Unicode and the alphabet’s family tree
This family tree of alphabets shows the development of the Latin alphabet from its earliest beginnings.
Egyptian hieroglyphs | 𓃾 | 𓉐 | 𓌙 | 𓉿 | 𓀠 | 𓌉 | 𓍿 | 𓉗 | 𓎛 | 𓄤 | 𓂝 | 𓂧 | 𓋿 | 𓈖 | 𓆓 | 𓊽 | 𓁹 | 𓂋 | 𓎤 | 𓇑 | 𓎗 | 𓁶 | 𓐮 | 𓏴 | |||||||||||
Phoenician | 𐤀 | 𐤁 | 𐤂 | 𐤃 | 𐤄 | 𐤅 | 𐤆 | 𐤇 | 𐤈 | 𐤉 | 𐤊 | 𐤋 | 𐤌 | 𐤍 | 𐤎 | 𐤏 | 𐤐 | 𐤑 | 𐤒 | 𐤓 | 𐤔 | 𐤕 | |||||||||||||
Greek | Α | Β | Γ | Δ | Ε | Ϝ | Υ | Ζ | Η | Θ | Ι | Κ | Λ | Μ | Ν | Ξ | Χ | Ο | Ω | Π | Ϻ | Ͳ | Ϙ | Φ | Ψ | Ρ | Σ | Τ | |||||||
Old Italic | 𐌀 | 𐌁 | 𐌂 | 𐌃 | 𐌄 | 𐌅 | 𐌖 | 𐌆 | 𐌇 | 𐌈 | 𐌉 | 𐌊 | 𐌋 | 𐌌 | 𐌍 | 𐌎 | 𐌗 | 𐌏 | 𐌐 | 𐌑 | 𐌒 | 𐌘 | 𐌙 | 𐌓 | 𐌔 | 𐌕 | 𐌚 | ||||||||
Latin | A | B | C | G | D | E | F | V | Y | U | W | Z | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | X | O | P | Q | R | S | T |
Egyptian hieroglyphs | 𓃾 | 𓉐 | 𓌙 | 𓉿 | 𓀠 | 𓌉 | 𓍿 | 𓉗 | 𓎛 | 𓄤 | 𓂝 | 𓂧 | 𓋿 | 𓈖 | 𓆓 | 𓊽 | 𓁹 | 𓂋 | 𓎤 | 𓇑 | 𓎗 | 𓁶 | 𓐮 | 𓏴 | |||||||||||
3200 BC | ox head | house | throw stick | door | jubilate | mace | tethering rope | mansion | wick | heart and windpipe | arm | hand | crook | water | snake | column | eye | mouth | bag | rush | cord on stick | head | bow (?) | crossed sticks | |||||||||||
Phoenician | 𐤀 | 𐤁 | 𐤂 | 𐤃 | 𐤄 | 𐤅 | 𐤆 | 𐤇 | 𐤈 | 𐤉 | 𐤊 | 𐤋 | 𐤌 | 𐤍 | 𐤎 | 𐤏 | 𐤐 | 𐤑 | 𐤒 | 𐤓 | 𐤔 | 𐤕 | |||||||||||||
1050 BC | alf | bet | gaml | delt | he | wau | zai | het | tet | yod | kaf | lamd | mem | nun | senk | ain | pe | sade | qof | rosh | shin | tau | |||||||||||||
Greek | Α | Β | Γ | Δ | Ε | Ϝ | Υ | Ζ | Η | Θ | Ι | Κ | Λ | Μ | Ν | Ξ | Χ | Ο | Ω | Π | Ϻ | Ͳ | Ϙ | Φ | Ψ | Ρ | Σ | Τ | |||||||
800 BC | alpha | beta | gamma | delta | epsilon | digamma | upsilon | zeta | eta | theta | iota | kappa | lambda | mu | nu | xi | chi | omicron | omega | pi | san | sampi | koppa | phi | psi | rho | sigma | tau | |||||||
Old Italic | 𐌀 | 𐌁 | 𐌂 | 𐌃 | 𐌄 | 𐌅 | 𐌖 | 𐌆 | 𐌇 | 𐌈 | 𐌉 | 𐌊 | 𐌋 | 𐌌 | 𐌍 | 𐌎 | 𐌗 | 𐌏 | 𐌐 | 𐌑 | 𐌒 | 𐌘 | 𐌙 | 𐌓 | 𐌔 | 𐌕 | 𐌚 | ||||||||
700 BC | a | be | ke | de | e | ve | u | ze | he | the | i | ka | el | em | en | esh | eks | o | pe | she | ku | phe | khe | er | es | te | ef | ||||||||
Latin | A | B | C | G | D | E | F | V | Y | U | W | Z | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | X | O | P | Q | R | S | T | |||||||||
600 BC |
The above table includes the letter name parts of the Unicode character names for Phoenician, Greek, and Old Italic. Egyptian hieroglyphs do not have a character name in Unicode as such, instead they are referred to by their Gardiner numbers, which are not shown here.
