I

Front Matter

Urdu (Nastaliq)

Urdu written in the Nastaliq calligraphic style.

Era

Medieval

Region

South Asia

System

Abjad

Direction

Right to Left (RTL)

Signs

38

Status

Active

Urdu written in the Nastaliq calligraphic style. Pakistan's national language and one of India's official languages. Features the distinctive aesthetic of letters "hanging" as text flows right-to-left. The language of Mughal Empire literature and poetry; works of great poets Mirza Ghalib and Iqbal were recorded in this script. Symbolizes the 1947 India-Pakistan partition, when Hindustani split into Hindi (Devanagari) and Urdu (Nastaliq).

III

The Letters

Signs · Unicode · Types

Sample GlyphsClick to copy

Unicode

Range 1U+0600–U+06FF

Range 2U+FB50–U+FDFF

Total signs38

In Unicode256

Unicode Blocks

Arabic

0600 – 06FF

256 chars→

Glyph evolution

Form change over time

Loading evolution data…

V

Reading Mechanics

Direction · Method

↔

Direction

Right to Left (RTL)

우→좌 (RTL)

α

System

Abjad

⌨

Input method

Direct Unicode input

Keyboard layout

Standard IME · input chart

Urdu Keyboard (Nastaliq)

Nastaliq style Arabic script. Official language of Pakistan. Right-to-left.

ق

و

ع

ر

ت

ے

ء

ی

ہ

پ

ا

س

د

ف

گ

ح

ج

ک

ل

ز

ش

چ

ط

ب

ن

م

space

⌫

💡 Urdu adds ٹ(ṭ), ڈ(ḍ), ڑ(ṛ), ں(ñ) and others to the Arabic-Persian script.

VI

The Lineage

Family · Descendants

Phylogeny

Descendants of hieroglyphs

Phylogeny

Related scripts

Ancestors · Descendants · Family

Ancestors

Persian Script (Nastaliq)

Same family

Sindhi (Arabic script)Modern Uyghur (Perso-Arabic)Persian Script (Nastaliq)Hanifi Rohingya

VII

In the World

Usage · Reach