01OVERVIEW
Front Matter
SCRIPT · PROFILE
Thaana
Official script of the Maldives.
Official script of the Maldives. A uniquely hybrid system derived from Arabic characters and Indian numerals. Reportedly developed for covert communication during Portuguese colonial rule (16th–17th century). Written right-to-left with complete vowel marking above and below every consonant. Maldivian (Dhivehi) is an Indo-Aryan language related to Sri Lankan Sinhala — making its adoption of this Arabic-Indian hybrid script particularly distinctive.
04SPECIMEN
The Letters
Signs · Unicode · TypesSample GlyphsClick to copy
Glyph evolution
Form change over time
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06MECHANICS
Reading Mechanics
Direction · Method↔
Direction
Right to Left (RTL)
Right to left (RTL)
α
System
Abjad
⌨
Input method
Direct Unicode input
Keyboard layout
Standard IME · input chart
Thaana Keyboard (Dhivehi)
Script of Dhivehi, official language of Maldives. RTL. Derived from Arabic numerals.
ޤ
ވ
އ
ރ
ތ
ޔ
އ
ިި
ހ
ޕ
ށ
ސ
ދ
ފ
ގ
ހ
ޖ
ކ
ލ
ޒ
ޝ
ޗ
ޓ
ބ
ނ
މ
space
⌫
💡 Thaana has 28 consonants with vowel diacritics. The sole official script of the Maldives.
07LINEAGE
The Lineage
Family · DescendantsPhylogeny
Ancestors & descendants
Phylogeny
Related scripts
Ancestors · Descendants · Family
08REACH