ScriptLookup

Ukrainian

українська
uk 40M speakers

Ukrainian (українська) is a Indo-European language with approximately 40M speakers speakers. It is written using the Cyrillic script. Its BCP 47 language code is uk.

Ukrainian (українська мова) is a Slavic language and the official language of Ukraine. It is closely related to Russian and Belarusian, forming the East Slavic language subgroup. Ukrainian is written in the Cyrillic alphabet with some distinctive letters not found in Russian (і, ї, є, ґ).

Ukrainian has a rich folk tradition in literature, music, and poetry. After periods of suppression under Russian imperial and Soviet rule, Ukrainian has experienced a significant resurgence in use and prestige following Ukrainian independence in 1991.

Writing Systems Used for Ukrainian

Cyrillic
Кириллица
Primary
Привет мир
LTR Cyrl

Frequently Asked Questions

What alphabet or script does Ukrainian use?
Ukrainian is written using the Cyrillic script (ISO 15924 code: Cyrl). Cyrillic is written left-to-right.
What direction is Ukrainian written?
Ukrainian is written Left-to-right. Text runs from left to right, the same direction as most European languages.
How many people speak Ukrainian?
Ukrainian has approximately 40M speakers speakers worldwide. It is a member of the Indo-European language family.
What language family does Ukrainian belong to?
Ukrainian belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is written with the Cyrillic script.
What is the language code for Ukrainian?
The BCP 47 language code for Ukrainian is "uk". This code is used in software, web standards (the HTML lang attribute), and internationalization contexts.

Language Facts

BCP 47 Code
uk
ISO 639-3
ukr
Status
living
Speakers
40M speakers
Language Family
Indo-European
Scripts
1
Primary Script
Cyrillic

Other Cyrillic Languages

Abkhazian Adyghe Avaric Bashkir Belarusian Bosnian Bulgarian Buriat Chechen Church Slavic Chuvash Crimean Tatar Dargwa Erzya Ingush Kabardian Kalmyk Kara-Kalpak Karachay-Balkar Kazakh

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