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Notation used to write down speech and language — phonetic alphabets, tactile and manual scripts, and the diacritics and punctuation of the world's writing systems.
All 548symbols recorded in this context, A–Z.
A script commissioned for an empire.
A script invented by two teenagers.
A borrowed mark in a new script.
A plus sign beneath a letter, marking a fronter articulation.
A script that outlived its language.
A stylised heart shape.
The divine name as one glyph.
An upside-down r, for the r sound of English red.
An exclamation-mark shape, for a sharp popping click.
The letter l, used in phonetic transcription for an l sound.
A double vertical stroke, for a lateral click.
A letter r without its upper arc, for a single flapped r.
The letter r, used in phonetic transcription for a rolled r.
A transcription tradition of its own.
Pictures for a language that also had cuneiform.
A mark closing a passage.
A raised dot dividing a clause.
A horizontal stroke below the syllable.
A two-faced nasal mark.
A comma turned the other way.
A decorated circle closing a verse.
A pointer to a note below.
A divider between hemistichs.
A mark opening a numbered reference.
A mark opening a line of verse.
A question mark facing left.
One character meaning 'year'.
The hand the Hebrew Bible is written in.
A half nasal, mostly historic.
One ring instead of two.
A mark above a vowel showing exclamation or stress.
A colon-like mark ending an Armenian sentence.
A mark placed over the questioned syllable.
A raised letter h marking a puff of air.
A star marking a line as genuine.
A mark showing an elided initial vowel.
A script built to record sound exactly.
A fern frond with paired leaflets.
The Balinese vowel canceller.
A mark punctuating Balinese script.
A king's script that became a syllabary.
A mark closing a text.
A script recovered from the diaspora.
A script for the ritual specialist.
A Philippine script with a modern revival.
A colonial fix for a real defect.
An invocation opening a document.
A distinct form of a consonant without its vowel.
A circle with a central dot, for a lip-smacking click.
A small capital B, for a trill made with both lips.
Two runes sharing a stroke.
The rotation design, adapted once more.
A symbol language meant to need no translation.
The earliest Indian text dividers.
A single dot marking omission or possession.
A cell with no dots raised, marking a space.
A cell marking the following text as bold.
A dot-six cell marking the next letter as a capital.
A tripled capital sign marking a run of capitals.
A doubled capital sign marking a whole word as capitals.
A lower cell closing quoted speech.
A single lower dot marking a pause.
A single cell standing for the whole word and.
A single cell standing for the letter pair ar.
A single cell standing for the ending ble.
A single cell standing for the letter pair ch.
A single cell standing for the letter pair er.
A single cell standing for the whole word for.
A single cell standing for the ending ing.
A single cell standing for the letter pair sh.
A single cell standing for the letter pair th.
A single cell standing for the whole word the.
A single cell standing for the whole word with.
The convention numbering the six cell positions one to six.
A lower cell marking emphasis or an exclamation.
A cell in the lower part of the frame ending a sentence.
A cell suspending contractions for what follows.
A two-dot cell joining words or breaking a line.
A cell marking the following text as italic.
A cell forcing what follows to be read as a letter.
A cell marking the following characters as digits.
A lower cell opening quoted speech.
A lower cell marking an interrogative.
Six dot positions in two columns of three.
Two dots beneath a letter, marking breathy voice.
A sign of letters left out.
One of four living Philippine scripts.
A crescent for a borrowed vowel.
A dot above a crescent, marking a nasalised vowel.
A crescent cancelling a vowel.
Letters that look Greek and are not.
The rotation principle, applied again.
A rope drawn round a royal name.
A script read from beneath another text.
A Javanese nasal mark.
An Iberian system for a Celtic language.
Two dots above a letter, marking a central articulation.
A Brahmic script across two states.
A script of a state that ended.
A pitch drawn against a wall.
A syllabary made by a man who could not read.
Double angle brackets around a title.
A character standing for the one before it.
A raised dot inside a foreign name.
A Khwarazmian chancery hand.
Vietnamese written in Chinese characters.
The letter u, for the vowel of English goose.
