Gurmukhi

ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ
Guru Left-to-right Living Abugida South Asian
Sample Text
ਸਤ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ

Sample Characters

First 48 characters from Gurmukhi (U+0A01–U+0A76)

About Gurmukhi

The Gurmukhi script (ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ, meaning 'from the Guru's mouth') was standardized by Guru Angad Dev, the second Sikh Guru, in the 16th century to write the Punjabi language. It is the primary script for Punjabi in India and the liturgical script of Sikhism.

Gurmukhi is an abugida descended from the Lahnda script (a descendent of Brahmi). It has 35 consonants and is written left-to-right with a distinctive horizontal bar connecting letters at the top. The Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy scripture, is written in Gurmukhi.

Data sourced from the ISO 15924 registry, Unicode CLDR, and the Unicode Character Database.

Script Family & Lineage

Ancestor Chain
Brahmi Gurmukhi

Languages Using Gurmukhi 1

Frequently Asked Questions

What type of writing system is Gurmukhi?
Gurmukhi is an Abugida. Abugidas (alphasyllabaries) use consonant characters with an inherent vowel modified by diacritics.
What direction does Gurmukhi read?
Gurmukhi is written Left-to-right, the same direction as most European scripts.
How many languages use the Gurmukhi script?
1 language use Gurmukhi according to Unicode CLDR data. Together these languages are spoken by approximately 65M people worldwide.
When was the Gurmukhi script created?
The Gurmukhi script originated around 1539 CE.
Does Gurmukhi have uppercase and lowercase letters?
Gurmukhi does not have separate uppercase and lowercase forms. Each consonant carries an inherent vowel sound that is modified by diacritical marks.

Compare Gurmukhi With Another Script

Direction, characters, languages — side by side.

Key Facts

ISO Code
Guru
ISO Number
310
Script Type
Abugida
Direction
Left-to-right
Status
Living
Region
South Asian
Characters
80
Introduced
1539 CE
Languages
1
Total Speakers
~65M

Unicode Ranges

  • Gurmukhi
    U+0A01–U+0A76

Script Properties

Has Case
No
Cursive
No
Vowels
inherent

Official Use In

IN