systems.
Writing Systems Used for Greek
Frequently Asked Questions
What alphabet or script does Greek use?
What direction is Greek written?
How many people speak Greek?
What language family does Greek belong to?
What is the language code for Greek?
Language Facts
- BCP 47 Code
- el
- ISO 639-3
- ell
- Status
- living
- Speakers
- 13M speakers
- Language Family
- Indo-European
- Scripts
- 1
- Primary Script
- Greek
Other Greek Languages
Data sourced from Unicode CLDR and ISO 639-3. Last updated April 20, 2026.