Egyptian hieroglyphs | 𓃾 | 𓉐 | 𓌙 | 𓉿 | 𓀠 | 𓌉 | 𓍿 | 𓉗 | 𓎛 | 𓄤 | 𓂝 | 𓂧 | 𓋿 | 𓈖 | 𓆓 | 𓊽 | 𓁹 | 𓂋 | 𓎤 | 𓇑 | 𓎗 | 𓁶 | 𓐮 | 𓏴 | |||||||||||
U+130FE | U+13250 | U+13319 | U+1327F | U+13020 | U+13309 | U+1337F | U+13257 | U+1339B | U+13124 | U+1309D | U+130A7 | U+132FF | U+13216 | U+13193 | U+132BD | U+13079 | U+130BB | U+130A4E | U+131D1 | U+13397 | U+13076 | U+1342E | U+133F4 | ||||||||||||
3200 BC | ox head | house | throw stick | door | jubilate | mace | tethering rope | mansion | wick | heart and windpipe | arm | hand | crook | water | snake | column | eye | mouth | bag | rush | cord on stick | head | bow (?) | crossed sticks | |||||||||||
Phoenician | 𐤀 | 𐤁 | 𐤂 | 𐤃 | 𐤄 | 𐤅 | 𐤆 | 𐤇 | 𐤈 | 𐤉 | 𐤊 | 𐤋 | 𐤌 | 𐤍 | 𐤎 | 𐤏 | 𐤐 | 𐤑 | 𐤒 | 𐤓 | 𐤔 | 𐤕 | |||||||||||||
U+10900 | U+10901 | U+10902 | U+10903 | U+10904 | U+10905 | U+10906 | U+10907 | U+10908 | U+10909 | U+1090A | U+1090B | U+1090C | U+1090D | U+1090E | U+1090F | U+10910 | U+10911 | U+10912 | U+10913 | U+10914 | U+10915 | ||||||||||||||
1050 BC | alf | bet | gaml | delt | he | wau | zai | het | tet | yod | kaf | lamd | mem | nun | senk | ain | pe | sade | qof | rosh | shin | tau | |||||||||||||
Greek | Α | Β | Γ | Δ | Ε | Ϝ | Υ | Ζ | Η | Θ | Ι | Κ | Λ | Μ | Ν | Ξ | Χ | Ο | Ω | Π | Ϻ | Ͳ | Ϙ | Φ | Ψ | Ρ | Σ | Τ | |||||||
U+0391 | U+0392 | U+0393 | U+0394 | U+0395 | U+03DC | U+03A5 | U+0396 | U+0397 | U+0398 | U+0399 | U+039A | U+039B | U+039C | U+039D | U+039E | U+03A7 | U+039F | U+03A9 | U+03A0 | U+03FA | U+0372 | U+03D8 | U+03A6 | U+03A8 | U+03A1 | U+03A3 | U+03A4 | ||||||||
800 BC | alpha | beta | gamma | delta | epsilon | digamma | upsilon | zeta | eta | theta | iota | kappa | lambda | mu | nu | xi | chi | omicron | omega | pi | san | sampi | koppa | phi | psi | rho | sigma | tau | |||||||
Old Italic | 𐌀 | 𐌁 | 𐌂 | 𐌃 | 𐌄 | 𐌅 | 𐌖 | 𐌆 | 𐌇 | 𐌈 | 𐌉 | 𐌊 | 𐌋 | 𐌌 | 𐌍 | 𐌎 | 𐌗 | 𐌏 | 𐌐 | 𐌑 | 𐌒 | 𐌘 | 𐌙 | 𐌓 | 𐌔 | 𐌕 | 𐌚 | ||||||||
U+10300 | U+10301 | U+10302 | U+10303 | U+10304 | U+10305 | U+10316 | U+10306 | U+10307 | U+10308 | U+10309 | U+1030A | U+1030B | U+1030C | U+1030D | U+1030E | U+10317 | U+1030F | U+10310 | U+10311 | U+10312 | U+10318 | U+10319 | U+10313 | U+10314 | U+10315 | U+1031A | |||||||||
700 BC | a | be | ke | de | e | ve | u | ze | he | the | i | ka | el | em | en | esh | eks | o | pe | she | ku | phe | khe | er | es | te | ef | ||||||||
Latin | A | B | C | G | D | E | F | V | Y | U | W | Z | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | X | O | P | Q | R | S | T | |||||||||
600 BC | U+0041 | U+0042 | U+0043 | U+0047 | U+0044 | U+0045 | U+0046 | U+0056 | U+0059 | U+0055 | U+0057 | U+005A | U+0048 | U+0049 | U+004A | U+004B | U+004C | U+004D | U+004E | U+0058 | U+004F | U+0050 | U+0051 | U+0052 | U+0053 | U+0054 |
Proto-Sinaitic (from 1700 BC), the intermediate script between Egyptian hieroglyphs and Phoenician, is unfortunately still not included in Unicode (as of Version 16.0 in 2024) and therefore not shown here. This is a severe oversight, as Proto-Sinaitic’s importance in the development of writing can hardly be overstated. It is both the earliest alphabetic writing in human history and the ancestor of nearly all alphabetic scripts in use today.
