Origin from 100
Devanagari is an abugida, a writing system in which each consonant letter carries an inherent vowel by default and other vowels are marked by modifying the consonant with an attached diacritic, descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India. It is used to write Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Nepali and several other South Asian languages, and is recognizable for the horizontal line, the shirorekha, that runs along the top of most letters and connects them within a word. Its consonant clusters are frequently written as conjunct ligatures rather than as separate letters in sequence, a feature that makes Devanagari typesetting and digital text rendering considerably more complex than a simple alphabet.
Facts
Directionality In Use Since (Year)Approximate date Devanagari began differentiating from its Brahmi-derived precursor scripts; the script reached its familiar modern form considerably later, around the eleventh century. Directionality (class) Classification
Script StatusLiving (in Current Use) 1 Classified 'living' per this entity's own cited source and standard scholarly consensus on the script's current use; checked 2026-09-27. Compare
Number of Characters Connections
Descends From
Source World History Encyclopedia
Is Of Script Type
Script Of
Source Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
Konkani in India is standardly written in the Devanagari script (its official script under the Goa Official Language Act).
Source Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
Sindhi in India is standardly written in the Devanagari script.
Sources
1. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
David Crystal (editor), Cambridge University Press, 2010- Script Status: Living (in Current Use)
- In Use Since (Year): from 100
- Directionality (class): Left-to-right
2. Devanagari (Wikipedia)
Lead paragraphQuote, Lead paragraph
The Devanāgarī script, composed of 48 primary characters, including 14 vowels and 34 consonants, is the fourth most widely adopted writing system in the world, being used for over 120 languages, the most popular of which is Hindi.
3. Unicode Consortium: ISO 15924 Code Lists, Table 1
Unicode ConsortiumTable 1, row DevaQuote, Table 1, row Deva
Deva 315 Devanagari (Nagari) dévanâgarî Devanagari 1.1 2004-05-01
4. Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
World History Encyclopedia
World History Encyclopedia (formerly Ancient History Encyclopedia)Descends From: BrahmiView the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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