Phags-pa Script
OriginChina/Mongolia
Earliest1269
TypeAbugida
About Phags-pa Script
A square script created by the Tibetan lama Phags-pa for Kublai Khan. Designed to write every language of the empire, including Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan, and Sanskrit. Laid out vertically to match Mongolian habits. Fell from use after the Yuan dynasty collapsed. An important source for reconstructing medieval Chinese pronunciation.
More Abugidas
Devanagari
Used for Hindi, Sanskrit, Nepali, Marathi, and over 120 other languages. The distinctive h...
Thai Script
Created by King Ramkhamhaeng. Has 44 consonants, 15 vowel symbols, and 4 tone marks. Writt...
Tamil Script
One of the oldest surviving classical writing systems. Used for Tamil with 78 million spea...
Bengali Script
Used by over 230 million people for Bengali and Assamese. Evolved from the Siddham script....