Persian alphabet

01Alphabet chart

Letters: Unicode CLDR exemplar characters for fa.

• 32 letters. Short vowels are not written in ordinary text.
• Persian uses its own digit shapes (CLDR numbering system arabext), different from Arabic digits for 4, 5 and 6.
• Nasta’liq is the traditional calligraphic style; Naskh is the usual print style.

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

02Transliteration

03Numerals

04Punctuation

، ؛ ؟ « » ٫ ٬

05Standards

ISO 15924

Arab

Unicode blocks

Arabic (U+0600 to U+06FF), Arabic Supplement (U+0750 to U+077F), Arabic Presentation Forms-A and -B

Unicode CLDR locale

fa

Digits

Extended Arabic-Indic (Persian) digits (arabext)

Joining

Letters join their neighbours and change shape by position.

Sources ISO 15924 codes for the representation of names of scripts. Unicode Consortium, registration authority. (2025) Verified; The Unicode Standard, version 18.0.0: Unicode Character Database. (2026) Verified; Unicode Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR), version 49 data. (2026) Verified

06Languages written in it

• فارسیPersian (Farsi)

  Throughout Iran; the language of the state and of the wider diaspora

• گیلکیGilaki

  Gilan, on the Caspian coast

• مازرونیMazandarani

  Mazandaran and eastern Gilan, on the Caspian coast

• TolışiTalysh

  Gilan and Ardabil, and southern Azerbaijan

• Türkmençe / تۆرکمنTurkmen

  Golestan and North Khorasan; Latin script in Turkmenistan, Arabic-based in Iran

• قشقاییQashqai

  Fars and neighbouring provinces

• لکیLaki

  Lorestan, Ilam and Kermanshah

• اچمیLari (Achomi)

  Southern Fars and Hormozgan, and Gulf states

• سمنانیSemnani

  Semnan

• تاتیTati (Takestani)

  Qazvin and Zanjan

• دریDari

  Afghanistan; Afghan communities in Iran and abroad

07Research 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. Beyond Arabic: Software for Perso-Arabic Script Manipulation

   Alexander Gutkin, Cibu Johny, Raiomond Doctor et al. · 2022 · Proceedings of the Seventh Arabic Natural Language Processing Workshop (WANLP)

   ArticleCrossrefDataCitearXivOpen accessCC-BY-SA-4.0

2. Graphemic Normalization of the Perso-Arabic Script

   Raiomond Doctor, Alexander Gutkin, Cibu Johny et al. · 2022 · Grapholinguistics and Its Applications

   ArticleCrossrefDataCitearXivOpen accessCC-BY-SA-4.0

3. Does Script Matter? Evaluating Large Language Models for Urdu Sentiment Analysis across Nastaliq, Roman Urdu, and Code-Switched Text

   Yousaf Khawar Raja · 2026 · Zenodo

   PreprintZenodoOpen accessCC-BY-4.0

4. {pdf download} Modern Persian Script Hacking: The optimal way to learn the Persian / Farsi alphabet by Judith Meyer

   Brigette Carter · 2026 · ResearchHub Technologies, Inc.

   ReportCrossref

5. The Role of Religious Concepts in the Nastaliq Inscriptions of Safavid Monuments

   Farhad Khosravi Bizhaem · 2021 · پیکره

   ArticleDOAJOpen access

6. Identifying and Introducing of Nastaliq Inscriptions Calligraphers in Safavids Monuments of Iran

   Farhad Khosravi Bizhaem · 2019 · نگره

   ArticleDOAJOpen access

7. Design and Validation of the Novel Perso-Arabic Database in Shahmukhi Punjabi Script

   Humera Rafique, Dr. Tariq Javid · 2025 · Data Intelligence

   ArticleCrossref

8. nastaliq, n. & adj.

   2023 · Oxford English Dictionary

   ChapterCrossref

9. SMAjram: A Large-Scale Synthetic OCR Dataset for Punjabi Shahmukhi (Perso-Arabic) Script

   HUMERA RAFIQUE, TARIQ JAVID · 2025 · Ground Truth Files (AjramGTXL.Zip) Description (9 XL files inside) Sr. Ground Truth Files File Description 1 1_2_AjramGT_Primary File names and labels of Main a

   DatasetDataCiteZenodoOpen accessCC-BY-4.0

10. A Comparative Study of the Dot’s Shape in Traditional Way of Nastaliq Script and Dot’s Implementation in Computer-based Types

    hoda kaspour, Abdolreza Charei · 2019 · نگره

    ArticleDOAJOpen access

11. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. al-Riyāḍ, Maktabah al-‘āmah al-sa’ūdīyah. Copy of the Qur’ān, in so-called Bihārī script, with interlinear Persian, from India, about 1500 CE.

    M Willis · 2019 · Zenodo

    OtherZenodoOpen accessCC-BY-4.0

12. Toward semiotics of Nastaliq calligraphy

    Mahdiyeh Meidani · 2019 · Persian Calligraphy

    ChapterCrossref

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; Zenodo (Metadata CC0 1.0; each record under its own licence), 2026-10-23.