ScriptLookup

Thaana

ތާނަ
Thaa Right-to-left Living Abjad South Asian
Sample Text
ދިވެހި

Sample Characters

ހ ށ ނ ރ ބ ޅ ކ އ ވ މ ފ ދ ތ ލ ގ ޏ ސ ޑ ޒ ޓ ޔ ޕ ޖ ޗ ޘ ޙ ޚ ޛ ޜ ޝ ޞ ޟ ޠ ޡ ޢ ޣ ޤ ޥ ަ ާ ި ީ ު ޫ ެ ޭ ޮ ޯ

First 48 characters from Thaana (U+0780–U+07B1)

About Thaana

The Thaana script is used to write the Dhivehi language, the official language of the Maldives. Uniquely among Indian Ocean scripts, Thaana was created relatively recently — around the 17th century CE under Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar I.

Thaana is written right-to-left, like Arabic. Its 24 letters are derived in part from Arabic numerals (for the first nine consonants) and from local traditional symbols. It replaced an earlier Maldivian script (Dhives Akuru). Thaana letters take diacritic vowel marks similar to Arabic harakat.

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

Script Family & Lineage

Ancestor Chain
Phoenician › Imperial Aramaic › Nabataean › Arabic › Thaana

Languages Using Thaana 1

Divehi

Frequently Asked Questions

What type of writing system is Thaana?
Thaana is an Abjad. Abjads write consonants only; vowels are absent or shown by optional diacritics.
What direction does Thaana read?
Thaana is written Right-to-left, meaning text flows from right to left. Words and sentences begin on the right side of the page.
How many languages use the Thaana script?
1 language use Thaana according to Unicode CLDR data.
When was the Thaana script created?
The Thaana script originated around 1703 CE.
Does Thaana have uppercase and lowercase letters?
Thaana does not have separate uppercase and lowercase forms. All vowels are written explicitly.

Compare Thaana With Another Script

Direction, characters, languages — side by side.

Key Facts

ISO Code
Thaa
ISO Number
170
Script Type
Abjad
Direction
Right-to-left
Status
Living
Region
South Asian
Characters
50
Introduced
1703 CE
Languages
1

Unicode Ranges

  • Thaana
    U+0780–U+07B1

Script Properties

Has Case
No
Cursive
No
Vowels
full

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