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Form:Enter language
All languages in the the ISO 639-1 approved list are now (18 May 2023) entered.
To edit an existing entry, use the form Form:Enter language
For a list of valid languages (in the ISO 639-1 sense) see Category:Languages.
For experts, there are other relevant resources in Category:Languages/tools
In particular see Languages_speakers.
Languages so far
There are entries on the following 182 languages:
| Language | ISO 639-1 code | ISO 639-2 code | Native speakers# | 2nd language speakers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abkhazian | ab | abk | ||
| Afar | aa | aar | ||
| Afrikaans | af | afr | ||
| Akan | ak | aka | ||
| Albanian | sq | sqi | ||
| Amharic | am | amh | ||
| Arabic | ar | ara | 360,000,000 | 270,000,000 |
| Aragonese | an | arg | ||
| Armenian | hy | hye | ||
| Assamese | as | asm | ||
| Avaric | av | ava | ||
| Avestan | ae | ave | ||
| Aymara | ay | aym | ||
| Azerbaijani | az | aze | ||
| Bambara | bm | bam | ||
| Bashkir | ba | bak | ||
| Basque | eu | baq eus | 750,000 | 440,000 |
| Belarusian | be | bel | ||
| Bengali | bn | ben | 234,000,000 | |
| Bislama | bi | bis | ||
| Bosnian | bs | bos | ||
| Breton | br | bre | ||
| Bulgarian | bg | bul | 7,600,000 | 2,400,000 |
| Burmese | my | mya | ||
| Catalan | ca | cat | 4,100,000 | 5,100,000 |
| Central Khmer | km | khm | ||
| Chamorro | ch | cha | ||
| Chechen | ce | che | ||
| Chichewa | ny | nya | ||
| Chinese | zh | chi zho | 1,350,000,000 | |
| Church Slavonic | cu | chu | ||
| Chuvash | cv | chv | ||
| Cornish | kw | cor | ||
| Corsican | co | cos | ||
| Cree | cr | cre | ||
| Croatian | hr | hrv | 7,000,000 | 2,700,000 |
| Czech | cs | ces | ||
| Danish | da | dan | 6,000,000 | |
| Divehi | dv | div | ||
| Dutch | nl | dut nld | 25,000,000 | 5,000,000 |
| Dzongkha | dz | dzo | ||
| English | en | eng | 372,900,000 | 1,080,000,000 |
| Esperanto | eo | epo | ||
| Estonian | et | est | 1,200,000 | |
| Ewe | ee | ewe | ||
| Faroese | fo | fao | ||
| Farsi | fa | fas per | 81,000,000 | 49,000,000 |
| Fijian | fj | fij | ||
| Finnish | fi | fin | ||
| French | fr | fra fre | 80,000,000 | 190,000,000 |
| Fulah | ff | ful | ||
| Gaelic | gd | gla | ||
| Galician | gl | glg | ||
| Ganda | lg | lug | ||
| Georgian | ka | kat | ||
| German | de | deu ger | 95,000,000 | 85,000,000 |
| Greek | el | ell gre | 13,500,000 | |
| Guarani | gn | grn | ||
| Gujarati | gu | guj | 57,100,000 | |
| Haitian | ht | hat | ||
| Hausa | ha | hau | 51,700,000 | |
| Hebrew | he | heb | ||
| Herero | hz | her | ||
| Hindi | hi | hin | 345,000,000 | 27,000,000 |
| Hiri Motu | ho | hmo | ||
| Hungarian | hu | hun | 17,000,000 | |
| Icelandic | is | isl | ||
| Ido | io | ido | ||
| Igbo | ig | ibo | ||
| Indonesian | id | ind | ||
| Interlingua | ia | ina | ||
| Interlingue | ie | ile | ||
| Inuktitut | iu | iku | ||
| Inupiaq | ik | ipk | ||
| Irish | ga | gle | ||
| Italian | it | ita | 65,000,000 | 3,100,000 |
| Japanese | ja | jpn | 128,000,000 | |
| Javanese | jv | jav | 68,300,000 | |
| Kalaallisut | kl | kal | ||
| Kannada | kn | kan | ||
| Kanuri | kr | kau | ||
