Editing Abjad (section)

==Comparative chart of abjads, extinct and extant==

{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | Name
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | In use
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | Cursive
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | Direction
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | # of letters
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | [[Matres lectionis]]
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | Area of origin
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | Used by
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | Languages
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" data-sort-type=number | Time period (age)
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" |Influenced by
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | Writing systems influenced
|-
| [[Arabic abjad|Arabic]] || yes || yes || right-left || 28 || 3 || Middle East || Over 400 million people || [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]], [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Pashto language|Pashto]], [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]], [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]], [[Urdu language|Urdu]], [[Arabic script#Languages written with the Arabic script|many others]]{{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| 512 CE{{sfn|Ekhtiar|2011|p=21}}{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Nabataean Aramaic|| [[Thaana]]
|-
| [[Syriac abjad|Syriac]] || yes || yes || right-left || 22 consonants || 3 || Middle East || [[Syriac Christianity]], [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]]||[[Aramaic]]: [[Syriac language|Syriac]], [[Suret language|Assyrian Neo-Aramaic]], [[Turoyo language|Turoyo]], [[Mlaḥsô language|Mlahso]]|| data-sort-value="-0100" | {{circa| 100}} BCE{{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| Aramaic || Nabatean, Palmyran, Mandaic, Parthian, Pahlavi, Sogdian, Avestan and Manichean{{sfn|Ager|2015}}
|-
| [[Hebrew abjad|Hebrew]] ||  yes || yes || right-left || 22 consonants + 5 final letters || 4 ||Middle East || [[Israelis]], [[Jewish diaspora]] communities, [[Second Temple period|Second Temple Judea]]  ||Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Aramaic, Judeo-Persian, Judeo-Italian, [[Yiddish]], [[Judaeo-Spanish|Ladino]], [[Jewish languages#Classification|many others]]|| data-sort-value="-0200" | 2nd century BCE || [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|Paleo-Hebrew]], Early Aramaic || 
|-
| [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic (Imperial)]] || no || no || right-left || 22 || 3 || Middle East || Achaemenid, Persian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires || Imperial Aramaic, Hebrew || data-sort-value="-0500" | {{circa|500}} BCE{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Phoenician || Late Hebrew, Nabataean, Syriac
|-
| [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic (Early)]] || no || no || right-left || 22 || none || Middle East || Various Semitic Peoples ||  || data-sort-value="-1000" | {{circa|1000|900}} BCE<br>{{Citation needed|date=October 2018}} || Phoenician || Hebrew, Imperial Aramaic.{{sfn|Ager|2015}}
|-
| [[Nabataean alphabet|Nabataean]] || no || no || right-left || 22 || none || Middle East || Nabataean Kingdom{{sfn|Lo|2012}} ||Nabataean || data-sort-value="-0200" | 200 BCE{{sfn|Lo|2012}}|| Aramaic || Arabic
|-
| [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] || no || no || right-left, [[boustrophedon]] || 22 || none || Byblos{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Canaanites || Phoenician, Punic, [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] || data-sort-value="-1500" | {{circa|1500|1000}} BCE{{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| Proto-Canaanite Alphabet{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Punic (variant), Greek, Etruscan, Latin, Arabic and Hebrew
|-
| [[Punic language|Punic]] || no || no || right-left || 22 || none || Carthage (Tunisia), North Africa, Mediterranean{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Punic Culture || Punic, Neo-Punic || || Phoenician<br>{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}} ||
