About the Persian Script
Persian adopted the Arabic alphabet after the Arab conquest of Iran between 636 and 651 CE, replacing the Pahlavi script used since the Sassanid Empire. By the 10th century, Persian scholars had formalized four new letters absent from Arabic: پ (pe), چ (che), ژ (zhe), and گ (gaf), bringing the alphabet to 32 letters. Ferdowsi's Shahnameh (~977–1010 CE) — the world's longest epic poem at ~50,000 couplets — deliberately avoided Arabic loanwords, which is why Persian today retains a vocabulary distinct from Arabic. This script became the writing template for Urdu, Pashto, Sindhi, and Uyghur through Persian's literary dominance.
The Persian Alphabet — Every Letter
Here is the full Persian character set. You can click any letter on the Kactyl Persian keyboard to type it instantly — no need to memorize positions.
- Script: Persian script (modified Arabic), right-to-left, 32 letters
- Speakers: 110 million worldwide
- Writing direction: Right-to-left
- Distinctive feature: Persian uses two Unicode characters invisible to non-specialists: Farsi Yeh (ی, U+06CC) and Keheh (ک, U+06A9). Many keyboards substitute their Arabic look-alikes (ي and ك), causing rendering differences Iranian users immediately notice. Persian also relies on Zero-Width Non-Joiner (ZWNJ, U+200C) to break letter connections in compound words — a character that breaks naive copy-paste on systems that strip it.
The Persian Alphabet, Letter by Letter
Every Persian letter with its name, the sound it makes, and a real example word. Tap any letter to copy it — keep this reference open while you learn to read or type:
| Letter | Name | Sound | Example word |
|---|---|---|---|
| alef | long â / a | آب — âb (water) | |
| be | b | بابا — bâbâ (dad) | |
| pe | p | پدر — pedar (father) | |
| te | t | توت — tut (mulberry) | |
| se | s | ثانیه — sânie (second) | |
| jim | j | جوجه — juje (chick) | |
| che | ch | چای — chây (tea) | |
| he-jimi | h | حال — hâl (mood) | |
| khe | kh | خانه — khâne (house) | |
| dâl | d | در — dar (door) | |
| zâl | z | ذرت — zorrat (corn) | |
| re | r | روز — ruz (day) | |
| ze | z | زن — zan (woman) | |
| zhe | zh (like s in “measure”) | ژاله — zhâle (dew) | |
| sin | s | سیب — sib (apple) | |
| shin | sh | شب — shab (night) | |
| sâd | s | صبح — sobh (morning) | |
| zâd | z | ضرر — zarar (loss) | |
| tâ | t | طلا — talâ (gold) | |
| zâ | z | ظهر — zohr (noon) | |
| eyn | a glottal catch in the throat | عشق — eshgh (love) | |
| gheyn | gh (guttural) | غذا — ghazâ (food) | |
| fe | f | فیل — fil (elephant) | |
| qâf | gh / q | قند — qand (sugar cube) | |
| kâf | k | کتاب — ketâb (book) | |
| gâf | g | گل — gol (flower) | |
| lâm | l | لب — lab (lip) | |
| mim | m | ماه — mâh (moon) | |
| nun | n | نان — nân (bread) | |
| vâv | v / u / o | وقت — vaght (time) | |
| he-do-cheshm | h | هوا — havâ (air/weather) | |
| ye | y / long i | یخ — yakh (ice) |
Click any letter to copy it to your clipboard.
What Makes the Persian Alphabet Distinctive
These are the features of the Persian script that trip up learners coming from the Latin alphabet — the things worth understanding before you start reading or typing:
- Persian uses the Arabic script but adds four letters Arabic doesn't have, for sounds Persian needed: پ (p), چ (ch), ژ (zh), and گ (g).
- Several letters share one sound. ز، ذ، ض، ظ are all pronounced z; س، ص، ث are all s; and ت، ط are both t — a legacy of Arabic loanwords whose original spelling Persian kept even though the sounds merged.
- Persian’s ک (keheh, U+06A9) and ی (Farsi yeh, U+06CC) are shaped differently from their Arabic cousins — the Farsi yeh drops its two dots when it stands alone or ends a word. This is exactly why a Persian page must use a Persian-capable font, not a plain Arabic one.
- Like Arabic, short vowels are usually left unwritten; the three long vowels are carried by ا (â), و (u) and ی (i), and readers supply the rest from context.
- There are no capital letters, and the script is cursive — most letters change shape depending on whether they sit at the start, middle, or end of a word.
Persian Script — The Facts
- Unicode block: Arabic, U+0600–06FF (+ Arabic Supplement)
- ISO 15924 script code: Arab (160)
- Script family: Perso-Arabic abjad — the Arabic script adapted for Persian
- First attested: ~9th century CE (New Persian written in Arabic script)
- Speakers: 110 million (Ethnologue)
Sources: Unicode Arabic block (U+0600) · Ethnologue — Persian · ISO 15924 — Arab
Common Persian Words to Learn
These everyday words are a fast way to start recognizing Persian letters in real context:
- سلام (salam = hello)
- ممنون (mamnoon = thank you)
- حال شما چطور است (chetori = how are you)
Common Persian Phrases
| Persian Script | Romanized | English |
|---|---|---|
| سلام | salam | hello |
| ممنون | mamnoon | thank you |
| حال شما چطور است؟ | haal-e shoma chetour ast | how are you? |
| خداحافظ | khodahafez | goodbye |
| دوستت دارم | dooset daram | I love you |
Type Persian Online Without Learning the Layout
You don't need to memorize where each Persian letter sits on a physical keyboard. Open kactyl.com/persian/, click the letters you see on screen (or type phonetically), then copy your text anywhere — WhatsApp, documents, social media.
Tips for Typing Persian
- Persian has 4 letters not in Arabic: پ چ ژ گ
- Text flows right-to-left automatically
- Use Finglish mode to type phonetically
About the Persian Language
Persian (Farsi) is spoken by 110 million people in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. Iranians are heavy users of Telegram and Instagram, which were the primary social platforms before various restrictions. The informal digital writing style is called Finglish — Persian words written in Latin letters — similar to Franco Arabic but for Persian. The Persian script has 4 letters not in Arabic: پ چ ژ گ.
Finglish — How Iranians Type Online
Finglish is Persian written in Latin script, widely used by Iranians communicating digitally — especially in the diaspora communities in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, and Sweden. Words like 'khoobi?' (خوبی?) and 'mersi' (ممنون) appear constantly in Finglish across Persian social media. The Persian-speaking diaspora is one of the most digitally active communities, maintaining language connections through Instagram, Telegram, and email. Kactyl's Persian keyboard provides the 32-letter Persian alphabet including the 4 letters unique to Persian (پ چ ژ گ) that are absent from the Arabic keyboard, making it the correct tool for Farsi — not an Arabic keyboard adapted as a substitute.