| Kashmiri | ks | kas | ||
| Kazakh | kk | kaz | ||
| Kikuyu | ki | kik | ||
| Kinyarwanda | rw | kin | ||
| Kirghiz | ky | kir | ||
| Komi | kv | kom | ||
| Kongo | kg | kon | ||
| Korean | ko | kor | 80,400,000 | |
| Kuanyama | kj | kua | ||
| Kurdish | ku | kur | ||
| Lao | lo | lao | ||
| Latin | la | lat | ||
| Latvian | lv | lav | 1,500,000 | |
| Limburgan | li | lim | ||
| Lingala | ln | lin | ||
| Lithuanian | lt | lit | 3,000,000 | |
| Luba-Katanga | lu | lub | ||
| Luxembourgish | lb | ltz | ||
| Macedonian | mk | mkd | ||
| Malagasy | mg | mlg | ||
| Malay | ms | msa | ||
| Malayalam | ml | mal | ||
| Maltese | mt | mlt | 530,000 | |
| Manx | gv | glv | ||
| Maori | mi | mao mri | 50,000 | 186,000 |
| Marathi | mr | mar | 83,200,000 | |
| Marshallese | mh | mah | ||
| Mongolian | mn | mon | ||
| Nauruan | na | nau | ||
| Navajo | nv | nav | ||
| Ndonga | ng | ndo | ||
| Nepali | ne | nep | ||
| North Ndebele | nd | nde | ||
| Northern Sami | se | sme | ||
| Norwegian | nb nn no | nor | 5,320,000 | |
| Norwegian Bokmal | nb | nob | ||
| Norwegian Nynorsk | nn | nno | ||
| Occitan | oc | oci | ||
| Ojibwa | oj | oji | ||
| Oriya | or | ori | ||
| Oromo | om | orm | ||
| Ossetian | os | oss | ||
| Pali | pi | pli | ||
| Pashto | ps | pus | ||
| Polish | pl | pol | 40,000,000 | 5,000,000 |
| Portuguese | pt | por | 230,000,000 | 250,000,000 |
| Punjabi | pa | pan | ||
| Quechua | qu | que | ||
| Romanian | ro | ron rum | 24,000,000 | 4,000,000 |
| Romansh | rm | roh | ||
| Rundi | rn | run | ||
| Russian | ru | rus | 150,000,000 | 110,000,000 |
| Samoan | sm | smo | ||
| Sango | sg | sag | ||
| Sanskrit | sa | san | ||
| Sardinian | sc | srd | ||
| Serbian | sr | srp | ||
| Shona | sn | sna | ||
| Sichuan Yi | ii | iii | ||
| Sindhi | sd | snd | ||
| Sinhala | si | sin | ||
| Slovenian | sl | slv | ||
| Somali | so | som | ||
| South Ndebele | nr | nbl | ||
| Southern Sotho | st | sot | ||
| Spanish | es | spa | 486,000,000 | 595,000,000 |
| Sundanese | su | sun | ||
| Swahili | sw | swa | ||
| Swati | ss | ssw | ||
| Swedish | sv | swe | ||
| Tagalog | tl | tgl | ||
| Tahitian | ty | tah | ||
| Tajik | tg | tgk | ||
| Tamil | ta | tam | 78,600,000 | |
| Tatar | tt | tat | ||
| Telugu | te | te | 83,000,000 | |
| Thai | th | tha | ||
| Tibetan | bo | bod | ||
| Tigrinya | ti | tir | ||
| Tongan | to | ton | ||
| Tsonga | ts | tso | ||
| Tswana | tn | tsn | ||
| Turkish | tr | tur | 82,000,000 | 5,900,000 |
| Turkmen | tk | tuk | ||
| Twi | tw | twi | ||
| Uighur | ug | uig | ||
| Ukrainian | uk | ukr | 27,000,000 | 5,800,000 |
| Urdu | ur | urd | 70,600,000 | |
| Uzbek | uz | uzb | ||
| Venda | ve | ven | ||
| Vietnamese | vi | vie | ||
| Volapuk | vo | vol | 20 | |
| Walloon | wa | wln | ||
| Welsh | cy | cym wel | 538,000 | 119,000 |
| Western Frisian | fy | fry | ||
| Wolof | wo | wol | ||
| Xhosa | xh | xho | ||
| Yiddish | yi | yid | ||
| Yoruba | yo | yor | ||
| Zhuang | za | zha | ||
| Zulu | zu | zul |
Work is under way to add languages from ISO 639-2 not in ISO 639-1 and selected languages from macrolanguage groups in ISO 693-3 in the light of expected user demand.
