# Jawi script

| Jawi جاوي‎ |
| --- |
| Letter from William Farquhar to Sultan Muhammad Kanzul Alam, the sultan of Brunei, dated 28 November 1819. |
| Script type |  Abjad
 |
| Time period | c. 9th century to the present (now in limited use) |
| Direction | Right-to-left |
| Official script | Co-official:  Brunei
Regional:  Indonesia,  Malaysia |
| Languages | * Acehnese
* Banjarese
* Betawi
* Maguindanao
* Mëranaw
* Malay
* Minangkabau
* Tausūg
* Ternate
* several other languages in Southeast Asia
 |
| Related scripts |
| Parent systems | Proto-Sinaitic* Phoenician
	+ Aramaic
		- Nabataean
			* Arabic
				+ Jawi
 |
| Sister systems | Pegon script |
|

**Jawi** (جاوي‎) is a script used to write many languages of Southeast Asia, such as Acehnese, Banjarese, Betawi, Magindanao, Malay, Mëranaw, Minangkabau, Tausūg, and Ternate. Based on the Arabic script, Jawi uses all the original thirty-one letters of the Arabic alphabet, but it has six more letters used for sounds not found in Classical Arabic: those being *ca* (⟨چ‎⟩ /t͡ʃ/), *nga* (⟨ڠ‎⟩ /ŋ/), *pa* (⟨ڤ‎⟩ /p/), *ga* (⟨ݢ‎⟩ /ɡ/), *va* (⟨ۏ‎⟩ /v/), and *nya* (⟨ڽ‎⟩ /ɲ/).

Until the early 20th century, there was no standard spelling system for Jawi. The earliest spelling reform towards a standardized system was in 1937 by *The Malay Language and Johor Royal Literary Book Pact*. This was followed by another reform by Za'aba, published in 1949. The final major reform was the *Enhanced Guidelines of Jawi Spelling* issued in 1986, which was based on the Za'aba system.

Today, Jawi is one of two official scripts in the nation of Brunei. In Malaysia, while the Latin script (or Rumi) is the official script, Jawi has official status in religious and cultural contexts. In some states – most notably Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang – Jawi has official status along with Rumi, as businesses are forced to adopt Jawi signage and billboards. Jawi is also used as an alternative script among Malay communities in Indonesia and Thailand.

Jawi can be typed using the Jawi keyboard.

## History

The Jawi script was created during the spread of Islam in Maritime Southeast Asia, replacing the previous Brahmic scripts that were originally in use during the time when the main religions in the region were Hinduism and Buddhism. The oldest evidence of Jawi writing can be found on the 14th-century Terengganu Inscription Stone, a text in Classical Malay that contains a blend of Malay, Sanskrit and Arabic words. However, the script may have been used as early as the 9th century, when the Peureulak Sultanate was established by the son of a Persian preacher. There are two different theories on the origins of the Jawi script. The most popular theory suggests that it came straight from the original Arabic script, while others like R. O. Windstedt argued that it came from the Arabic-based Persian alphabet.

By the 15th century, Muslim traders and rulers spread Islam and the Jawi alphabet beyond the Malay-speaking world. Until the 20th century, Jawi was the main script for the Malay language, as older Malay literature such as religious texts and literary publications were written mainly in the Jawi script. European colonists reshaped the education system in Southeast Asia, and the Latin script became much more popular. Jawi still has some use to this day, though mostly only in religious education.