ScriptLookup

Hausa

ha 47M speakers

Hausa is a Afro-Asiatic language with approximately 47M speakers speakers. It is written using 2 different scripts. Its BCP 47 language code is ha.

Hausa is an Afro-Asiatic (Chadic) language and the most widely spoken language in West Africa after Arabic. It is spoken by approximately 47 million native speakers and used as a lingua franca by millions more across West and Central Africa.

Hausa has a long history of writing: originally in an Arabic-based script called Ajami, and since the 20th century predominantly in the Latin-based Boko alphabet. Hausa is the primary language of trade and communication in northern Nigeria and Niger.

Writing Systems Used for Hausa

Arabic
العربية
مرحبا بالعالم
RTL Arab
Latin
Primary
Hello World
LTR Latn

Compare Scripts Used for Hausa

Arabic vs Latin

Frequently Asked Questions

What scripts does Hausa use?
Hausa is written in 2 scripts: Arabic, Latin. The primary script is Latin.
What direction is Hausa written?
Hausa is written Left-to-right. Text runs from left to right, the same direction as most European languages.
How many people speak Hausa?
Hausa has approximately 47M speakers speakers worldwide. It is a member of the Afro-Asiatic language family.
What language family does Hausa belong to?
Hausa belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family. It is written with the Latin script.
What is the language code for Hausa?
The BCP 47 language code for Hausa is "ha". This code is used in software, web standards (the HTML lang attribute), and internationalization contexts.

Language Facts

BCP 47 Code
ha
ISO 639-3
hau
Status
living
Speakers
47M speakers
Language Family
Afro-Asiatic
Scripts
2
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.