However, the Unicode Roadmap does show 48 code points (from U+108B0 to U+108DF) blocked for Proto-Sinaitic. This gives hope that the Unicode Consortium will come to its senses and fill this gaping hole in the universal text encoding standard soon. Proposals for adding Proto-Sinatic have been made by Michael Everson (1998) and Anshuman Pandey (2019).
A more detailed, commented version of the information on this page is available here: Evolution of the alphabet (with comments).
Archaic Latin | 600 BC | A | B | C | D | E | F | H | I | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | V | X | Z | |||||
Old Latin | 230 BC | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | V | X | |||||
Classical Latin | 50 BC | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | V | X | Y | Z | |||
Modern Latin | 1550 AD | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Minuscule | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z |
The predecessors of our lower-case letters (minuscule) existed already in Roman antiquity, as Old Roman or Latin cursive handwriting was in use by around 350 BC. Handwriting continued to develop into New Roman cursive which resembled many modern letter forms by 350 AD already. Lower-case letters become historically relevant as Carolingian minuscule when they were developed as the calligraphic standard for the chancellery of emperor Charlemagne.
Unicode | Unicode | Unicode | Unicode | Unicode | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Symbol | Code Point |
Name | Symbol | Code Point |
Name | Symbol | Code Point |
Name | Symbol | Code Point |
Name | Symbol | Code Point |
Name |
Egyptian hieroglyphs (Egyp) | Phoenician (Phnx) | Greek (Grek) | Old Italic (Ital) | Latin (Latn) | ||||||||||
𓃾 | 130FE | Egyptian hieroglyph F001 | 𐤀 | 10900 | Phoenician letter alf | Α | 0391 | Greek capital letter alpha | 𐌀 | 10300 | Old Italic letter a | A | 0041 | Latin capital letter A |
𓉐 | 13250 | Egyptian hieroglyph O001 | 𐤁 | 10901 | Phoenician letter bet | Β | 0392 | Greek capital letter beta | 𐌁 | 10301 | Old Italic letter be | B | 0042 | Latin capital letter B |
𓌙 | 13319 | Egyptian hieroglyph T014 | 𐤂 | 10902 | Phoenician letter gaml | Γ | 0393 | Greek capital letter gamma | 𐌂 | 10302 | Old Italic letter ke | C | 0043 | Latin capital letter C |
G | 0047 | Latin capital letter G | ||||||||||||
𓉿 | 1327F | Egyptian hieroglyph O031 | 𐤃 | 10903 | Phoenician letter delt | Δ | 0394 | Greek capital letter delta | 𐌃 | 10303 | Old Italic letter de | D | 0044 | Latin capital letter D |
𓀠 | 13020 | Egyptian hieroglyph A028 | 𐤄 | 10904 | Phoenician letter he | Ε | 0395 | Greek capital letter epsilon | 𐌄 | 10304 | Old Italic letter e | E | 0045 | Latin capital letter E |
𓌉 | 13309 | Egyptian hieroglyph T003 | 𐤅 | 10905 | Phoenician letter wau | Ϝ | 03DC | Greek letter digamma | 𐌅 | 10305 | Old Italic letter ve | F | 0046 | Latin capital letter F |
Υ | 03A5 | Greek capital letter upsilon | 𐌖 | 10316 | Old Italic letter u | V | 0056 | Latin capital letter V | ||||||
Y | 0059 | Latin capital letter Y | ||||||||||||
U | 0055 | Latin capital letter U | ||||||||||||
W | 0057 | Latin capital letter W | ||||||||||||
𓍿 | 1337F | Egyptian hieroglyph V013 | 𐤆 | 10906 | Phoenician letter zai | Ζ | 0396 | Greek capital letter zeta | 𐌆 | 10306 | Old Italic letter ze | Z | 005A | Latin capital letter Z |
𓉗 | 13257 | Egyptian hieroglyph O006 | 𐤇 | 10907 | Phoenician letter het | Η | 0397 | Greek capital letter eta | 𐌇 | 10307 | Old Italic letter he | H | 0048 | Latin capital letter H |
