Greek

Ελληνικά
el 13M speakers

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?
Greek is written using the Greek script (ISO 15924 code: Grek). Greek is written left-to-right.
What direction is Greek written?
Greek is written Left-to-right. Text runs from left to right, the same direction as most European languages.
How many people speak Greek?
Greek has approximately 13M speakers speakers worldwide. It is a member of the Indo-European language family.
What language family does Greek belong to?
Greek belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is written with the Greek script.
What is the language code for Greek?
The BCP 47 language code for Greek is "el". This code is used in software, web standards (the HTML lang attribute), and internationalization contexts.

Language Facts

BCP 47 Code
el
ISO 639-3
ell
Status
living
Speakers
13M speakers
Language Family
Indo-European
Scripts
1
Primary Script
Greek

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