A turned m, for a high back unrounded vowel.
A barred u, for a high central rounded vowel.
A barred i, for a high central vowel.
The letter y, for the vowel of French tu.
The letter i, for the vowel of English fleece.
The letter o, for the vowel of French eau.
A ram's horns shape, for an unrounded back vowel.
A barred o, for a close-mid central rounded vowel.
A reversed e, for a close-mid central vowel.
A slashed o, for the vowel of French peu.
The letter e, for the vowel of French ete.
A letter written beneath a letter.
Greek letters counting in Egypt.
A mark closing a section.
A tilde beneath a letter, marking creaky voice.
Rotation carries the vowel.
A sign that is written and never said.
Greek written in syllables.
A barred D for a different sound.
A hidden long a.
The third script on the stone.
A single vertical stroke, for a tutting click.
A small bridge beneath a letter, marking tooth contact.
A phonemic alphabet for a territory.
A raised ring marking a shortened word.
An angled mark flagging a quotation.
A doubled upright stroke.
The script the Maldives used before Thaana.
A Jammu hand related to Sharada.
Pictographs still being written.
A downward arrow marking a lowered pitch register.
A shorthand that became a script.
Four interlocked ram's horns.
A picture that fixes the meaning.
A raised apostrophe marking an ejective consonant.
An Albanian alphabet from one manuscript.
A semicolon that asks.
Four dots in a square closing a sentence.
A mark opening a passage.
A row of dots and dashes dividing text.
Two stacked dots separating words.
The numerals Rome inherited.
A vertical stem with a mark at the top, for the highest pitch.
A vertical stem with a mark at the foot, for the lowest pitch.
A small breve above a letter, marking a very short sound.
An enclosed compound with one entrance.
Five letters that change shape at the end.
A hand for each letter.
A bullet opening a paragraph.
Latin capitals, some upside down.
Two crocodiles sharing one stomach.
Small kana beside a character.
An alphabet for Wolof.
A cluster of dots dividing text.
A stroke marking an abbreviation.
Two strokes marking a multi-letter short form.
The first Slavic alphabet.
A falling arrow marking falling intonation.
A rising arrow marking rising intonation.
A question mark without its dot, for a catch in the throat.
Sanskrit written in the Tamil country.
The dot of a revealed text.
A dot marking nasalisation in Gujarati.
A mark doubling the following consonant.
The other Gurmukhi nasal mark.
A borrowed accent mark.
A recent script for a Himalayan language.
A single triangle marking a half-long sound.
A phonetic alphabet for the hands.
A glottal stop that disappears.
A ring making a p.
Consonant shapes drawn from the mouth.
Letters packed into a square cell.
A script for a stateless language.
A living Philippine abugida.
An Aramaic hand from one city.
A mark binding a word to the next.
A mark dividing a verse into clauses.
Hieroglyphs written at speed.
A vertical stem with a mark high on it, for a high pitch.
Part alphabet, part syllabary.
Two letters fused into one.
Short inscriptions nobody can read.
A vowel present until cancelled.
The Sasanian hand on rock.
A chancery hand on rock.
The Cree design, carried north.
A letter turned around in the margin.
An honorific for the divine name.
A mark separating clauses in Javanese script.
A pre-velar breath mark.
Marks telling the eye to go back.
The clerk's hand of north India.
A bird's foot marking an omission.
An accent distinguishing grammar, not sound.
The velar breath mark in Kannada.
A stroke suppressing a Kannada consonant's vowel.
A script devised in a single year.
Two scripts, one still unread.
A mark closing a sentence in Khmer.
A mark suppressing a Khmer consonant's vowel.
A community's script for its own texts.
A mark closing a whole work.
An official Sindhi hand, briefly.
A nasal riding on the next letter.
Music drawn as a keyboard.
A closing ornament.
An inserted letter marking a compound.
The family name written first.
Spaces between words in a block script.
A mark meaning 'again'.
A mark that changes the vowel.
A curl that ended a sentence.
The whole apparatus for reading Chinese.
A turned h, for the French u sound in lui.