Overview
As noted on the page Wikipedia:Languages:
Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and written forms, and may also be conveyed through sign languages. The vast majority of human languages have developed writing systems that allow for the recording and preservation of the sounds or signs of language. Human language is characterized by its cultural and historical diversity, with significant variations observed between cultures and across time. Human languages possess the properties of productivity and displacement, which enable the creation of an infinite number of sentences, and the ability to refer to objects, events, and ideas that are not immediately present in the discourse. The use of human language relies on social convention and is acquired through learning.
Estimates of the number of human languages in the world vary between 5,000 and 7,000. Precise estimates depend on an arbitrary distinction (dichotomy) established between languages and dialects. Natural languages are spoken, signed, or both; however, any language can be encoded into secondary media using auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli – for example, writing, whistling, signing, or braille. In other words, human language is modality-independent, but written or signed language is the way to inscribe or encode the natural human speech or gestures.
Language names and language codes
This page has been copied from the Wikipedia page Wikipedia:List_of_ISO_639-1_codes on 27 April 2023. Some minor changes have been made to fit the style of this wiki, in particular to ensure that language names are distinct from country names and that entry of language names does not require any accented characters to be used.
| ISO language name | 639-1 | 639-2/T | 639-2/B | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abkhazian | ab
|
abk
|
abk
|
also known as Abkhaz |
| Afar | aa
|
aar
|
aar
|
|
| Afrikaans | af
|
afr
|
afr
|
|
| Akan | ak
|
aka
|
aka
|
macrolanguage, Twi is tw/twi, Fanti is fat
|
| Albanian | sq
|
sqi
|
alb
|
macrolanguage, called "Albanian Phylozone" in 639-6 |
| Amharic | am
|
amh
|
amh
|
|
| Arabic | ar
|
ara
|
ara
|
macrolanguage, Standard Arabic is arb
|
| Aragonese | an
|
arg
|
arg
|
|
| Armenian | hy
|
hye
|
arm
|
ISO 639-3 code hye is for Eastern Armenian, hyw is for Western Armenian, and xcl is for Classical Armenian
|
| Assamese | as
|
asm
|
asm
|
|
| Avaric | av
|
ava
|
ava
|
also known as Avar |
| Avestan | ae
|
ave
|
ave
|
ancient |
| Aymara | ay
|
aym
|
aym
|
macrolanguage |
| Azerbaijani | az
|
aze
|
aze
|
macrolanguage, also known as Azeri |
| Bambara | bm
|
bam
|
bam
