Meitei script
The Meitei script (Meitei: ꯃꯩꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ, romanized: Meitei mayek), also known as the Kanglei script (Meitei: ꯀꯪꯂꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ, romanized: Kanglei mayek) or the Kok Sam Lai script (Meitei: ꯀꯣꯛ ꯁꯝ ꯂꯥꯏ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ, romanized: Kok Sam Lai mayek), after its first three letters is an abugida in the brahmic scripts family used to write the Meitei language, the official language of Manipur and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is first known from engravings on 6th century AD coins. as verified by the various publications of the National Sahitya Akademi. It was used until the 18th century, when it was replaced by the Bengali alphabet. A few manuscripts survive. In the 20th century, the script was revived and is again being used. Beginning in 2021, the Government of Manipur began to use the Meitei alongside the Bengali-Assamese script, per the Manipur Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2021.
| Meitei script | |
|---|---|
The original 18 letters used in the Meitei Mayek writing system | |
| Script type | |
Time period | 6th-18th centuries AD, revived 1930 – present |
| Direction | Left-to-right |
| Official script | for Meitei language in India |
| Region | India |
| Languages | Meitei language (officially known as "Manipuri language") |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Sister systems | Lepcha, Khema, ʼPhags-pa, Marchen |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Mtei (337), Meitei Mayek (Meithei, Meetei) |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Meetei Mayek |
| Meetei Mayek (Unicode block) | |
[a] The Semitic origin of the Brahmic scripts is not universally agreed upon. | |
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| Officially used writing systems in India | |
| Category | |
| Brahmic scripts | |
| Arabic derived scripts | |
| Alphabetical scripts | |
| Related | |
| Brahmic scripts |
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| The Brahmi script and its descendants |
Since Meitei does not have voiced consonants, there are only fifteen consonant letters used for native words, plus three letters for pure vowels. Nine additional consonants letters inherited from Indic languages are available for writing loan words. There are seven vowel diacritics and a final consonant (/ŋ/) diacritic. The names of the twenty-seven letters are based on parts of the human body.