In a right-to-left, top-to-bottom script (commonly shortened to right to left or abbreviated RTL), writing starts from the right of the page and continues to the left.
Contents
Arabic, Hebrew and Persian are the most widespread RTL writing systems in modern times. As usage of the Arabic script spread, the repertoire of 28 characters used to write Arabic language was supplemented to accommodate the sounds of many other languages such as Persian, Pashto, etc. While the Hebrew alphabet is used to write Hebrew language, is also used to write other Jewish languages such as Yiddish.
Several languages have both Arabic RTL and non-Arabic LTR writing systems. For example, Sindhi is commonly written in Arabic and Devanagari scripts, and a number of others have been used. Kurdish may be written in Arabic, Latin, Cyrillic or Armenian script.
Syriac and Mandaean (Mandaic) scripts are derived from Aramaic and are written RTL. Samaritan is similar, but developed from Proto-Hebrew rather than Aramaic. Many other ancient and historic scripts derived from Aramic and inherited its right-to-left direction.
Thaana appeared around 1600 CE. Most modern scripts are LTR, but the African scripts N'Ko (1949), Mende Kikakui (19th century), and Adlam (1980s) were created in modern times and are RTL.
Ancient examples of text using alphabets such as Phoenician, Greek, or Old Italic may exist variously in left-to-right, right-to-left, or boustrophedon order; so it's not always possible to classify some ancient writing systems as purely RTL or LTR.
Right-to-left can also refer to top-to-bottom, right-to-left (TB-RL or TBRL) scripts such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, though they are also commonly written left to right. Books designed for predominately TBRL vertical text open in the same direction as those for RTL horizontal text: the spine is on the right and pages are numbered from right-to-left.
List of RTL scripts
Examples of right-to-left scripts (with ISO 15924 codes in brackets) are:
Current scripts
Arab 160, Aran 161) – used for Arabic, Persian, Urdu and many other languages.Hebr 125) – used for Hebrew, Yiddish and some other Jewish languages.Syrc 135, variants 136–138 Syrn Syrj Syre) – used for varieties of the Syriac language.Samr 123) – closely related to Hebrew, used for the Samaritans' writings.Mand 140) – closely related to Syriac, used for the Mandaic language.Thaa 170) – used for Dhivehi.Mend 438) – for Mende in Sierrra Leone. Devised by Mohammed Turay and Kisimi Kamara in the late 19th century. Still used but only by about 500 people.Nkoo 165) – devised for the Manding languages of West Africa.Adlm 166) – devised in the 1980s for writing the Fula languages of West and Central Africa.Ancient scripts
Cprt 403) – predates Phoenician influence.Phnx 115) – ancient, precursor to Hebrew, Imperial Aramaic, and Greek.Armi 124) – ancient, closely related to Hebrew and Phoenician. Spread widely by the Neo-Assyrian and Achaemenid empires. The later Palmyrene form (Palm 126) was also used to write Aramaic.Prti Phli Phlp Phlv) – derived from Aramaic.Avst 134) – from Pahlavi, with added letters. Used for recording the Zoroastrian sacred texts during the Sassanid era.Mani 139, associated with the Manichaean religion) – derived from Syriac. Sogdian eventually rotated from RTL to top-to-bottom, giving rise to the Old Uyghur, Mongolian, and Manchu vertical scripts.Khar 305) – an ancient script of India, derived from Aramaic.Orkh 175), and Old Hungarian runes (Hung 176).Ital 210) – Early Etruscan was RTL but LTR examples later became more common. Umbrian, Oscan, and Faliscan were written right-to-left. Unicode treats Old Italic as left-to-right, to match modern usage.Lydi 116) – ancient; some texts are left-to-right or boustrophedon.Computing support
Right-to-left, top-to-bottom text is supported in common consumer software. Often this support must be explicitly enabled. Right-to-left text can be mixed with left-to-right text in bi-directional text.