|-
|[[Ancient North Arabian]]
|no
|no
|right-left
|29
|yes
|Arabian Peninsula
|Northern Arabians
|[[Old Arabic]],[[Ancient North Arabian languages]]
|8th century BCE - 4th century CE
|Proto-Sinaitic
|
|-
| [[Ancient South Arabian script|Ancient South Arabian]] || no || yes ([[South Arabian alphabet#Zabūr script|Zabūr]] - cursive form of the South Arabian script) || right-left, [[Boustrophedon]] || 29 || yes || South-Arabia (Yemen) || D'mt Kingdom || Amharic, Tigrinya, Tigre, Semitic, Cushitic, Nilo-Saharan<br>{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}} || data-sort-value="-0900" | 900 BCE<br>{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}} || Proto-Sinaitic || Geʽez (Ethiopia and Eritrea)
|-
| [[Ancient South Arabian script|Sabaean]] || no || no || right-left, [[boustrophedon]] || 29 || none || Southern Arabia (Sheba) || Southern Arabians || Sabaean|| data-sort-value="-0500" | {{circa| 500}} BCE{{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| Byblos{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Ethiopic (Eritrea & Ethiopia){{sfn|Ager|2015}}
|-
| [[Inscriptional Parthian|Parthian]] || no || no || right-left || 22 || yes || Parthia (modern-day equivalent of Northeastern Iran, Southern Turkmenistan and Northwest Afghanistan){{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| Parthian & Sassanian periods of Persian Empire{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Parthian || data-sort-value="-0200" | {{circa|200}} BCE{{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| Aramaic ||
|-
| [[Ugaritic alphabet|Ugaritic]] || no || yes || left-right || 30 || none, 3 characters for [[Glottal stop|gs]]+vowel || Ugarit (modern-day Northern Syria) ||Ugarites || Ugaritic, Hurrian || data-sort-value="-1400" | {{circa| 1400}} BCE{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Proto-Sinaitic ||
|-
| [[Proto-Sinaitic script|Proto-Sinaitic, Proto-Canaanite]] || no || no || left-right || 24 || none || Egypt, Sinai, Canaan || Canaanites || Canaanite || data-sort-value="-1900" | {{circa|1900|1700}} BCE|| In conjunction with Egyptian Hieroglyphs<br>{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}} || Phoenician, Hebrew
|-
| [[Samaritan alphabet|Samaritan]] || yes (700 people) || no || right-left || 22 || none || Levant || Samaritans (Nablus and Holon) || Samaritan Aramaic, Samaritan Hebrew|| data-sort-value="-0100" | {{circa|100 BCE|1 CE}}|| Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet ||
|-
| colspan="12" |
|-
| [[Tifinagh]] || yes || no || bottom-top, right-left, left-right,|| 31 || yes || North Africa || [[Berbers]] || [[Berber languages]] || data-sort-value="-2000" | 2nd millennium BCE<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-zBwBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT127|title=Rock Art Studies - News of the World Volume 3|last1=Franklin|first1=Natalie R.|last2=Strecker|first2=Matthias|date=2008-08-05|publisher=Oxbow Books|isbn=9781782975885|pages=127|language=en}}</ref> || Phoenician, Arabic || Neo-Tifinagh
|-
| [[Pahlavi scripts|Middle Persian, (Pahlavi)]] || no || no || right-left || 22 || 3 || Middle East || [[Sassanian Empire]] || Pahlavi, Middle Persian || data-sort-value="-0200" | {{circa|200 BCE | 700 CE}} || Aramaic || Psalter, Avestan{{sfn|Ager|2015}}
|-
| [[Psalter Pahlavi]] || no || yes || right-left || 21 || yes || Northwestern China{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Persian Script for Paper Writing{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || || {{circa|400|sortable=yes}} CE<ref name="Encyclopædia Iranica">{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/pahlavi-psalter|title=PAHLAVI PSALTER – Encyclopaedia Iranica|website=iranicaonline.org}}</ref>|| Syriac<br>{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}} || 
|-
| [[Sogdian alphabet|Sogdian]] || no || no (yes in later versions)|| right-left, left-right (vertical) || 20 || 3 || parts of China (Xinjiang), Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan || Buddhists, Manichaens || Sogdian || {{circa| 400|sortable=yes}} CE|| Syriac || [[Old Uyghur alphabet]]{{sfn|Ager|2015}}
|}