|
|
| Bashkir | ba
|
bak
|
bak
|
|
| Basque | eu
|
eus
|
baq
|
|
| Belarusian | be
|
bel
|
bel
|
|
| Bengali | bn
|
ben
|
ben
|
also known as Bangla |
| Bislama | bi
|
bis
|
bis
|
Language formed from English and Vanuatuan languages, with some French influence. |
| Bosnian | bs
|
bos
|
bos
|
|
| Breton | br
|
bre
|
bre
|
|
| Bulgarian | bg
|
bul
|
bul
|
|
| Burmese | my
|
mya
|
bur
|
also known as Myanmar |
| Catalan (Valencian) | ca
|
cat
|
cat
|
|
| Central Khmer | km
|
khm
|
khm
|
also known as Khmer or Cambodian |
| Chamorro | ch
|
cha
|
cha
|
|
| Chechen | ce
|
che
|
che
|
|
| Chichewa (Chewa, Nyanja) | ny
|
nya
|
nya
|
|
| Chinese | zh
|
zho
|
chi
|
macrolanguage |
| Church Slavonic (Old Slavonic, Old Church Slavonic) | cu
|
chu
|
chu
|
ancient, in use by the Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Chuvash | cv
|
chv
|
chv
|
|
| Cornish | kw
|
cor
|
cor
|
|
| Corsican | co
|
cos
|
cos
|
|
| Cree | cr
|
cre
|
cre
|
macrolanguage |
| Croatian | hr
|
hrv
|
hrv
|
|
| Czech | cs
|
ces
|
cze
|
|
| Danish | da
|
dan
|
dan
|
|
| Divehi (Dhivehi, Maldivian) | dv
|
div
|
div
|
|
| Dutch (and Flemish) | nl
|
nld
|
dut
|
Flemish is not to be confused with the closely related West Flemish which is referred to as Vlaams (Dutch for "Flemish") in ISO 639-3 and has the ISO 639-3 code vls
|
| Dzongkha | dz
|
dzo
|
dzo
|
|
| English | en
|
eng
|
eng
|
|
| Esperanto | eo
|
epo
|
epo
|
constructed, initially by L.L. Zamenhof in 1887 |
| Estonian | et
|
est
|
est
|
macrolanguage |
| Ewe | ee
|
ewe
|
ewe
|
|
| Faroese | fo
|
fao
|
fao
|
|
| Fijian | fj
|
fij
|
fij
|
|
| Finnish | fi
|
fin
|
fin
|
|
| French | fr
|
fra
|
fre
|
|
| Fulah | ff
|
ful
|
ful
|
macrolanguage, also known as Fula |
| Gaelic (and Scottish Gaelic) | gd
|
gla
|
gla
|
|
| Galician | gl
|
glg
|
glg
|
|
| Ganda | lg
|
lug
|
lug
|
|
| Georgian | ka
|
kat
|
geo
|
|
| German | de
|
deu
|
ger
|
|
| Greek [from 1453 CE] | el
|
ell
|
gre
|
i.e. Modern Greek; for Ancient Greek, use the ISO 639-3 code grc
|
| Guarani | gn
|
grn
|
grn
|
macrolanguage |
| Gujarati | gu
|
guj
|
guj
|
|
| Haitian (Haitian Creole) | ht
|
hat
|
hat
|
|
| Hausa | ha
|
hau
|
hau
|
|
| Hebrew | he
|
heb
|
heb
|
Modern Hebrew. Code changed in 1989 from original ISO 639:1988, iw.
|
| Herero | hz
|
her
|
her
|
|
| Hindi | hi
|
hin
|
hin
|
|
| Hiri Motu | ho
|
hmo
|
hmo
|
|
| Hungarian | hu
|
hun
|
hun
|
|
| Icelandic | is
|
isl
|
ice
|
|
| Ido | io
|
ido
|
ido
|
constructed by De Beaufront, 1907, as variation of Esperanto |
| Igbo | ig
|
ibo
|
ibo
|
|
| Indonesian | id
|
ind
|
ind
|
covered by macrolanguage ms/msa. Changed in 1989 from original ISO 639:1988, in.