The letter w, used in phonetic transcription for a w sound.
A raised letter w marking lip rounding.
A hooked v, for a v-like sound without friction.
A letter v with a rightward hook at the top.
A letter m with a rightward tail on its last leg.
A Lao silent-letter mark.
A mark above a syllable fixing its tone.
One letter written oversized.
A raised letter l marking release over the tongue sides.
A Javanese raised r.
Brackets around text deleted in antiquity.
A pair of triangles marking a long sound.
Filled brackets for headings.
Syllables rotated into a block.
An open-left hook beneath a letter, marking reduced rounding.
The ancestor of Tifinagh.
A Himalayan script with a full stop of its own.
The script Linear B came from, unread.
A picture standing beside a count.
A short-lived script, recently read.
A seagull shape beneath a letter, marking tongue-to-lip contact.
A low curve joining two sounds without a break.
Rotation applied to Latin capitals.
A script named after a palm leaf.
A vertical stem with a mark low on it, for a low pitch.
A tack pointing down beneath a letter, marking an opener sound.
Letters on lines for the fingers.
A Greek-derived script with extra sounds.
A wave meaning hold it longer.
A merchant's script with no vowels.
A small cross above the letter.
A mark shortening a vowel.
A small curl above the letter.
A small three above the letter.
A mark meaning say it again.
A double vertical bar marking a full prosodic break.
A script with no final consonants.
A letter form for a consonant with no vowel.
A sign standing for 'date'.
Mongolian letters with added dots.
An alphabet that counts vowels as letters.
A script that travelled with a religion.
A dot that makes a silent letter sound.
A high stroke joining two words.
A Bon liturgical script.
A script for a language across four states.
Dots above letters in the line.
Vowels that hang off consonants.
Signs read in blocks.
A script for a language nobody spoke.
A script revived and made official.
A syllabary written right to left.
A read script in an unread language.
A Greek alphabet in the heel of Italy.
A stroke marking secondary stress.
A vertical stem with a mark at mid height, for a middle pitch.
A single vertical bar marking a short prosodic break.
A screenfold read like a path.
The marks of Marathi administration.
A mark opening a text or section.
A gap that is a character.
Simplified raised outlines derived from Roman letters.
An open-right hook beneath a letter, marking extra rounding.
A commercial hand from the Punjab.
A sign meaning 'the said'.
A mark killing a consonant's vowel in Burmese.
Two strokes closing a passage.
A script made to unify Manding.
Seven marks for tone and length.
The cursive that became Arabic.
A southern hand for Sanskrit.
A raised letter n marking release through the nose.
A tilde above a letter, marking nasal airflow.
An upsilon shape, for the vowel of English foot.
A small capital Y, for a lax front rounded vowel.
A small capital I, for the vowel of English kit.
A turned a, for a low central vowel.
An a-e ligature, for the vowel of English trap.
A two-cell form for equality in the Nemeth code.
Cells opening and closing a fraction.
A braille cell for subtraction in the Nemeth code.
A braille cell for addition in the Nemeth code.
Cells opening and closing a root expression.
A cell lowering what follows below the baseline.
A cell raising what follows to an exponent.
A revived script made official.
A small circle for a nasal.
Dots and lines beneath the letters.
A small corner mark showing an unreleased stop.
A contracted sacred name under a bar.
A small arc beneath a letter, marking it as not a syllable.
A monogram flagging a passage worth noting.
A body of signs deliberately not public.
Two forms joined to show a bond.
A dot beneath a letter, adapting it to a foreign sound.
A script written by women.
A forked post used as an altar.
A second Hmong script, in the diaspora.
Two uprights closing a section.
An Odia document invocation.
Notches cut along an edge.
An arrow saying where to start.
Kana carrying the grammar.
A script designed for Santali in 1925.
Angular letters cut for wood.
The alphabet Rome borrowed and kept.
Graffiti across a desert.
Wedges designed, not inherited.
The earlier hand of the Silk Road.
Angular letters cut in stone.
The link between Sogdian and Mongolian.
A turned script a, for the vowel of English lot.
A script a, for the vowel of English father.