𓎛 | 1339B | Egyptian hieroglyph V028 | ||||||||||||
𓄤 | 13124 | Egyptian hieroglyph F035 | 𐤈 | 10908 | Phoenician letter tet | Θ | 0398 | Greek capital letter theta | 𐌈 | 10308 | Old Italic letter the | |||
𓂝 | 1309D | Egyptian hieroglyph D036 | 𐤉 | 10909 | Phoenician letter yod | Ι | 0399 | Greek capital letter iota | 𐌉 | 10309 | Old Italic letter i | I | 0049 | Latin capital letter I |
J | 004A | Latin capital letter J | ||||||||||||
𓂧 | 130A7 | Egyptian hieroglyph D046 | 𐤊 | 1090A | Phoenician letter kaf | Κ | 039A | Greek capital letter kappa | 𐌊 | 1030A | Old Italic letter ka | K | 004B | Latin capital letter K |
𓋿 | 132FF | Egyptian hieroglyph S039 | 𐤋 | 1090B | Phoenician letter lamd | Λ | 039B | Greek capital letter lambda | 𐌋 | 1030B | Old Italic letter el | L | 004C | Latin capital letter L |
𓈖 | 13216 | Egyptian hieroglyph N035 | 𐤌 | 1090C | Phoenician letter mem | Μ | 039C | Greek capital letter mu | 𐌌 | 1030C | Old Italic letter em | M | 004D | Latin capital letter M |
𓆓 | 13193 | Egyptian hieroglyph I010 | 𐤍 | 1090D | Phoenician letter nun | Ν | 039D | Greek capital letter nu | 𐌍 | 1030D | Old Italic letter en | N | 004E | Latin capital letter N |
𓊽 | 132BD | Egyptian hieroglyph R011 | 𐤎 | 1090E | Phoenician letter semk | Ξ | 039E | Greek capital letter xi | 𐌎 | 1030E | Old Italic letter esh | |||
Χ | 03A7 | Greek capital letter chi | 𐌗 | 10317 | Old Italic letter eks | X | 0058 | Latin capital letter X | ||||||
𓁹 | 13079 | Egyptian hieroglyph D004 | 𐤏 | 1090F | Phoenician letter ain | Ο | 039F | Greek capital letter omicron | 𐌏 | 1030F | Old Italic letter o | O | 004F | Latin capital letter O |
Ω | 03A9 | Greek capital letter omega | ||||||||||||
𓂋 | 1308B | Egyptian hieroglyph D021 | 𐤐 | 10910 | Phoenician letter pe | Π | 03A0 | Greek capital letter pi | 𐌐 | 10310 | Old Italic letter pe | P | 0050 | Latin capital letter P |
𓎤 | 133A4 | Egyptian hieroglyph V033 | 𐤑 | 10911 | Phoenician letter sade | Ϻ | 03FA | Greek capital letter san | 𐌑 | 10311 | Old Italic letter she | |||
Ͳ | 0372 | Greek capital letter archaic sampi | ||||||||||||
𓎗 | 13397 | Egyptian hieroglyph V024 | 𐤒 | 10912 | Phoenician letter qof | Ϙ | 03D8 | Greek capital letter archaic koppa | 𐌒 | 10312 | Old Italic letter ku | Q | 0051 | Latin capital letter Q |
Φ | 03A6 | Greek capital letter phi | 𐌘 | 10318 | Old Italic letter phe | |||||||||
Ψ | 03A8 | Greek capital letter psi | 𐌙 | 10319 | Old Italic letter khe | |||||||||
𓁶 | 13076 | Egyptian hieroglyph D001 | 𐤓 | 10913 | Phoenician letter rosh | Ρ | 03A1 | Greek capital letter rho | 𐌓 | 10313 | Old Italic letter er | R | 0052 | Latin capital letter R |
𓐮 | 1342E | Egyptian hieroglyph AA032 | 𐤔 | 10914 | Phoenician letter shin | Σ | 03A3 | Greek capital letter sigma | 𐌔 | 10314 | Old Italic letter es | S | 0053 | Latin capital letter S |
𓏴 | 133F4 | Egyptian hieroglyph Z009 | 𐤕 | 10915 | Phoenician letter tau | Τ | 03A4 | Greek capital letter tau | 𐌕 | 10315 | Old Italic letter te | T | 0054 | Latin capital letter T |
𐌚 | 1031A | Old Italic letter ef |
A more detailed, commented version of the information on this page is available here: Evolution of the alphabet (with comments).
The information on this page is largely based on the works of William Albright, Brian Edric Colless, Alan Gardiner, Orly Goldwasser, Hubert Grimme, Harald Haarmann, Gordon J. Hamilton and Theodor Nöldeke.