|
| Interlingua | ia
|
ina
|
ina
|
constructed by the International Auxiliary Language Association |
| Interlingue | ie
|
ile
|
ile
|
constructed by Edgar de Wahl, first published in 1922 |
| Inuktitut | iu
|
iku
|
iku
|
macrolanguage |
| Inupiaq | ik
|
ipk
|
ipk
|
macrolanguage |
| Irish | ga
|
gle
|
gle
|
|
| Italian | it
|
ita
|
ita
|
|
| Japanese | ja
|
jpn
|
jpn
|
|
| Javanese | jv
|
jav
|
jav
|
|
| Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) | kl
|
kal
|
kal
|
|
| Kannada | kn
|
kan
|
kan
|
|
| Kanuri | kr
|
kau
|
kau
|
macrolanguage |
| Kashmiri | ks
|
kas
|
kas
|
|
| Kazakh | kk
|
kaz
|
kaz
|
|
| Kikuyu (Gikuyu) | ki
|
kik
|
kik
|
|
| Kinyarwanda | rw
|
kin
|
kin
|
|
| Kirghiz (Kyrgyz) | ky
|
kir
|
kir
|
|
| Komi | kv
|
kom
|
kom
|
macrolanguage |
| Kongo | kg
|
kon
|
kon
|
macrolanguage |
| Korean | ko
|
kor
|
kor
|
|
| Kuanyama (Kwanyama) | kj
|
kua
|
kua
|
|
| Kurdish | ku
|
kur
|
kur
|
macrolanguage |
| Lao | lo
|
lao
|
lao
|
|
| Latin | la
|
lat
|
lat
|
ancient |
| Latvian | lv
|
lav
|
lav
|
macrolanguage |
| Limburgan (Limburger, Limburgish) | li
|
lim
|
lim
|
|
| Lingala | ln
|
lin
|
lin
|
|
| Lithuanian | lt
|
lit
|
lit
|
|
| Luba-Katanga | lu
|
lub
|
lub
|
also known as Luba-Shaba |
| Luxembourgish (Letzeburgesch) | lb
|
ltz
|
ltz
|
|
| Macedonian | mk
|
mkd
|
mac
|
|
| Malagasy | mg
|
mlg
|
mlg
|
macrolanguage |
| Malay | ms
|
msa
|
may
|
macrolanguage, Standard Malay is zsm, Indonesian is id/ind
|
| Malayalam | ml
|
mal
|
mal
|
|
| Maltese | mt
|
mlt
|
mlt
|
|
| Manx | gv
|
glv
|
glv
|
|
| Maori | mi
|
mri
|
mao
|
also known as Māori |
| Marathi | mr
|
mar
|
mar
|
also known as Marāṭhī |
| Marshallese | mh
|
mah
|
mah
|
|
| Mongolian | mn
|
mon
|
mon
|
macrolanguage |
| Nauru | na
|
nau
|
nau
|
also known as Nauruan |
| Navajo (Navaho) | nv
|
nav
|
nav
|
|
| Ndonga | ng
|
ndo
|
ndo
|
|
| Nepali | ne
|
nep
|
nep
|
macrolanguage |
| North Ndebele | nd
|
nde
|
nde
|
also known as Northern Ndebele |
| Northern Sami | se
|
sme
|
sme
|
|
| Norwegian | no
|
nor
|
nor
|
macrolanguage, Bokmål is nb/nob, Nynorsk is nn/nno
|
| Norwegian Bokmal (Bokmål) | nb
|
nob
|
nob
|
covered by macrolanguage no/nor - this wiki prefers Bokmal
|
| Norwegian Nynorsk | nn
|
nno
|
nno
|
covered by macrolanguage no/nor
|
| Occitan | oc
|
oci
|
oci
|
|
| Ojibwa | oj
|
oji
|
oji
|
macrolanguage, also known as Ojibwe |
| Oriya | or
|
ori
|
ori
|
macrolanguage, also known as Odia |
| Oromo | om
|
orm
|
orm
|
macrolanguage |
| Ossetian (Ossetic) | os
|
oss
|
oss
|
|
| Pali | pi
|
pli
|
pli
|
ancient, also known as Pāli |
| Pashto (Pushto) | ps
|
pus
|
pus
|
macrolanguage |
| Farsi (Persian) | fa
|
fas
|
per
|
Persian macrolanguage, also known as Farsi - preferred by this wiki |
| Polish | pl
|
pol
|
pol
|
|
| Portuguese | pt
|
por
|
por
|
|
| Punjabi (Panjabi) | pa
|
pan
|
pan
|
|
| Quechua | qu
|
que
|
que
|
macrolanguage |
| Romanian (and Moldavian, Moldovan) | ro
|
ron
|
rum
|
the identifiers mo and mol for Moldavian are deprecated. They will not be assigned to different items, and recordings using these identifiers will not be invalid.