A small capital O-E ligature, for a low front rounded vowel.
The letter a, for the vowel of French patte.
An open o, for the vowel of English thought.
A turned v, for the vowel of English strut.
A closed reversed epsilon, for a rounded central vowel.
A reversed epsilon, for the English nurse vowel.
An o-e ligature, for the vowel of French coeur.
An epsilon, for the vowel of English dress.
A Somali alphabet from the 1920s.
An ornament opening a text.
A Javanese full stop.
A syllabary that writes the rime first.
A script that hid its own words.
A mark meaning the rest is cut.
The letter j, used in phonetic transcription for a y sound.
A turned y, for the Italian gli sound.
A letter n with a leftward tail, for the Spanish enye sound.
A raised letter j marking a y-like colouring.
A double-barred vertical stroke, for a palatal click.
A caravan city's own hand.
A mark killing a vowel.
A line under the line.
A flourished mark opening a section.
A vertical stroke separating two words.
A mark of honour over a short form.
A logographic script that became an alphabet.
A raised reversed glottal stop marking throat constriction.
Twenty-two letters that travelled.
A Greek alphabet in Anatolia.
Four diacritics drawing the pitch contour.
A cover over a raised letter.
Vowels placed around a consonant to show tone.
Small holes guiding the ruling of a page.
The first alphabet, made from pictures.
A vowel written behind the letter.
A script named for one book.
Read this, though it is written that.
A small letter marking a required pause.
A paired mark offering one stop of two.
Small letters marking where to stop.
A small letter marking an optional pause.
A small letter forbidding a pause.
A mark indicating a place of prostration.
An honorific for a companion.
A line meaning no dot.
A tack pointing up beneath a letter, marking a closer sound.
An r tucked beneath its consonant.
A black bead in the margin.
A Sumatran script of few letters.
The Sinhala raised r.
An r that climbs onto the next letter.
A minus sign beneath a letter, marking a backer articulation.
A turned r with a rightward tail.
A tap letter with a rightward tail, for a retroflex flap.
A letter l with a rightward tail.
A letter n with a rightward tail, for a retroflex n sound.
A small hook marking an r-coloured vowel.
A heaped-jewel bar.
A Khmer raised r.
Glyphs from Easter Island, unread.
A script that is not read.
A heading or initial written in red.
A dot deciding hard or soft.
Monumental letters of severe geometry.
Stop the voice, keep the breath.
A whole blessing in one character.
The older Hebrew letters, still in use.
The marks of the Kashmiri hand.
A script for a migrant community.
An upside-down e, for the unstressed vowel of English about.
A small hooked mark standing for con or cum.
A divided mark standing for is.
A bar above a letter standing for a missing n or m.
A p with a crossed descender.
A p with a curled descender.
A q with a stroke through its tail.
A crossed stroke closing a genitive plural.
A curled mark closing a word.
A lowered vertical stroke before a lightly stressed syllable.
Dots instead of italics.
The upright that closes a line.
An alphabet built to fit English sounds.
Two dots meaning little or nothing.
The line the letters hang from.
Characters written in mirror image.
A script from one city, barely read.
A mark suppressing a Sinhala consonant's vowel.
Two stacked dots closing a verse.
The script that turned the page sideways.
A language written in seven syllables.
A script attributed to a revelation, in 1936.
The script behind a national emblem.
The Tibetan stack instead of a virama.
Three parameters in a line.
A script revived by regulation.
An alphabet for a small Himalayan community.
A vertical stroke above the syllable.
A script for a language called a dialect.
A vertical stroke beneath a letter, marking a syllable nucleus.
A dot above the line marking a pause.
Two competing vowel systems.
A Palawan script held by few.
A script for scripture in the north.
A script crossing a national border.
A drum that follows the tones of speech.
Ditto, in Tamil.
Three dots in a triangle, a distinctive Tamil letter.
A date abbreviation in one glyph.
The word 'month' as a glyph.
A marker for 'number'.
A dot above a letter suppressing its vowel.
The word 'year' as a glyph.
One script for many varieties.
Thousands of characters, all invented at once.
