ScriptLookup

Irish

Gaeilge
ga 170K speakers

Irish (Gaeilge) is a Indo-European language with approximately 170K speakers speakers. It is written using the Latin script. Its BCP 47 language code is ga.

Irish (Gaeilge) is a Celtic language and the first official language of Ireland, though English is the more commonly used language in most parts of the country. It is spoken as a community language in areas called the Gaeltacht, primarily along the western coast of Ireland.

Irish is written with the Latin alphabet, historically in a distinctive form called Gaelic script. Irish has an initial mutation system (lenition and eclipsis) that changes the beginning of words in certain grammatical contexts. Irish has been a subject of compulsory education in Ireland since independence in 1922.

Writing Systems Used for Irish

Latin
Primary
Hello World
LTR Latn

Frequently Asked Questions

What alphabet or script does Irish use?
Irish is written using the Latin script (ISO 15924 code: Latn). Latin is written left-to-right.
What direction is Irish written?
Irish is written Left-to-right. Text runs from left to right, the same direction as most European languages.
How many people speak Irish?
Irish has approximately 170K speakers speakers worldwide. It is a member of the Indo-European language family.
What language family does Irish belong to?
Irish belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is written with the Latin script.
What is the language code for Irish?
The BCP 47 language code for Irish is "ga". This code is used in software, web standards (the HTML lang attribute), and internationalization contexts.

Language Facts

BCP 47 Code
ga
ISO 639-3
gle
Status
living
Speakers
170K speakers
Language Family
Indo-European
Scripts
1
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.