Georgian Alphabet

The Georgian alphabet is the unique writing system of the Georgian language, spoken by approximately four million people primarily in the Republic of Georgia. It is one of only fourteen existing alphabets in the world and is remarkable for having no distinction between uppercase and lowercase forms. The script's graceful, rounded letterforms are considered a cultural treasure, and in 2016 the Georgian alphabet was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It stands as one of the few alphabets that cannot be traced to any other existing writing system in current use.

The modern Mkhedruli alphabet contains thirty three letters. Historically, the script included thirty eight characters, but five have fallen out of use as the sounds they represented merged with other phonemes over the course of the language's evolution. Each of the thirty three current letters corresponds to a single, distinct sound in modern Georgian.

The modern Georgian alphabet, known as Mkhedruli, consists of thirty three letters that represent a one-to-one correspondence between characters and sounds, making it a nearly perfect phonemic writing system. Each letter represents exactly one sound, and each sound is represented by exactly one letter, with very few exceptions. This precision makes Georgian one of the most phonetically transparent writing systems in the world. The script is written from left to right and uses no ligatures or conjunct forms. Georgian is notable for its complex consonant clusters, and the alphabet is fully equipped to represent these with sequences of individual characters. The language belongs to the Kartvelian family, which is unrelated to any other known language family, giving both the language and its script a unique position in global linguistics. In modern usage, Mkhedruli is the standard script for all secular purposes including literature, government, media, and daily communication. The two older forms of the script, Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri, are preserved primarily in religious contexts within the Georgian Orthodox Church. The aesthetic qualities of Georgian calligraphy have made it a significant art form, with distinct traditions of decorative writing practiced over many centuries.