A doubled vowel mark meaning -n.
The oldest writing in western Europe.
Vowels written above and below.
A stroke suppressing a Telugu consonant's vowel.
A mark showing a consonant carries no vowel.
One language written three ways.
Geometric letters of the Amazigh.
A geometric letter of dots and strokes.
A small nasal hook.
The Maithili manuscript hand.
A wave over a shortened sacred word.
A mark silencing a letter.
Pitch written as digits.
Letters for degrees, not for pitches.
A script for a very small community.
Letters strung down a vertical line.
Letters made with both hands.
The high tone, usually left unmarked.
An alphabet written in wedges.
A crescent and dot for the sacred.
A capital for every English sound.
A pre-labial breath mark.
An upward arrow marking a raised pitch register.
A third transcription tradition.
A small capital N, for a nasal made at the uvula.
A small capital R, for a trill made at the uvula.
Africa's first indigenous syllabary.
A Telugu consonant-cluster hook.
A breath mark in recitation.
A drawn-out tone mark.
A turned m with a long right leg.
A small capital L, for a lateral made at the soft palate.
A letter n with a descending tail, for the ng sound.
A raised gamma marking a dark colouring.
An alphabet that punctuated its syllables.
Five marks over a Latin alphabet.
Two stacked dots marking a breathy final sound.
A second Albanian invention.
The letter z, used in phonetic transcription for a z sound.
A letter d with a leftward hook at the top.
A lezh, for a voiced lateral fricative.
The letter d, used in phonetic transcription for a d sound.
A Greek beta, for a voiced sound made between the lips.
A letter b with a leftward hook at the top.
The letter b, used in phonetic transcription for a b sound.
An eth, a crossed d, for the th sound of English this.
A small wedge beneath a letter, marking it as voiced.
A hooked h, for a breathy h sound.
The letter v, used in phonetic transcription for a v sound.
A curled j, for a voiced sound made at the hard palate.
A dotless j with a crossbar and a hook.
A dotless j with a crossbar, for a voiced palatal stop.
A reversed glottal stop letter, for the Arabic ayin.
An ezh, for the s sound in English measure.
A letter z with a rightward tail, for a retroflex z.
A letter d with a rightward tail, for a retroflex d sound.
An inverted small capital R, for the French r.
A small capital G with a leftward hook.
A small capital G, for a voiced uvular stop.
A gamma-like letter, for a voiced sound at the soft palate.
A letter g with a leftward hook at the top.
A single-storey script g, for a hard g sound.
The letter s, used in phonetic transcription for an s sound.
A belted l, for the Welsh double-l sound.
The letter t, used in phonetic transcription for a t sound.
A Greek phi, for air forced between the lips.
The letter p, used in phonetic transcription for a p sound.
A Greek theta, for the th sound of English thin.
A small ring beneath a letter, marking it as voiceless.
The letter h, used in phonetic transcription for an h sound.
A turned w, for the wh sound of some English accents.
The letter f, used in phonetic transcription for an f sound.
A c with a cedilla, for the German ich sound.
The letter c, used in phonetic transcription for a palatal stop.
A crossed h, for a constricted sound in the throat.
A long s, for the sh sound of English ship.
A letter s with a rightward tail, for a retroflex s.
A letter t with a rightward tail, for a retroflex t sound.
A Greek chi, for a rasping sound at the uvula.
The letter q, used in phonetic transcription for a uvular stop.
The letter x, for the ch sound of Scottish loch.
The letter k, used in phonetic transcription for a k sound.
An alphabet devised in the 2000s.
Continuing allowed, stopping better.
Stopping allowed, continuing better.
A script attributed to a revelation.
A wavy line joining a range.
A language whistled across a valley.
A Javanese final h.
A mark for a letter left out.
A script for a closed tradition.
A thousand syllables, standardised.
The closing half of a head ornament.
An alphabet that got smaller.
Mongolian written in Tibetan blocks.
The oldest writing in the Americas.
Thirty-seven symbols annotating Mandarin sound.
Peace upon a prophet.
A letter marking a reading unit.