Kurdish (Sorani, Kurmanji, Southern Kurdish): writing

01Scripts

• ISO 15924 Arab · Right to left

  ئ ا ب پKurdish Arabic-based alphabet

  Every vowel is written except short i, which is not written.

• ISO 15924 Latn · Left to right

  a b c çKurdish Latin alphabet (Hawar)

  31 letters. Celadet Bedirxan published the alphabet in the journal Hawar from 1932.

02Alphabet chart: Kurdish Arabic-based alphabet

Letters: Unicode CLDR exemplar characters for ckb.

• Every vowel is written except short i, which is not written.
• A word that starts with a vowel takes the seat ئ.
• ە is the vowel e and ه is the consonant h; keyboards and fonts must keep them apart.

Sources Unicode Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR), version 49 data. (2026) Verified; The Unicode Standard, version 18.0.0: Unicode Character Database. (2026) Verified

03Alphabet chart: Kurdish Latin alphabet (Hawar)

Letters: Unicode CLDR exemplar characters for ku.

• 31 letters. Celadet Bedirxan published the alphabet in the journal Hawar from 1932.
• The ALA-LC Kurdish table (2012) uses the Hawar letters as its romanisation.

Sources Unicode Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR), version 49 data. (2026) Verified; The Unicode Standard, version 18.0.0: Unicode Character Database. (2026) Verified

04Romanisation and transliteration

Writing the language in other letters, by open published standards. Libraries use the ALA-LC tables for names and titles.

05Numerals

06Orthography and standards

No official orthography body is recorded for Kurdish (Sorani, Kurmanji, Southern Kurdish) yet.

Sources ISO 639-3 code tables. SIL International, registration authority. (2025) To verify; ISO 15924 codes for the representation of names of scripts. Unicode Consortium, registration authority. (2025) Verified; Unicode Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR), version 49 data. (2026) Verified

07Keyboards and typing

Windows

Settings, Time and language, Language and region: add the language, then its keyboard. Switch with Windows key and Space.

macOS

System Settings, Keyboard, Text Input: edit Input Sources and add the keyboard. Switch from the menu bar.

Android

In the keyboard app’s settings (Gboard: Languages), add the language and choose its layout.

iPhone and iPad

Settings, General, Keyboard, Keyboards: add the keyboard. Switch with the globe key.

Linux

In the desktop settings (GNOME: Keyboard, Input Sources), add the layout.

Which layouts each system ships for each language changes with every release. Check the list on your device; layouts we have confirmed are named on the language’s page.

08Fonts

On this platform the language is shown with Estedad, IBM Plex Sans. Every face is self-hosted under an open licence.

09Sources

1. Unicode Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR), version 49 data. 2026

   Verified Unicode License v3 Exemplar characters and default numbering systems, read 2026-10-23.

2. Library of Congress. ALA-LC Romanization Tables: Kurdish, 2012 version. 2012

   Verified

3. The Unicode Standard, version 18.0.0: Unicode Character Database. 2026

   Verified Unicode License v3 Character names, code points and block ranges.

4. ISO 15924 codes for the representation of names of scripts. Unicode Consortium, registration authority. 2025

   Verified

5. ISO 639-3 code tables. SIL International, registration authority. 2025

   To verify Codes cross-checked through Glottolog records; the code tables themselves were not read.

10Research and sources

Recent and relevant work on this page’s subject, from approved open scholarly sources. Metadata and links only. Titles stay as published. Not yet reviewed.

1. Next word prediction based on the N-gram model for Kurdish Sorani and Kurmanji

   Hozan K. Hamarashid, Soran A. Saeed, Tarik Ahmed Rashid · 2020 · Neural Computing and Applications

   ArticleOpenAlexCrossrefDataCitearXivOpen accessCC-BY-4.0

2. Can Linguistic Distance help Language Classification? Assessing Hawrami-Zaza and Kurmanji-Sorani

   Hossein Hassani · 2021 · arXiv

   PreprintDataCitearXivOpen accessCC-BY-4.0

3. KASET – Kurmanji and Sorani Kurdish Speech and Transcripts

   Dana Delgado, Kevin Walker, Stephanie Strassel et al. · 2024 · Linguistic Data Consortium

   DatasetDataCite

4. Mabast dataset for Sorani Kurdish dialect semantic text classification.

   Hasan IE, Al-Atroshi SJA · 2026 · Data Brief

   ArticleEurope PMCOpen access

5. Calibrating Kurmanji and Sorani

   Michael L. Chyet · 2018 · Routledge Handbook on the Kurds

   ChapterCrossref

6. A descriptive and comparative study of adverb construction in Kurdish (Sorani and Kurmanji) and English.

   Ahmad Ahmadyan · 2025 · Biannual Journal of the Kurdish Language & Literature Studies

   ArticleDataCiteOpen accessCC-BY-4.0

7. Adyan: automated annotating named entity recognition dataset for sorani kurdish language.

   Wahid CH, Nabi RM · 2025 · Data Brief

   ArticleEurope PMCOpen access

8. Dasinya: A dataset and preprocessing pipeline for the Badini Kurdish dialect.

   Saeed VA, Jacksi K · 2026 · Data Brief

   ArticleEurope PMCOpen access

9. Making Kurdish Visible: Digital Language Practices, Identity, and Belonging among Kurdish Youth in Türkiye

   mehmet sirin filiz, ziyattin YILDIRIMÇAKAR, Naif Ergün · 2026 · Zenodo

   DatasetZenodoCC-BY-4.0

10. Polysemy of Particle in Kurdish Language

    Bayan Mala Hamadameen, Talib Husen Ali · 2023 · Zanco Journal of Humanity Sciences

    ArticleDOAJOpen access

11. Sorani Kurdish versus Kurmanji Kurdish: An Empirical Comparison

    Kyumars Sheykh Esmaili, Shahin Salavati · 2013

    ArticleOpenAlex

12. Supplementary Data for "Language Attitudes and Perceptual Recognition in a Context of Non-State Standardization: Evidence from Kurmanji Kurdish"

    ziyattin YILDIRIMÇAKAR · 2026 · Zenodo

    DatasetZenodoOpen accessCC-BY-4.0

Sources, licences and fetch dates: arXiv (Metadata CC0 1.0; papers under their own licences), 2026-10-23; Crossref (Metadata facts, any use; abstracts may be publisher-owned and are never shown), 2026-10-23; DataCite (CC0 1.0 (DataCite metadata)), 2026-10-23; DOAJ (Metadata CC0 1.0 (DOAJ); articles under their own open licences), 2026-10-23; Europe PMC (Metadata reusable; full text under each article’s licence), 2026-10-23; OpenAlex (CC0-1.0 data; metered API (free key)), 2026-10-23; Zenodo (Metadata CC0 1.0; each record under its own licence), 2026-10-23.