Latin alphabet
| Latin alphabet Abecedarium Latinum | |
|---|---|
| Script type | |
Period | c. 700 BC – present |
| Direction | Left-to-right |
| Official script | Roman Republic and Roman Empire |
| Languages | Latin |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | Numerous Latin alphabets; also more divergent derivations such as Osage |
Sister systems | |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Latn (215), Latin |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Latin |
| See Latin script in Unicode | |
| Part of a series on |
| Calligraphy |
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The Latin alphabet comprises the letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. In a largely unaltered form (two splits, ⟨J⟩ from ⟨I⟩ and ⟨U⟩ from ⟨V⟩; an addition, ⟨W⟩; and extensions such as letters with diacritics), it forms the Latin script that is used to write many languages worldwide: in western and central Europe, in Africa, in the Americas, and in Oceania. It is the most widely used writing system in the world, used by over 3,000 languages, which is about 70% of the global population.
Its basic modern 26-letter inventory is standardized as the ISO basic Latin alphabet.