|
| Romansh | rm
|
roh
|
roh
|
|
| Rundi | rn
|
run
|
run
|
also known as Kirundi |
| Russian | ru
|
rus
|
rus
|
|
| Samoan | sm
|
smo
|
smo
|
|
| Sango | sg
|
sag
|
sag
|
|
| Sanskrit | sa
|
san
|
san
|
ancient |
| Sardinian | sc
|
srd
|
srd
|
macrolanguage |
| Serbian | sr
|
srp
|
srp
|
the ISO 639-2/T code srp deprecated the ISO 639-2/B code scc
|
| Shona | sn
|
sna
|
sna
|
|
| Sichuan Yi (Nuosu) | ii
|
iii
|
iii
|
standard form of the Yi languages |
| Sindhi | sd
|
snd
|
snd
|
|
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | si
|
sin
|
sin
|
|
| Slovak | sk
|
slk
|
slo
|
|
| Slovenian | sl
|
slv
|
slv
|
also known as Slovene |
| Somali | so
|
som
|
som
|
|
| South Ndebele | nr
|
nbl
|
nbl
|
also known as Southern Ndebele |
| Southern Sotho | st
|
sot
|
sot
|
|
| Spanish [Castilian version] | es
|
spa
|
spa
|
|
| Sundanese | su
|
sun
|
sun
|
|
| Swahili | sw
|
swa
|
swa
|
macrolanguage |
| Swati | ss
|
ssw
|
ssw
|
also known as Swazi |
| Swedish | sv
|
swe
|
swe
|
|
| Tagalog | tl
|
tgl
|
tgl
|
note: Filipino (Pilipino) has the code fil
|
| Tahitian | ty
|
tah
|
tah
|
one of the Reo Mā`ohi (languages of French Polynesia) |
| Tajik | tg
|
tgk
|
tgk
|
|
| Tamil | ta
|
tam
|
tam
|
|
| Tatar | tt
|
tat
|
tat
|
|
| Telugu | te
|
tel
|
tel
|
|
| Thai | th
|
tha
|
tha
|
|
| Tibetan | bo
|
bod
|
tib
|
also known as Standard Tibetan |
| Tigrinya | ti
|
tir
|
tir
|
|
| Tongan (Tonga) | to
|
ton
|
ton
|
also known as Tongan - this wiki uses Tongan to avoid clash with the country name |
| Tsonga | ts
|
tso
|
tso
|
|
| Tswana | tn
|
tsn
|
tsn
|
|
| Turkish | tr
|
tur
|
tur
|
|
| Turkmen | tk
|
tuk
|
tuk
|
|
| Twi | tw
|
twi
|
twi
|
covered by macrolanguage ak/aka
|
| Uighur (Uyghur) | ug
|
uig
|
uig
|
|
| Ukrainian | uk
|
ukr
|
ukr
|
|
| Urdu | ur
|
urd
|
urd
|
|
| Uzbek | uz
|
uzb
|
uzb
|
macrolanguage |
| Venda | ve
|
ven
|
ven
|
|
| Vietnamese | vi
|
vie
|
vie
|
|
| Volapuk (Volapük) | vo
|
vol
|
vol
|
constructed - this wiki uses the name Volapuk to avoid accents |
| Walloon | wa
|
wln
|
wln
|
|
| Welsh | cy
|
cym
|
wel
|
|
| Western Frisian | fy
|
fry
|
fry
|
also known as Frisian |
| Wolof | wo
|
wol
|
wol
|
|
| Xhosa | xh
|
xho
|
xho
|
|
| Yiddish | yi
|
yid
|
yid
|
macrolanguage. Changed in 1989 from original ISO 639:1988, ji.
|
| Yoruba | yo
|
yor
|
yor
|
|
| Zhuang (Chuang) | za
|
zha
|
zha
|
macrolanguage |
| Zulu | zu
|
zul
|
zul
|