Telugu

తెలుగు లిపి
Telu Left-to-right Living Abugida South Asian
Sample Text
నమస్కారం

Sample Characters

First 48 characters from Telugu (U+0C00–U+0C7F)

About Telugu

The Telugu script is an abugida used to write the Telugu language, the most widely spoken Dravidian language. Telugu is sometimes called the 'Italian of the East' for the prevalence of vowel endings, which give it a musical quality.

Telugu script is written left-to-right and shares the rounded style typical of South Indian scripts. It evolved from the Brahmi script through the Kadamba and Vengi Chalukya scripts. The script is also used to write Sanskrit in the Telugu region and for the minority Gondi and Saurashtra languages.

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

Script Family & Lineage

Ancestor Chain
Brahmi Telugu

Languages Using Telugu 4

Frequently Asked Questions

What type of writing system is Telugu?
Telugu is an Abugida. Abugidas (alphasyllabaries) use consonant characters with an inherent vowel modified by diacritics.
What direction does Telugu read?
Telugu is written Left-to-right, the same direction as most European scripts.
How many languages use the Telugu script?
4 languages use Telugu according to Unicode CLDR data. Together these languages are spoken by approximately 95M people worldwide.
When was the Telugu script created?
The Telugu script originated around 1100 CE.
Does Telugu have uppercase and lowercase letters?
Telugu does not have separate uppercase and lowercase forms. Each consonant carries an inherent vowel sound that is modified by diacritical marks.

Compare Telugu With Another Script

Direction, characters, languages — side by side.

Key Facts

ISO Code
Telu
ISO Number
340
Script Type
Abugida
Direction
Left-to-right
Status
Living
Region
South Asian
Characters
101
Introduced
1100 CE
Languages
4
Total Speakers
~95M

Unicode Ranges

  • Telugu
    U+0C00–U+0C7F

Script Properties

Has Case
No
Cursive
No
Vowels
inherent

Official Use In

IN