Writing feels so natural that most people don’t even think about it. But for much of human history, keeping written records was out of reach. It wasn’t until around 3400 BCE that the first writing systems were invented, but once they were, this simple technology changed the world. Since then, 293 ancient scripts have been recorded globally, but only around half are still used today.
At Remitly, we understand the value of communication across borders—and that’s exactly what writing does. It preserves knowledge, transmits culture, and builds lasting relationships. From ancient scripts to modern alphabets, writing systems help us appreciate cultural diversity and different forms of self-expression.
In this article, we explore the different writing systems of the world. We’ll take a journey from the earliest symbols to today’s internet lingo, and how this technology has transformed the way we live, learn, and connect.
The dawn of written communication
The evolution of alphabets was a long and complex process, starting from the cave paintings of prehistoric man, to the symbolic tokens ancient civilizations used for managing trade. While primitive, they provided a basis for the world’s first true writing system.
Sumerian cuneiform
The earliest writing system we know of is Sumerian cuneiform. It originated from Sumer, which was part of Mesopotamia—now modern Iraq—and developed out of a preexisting system of tokens used as counters to keep track of goods. For example, a cone-shaped token symbolized a small measure of grain, while a sphere stood for a larger one.
Sumerian scribes began making impressions of the tokens on clay tablets around 3200 BCE. This led to the realization that they could do without the tokens completely. So, they started using a stylus to make markings on the clay tablets, signifying different quantities of goods.
This system of record-keeping gradually became more complex. Around 3000 BCE, the scribes transitioned to using phonetic signs, which basically represent the sounds of speech, just like the letters you’re reading now. It allowed people to write down exactly what they wanted to say and communicate with one another without being physically present.
Did you know that the oldest formal complaint in the world was written in cuneiform? In 1750 BCE, a customer named Nanni wrote to a copper merchant to request a refund for some substandard ingots.
Egyptian hieroglyphs
The Sumerian cuneiform soon started spreading to neighboring countries in the region, like Egypt. Ancient Egyptians began using the famous hieroglyphs as inscriptions for ceremonial artefacts in the royal tombs, from Cairo to Old Alexandria. The oldest symbols date back to about 3400 to 3200 BCE, and they were used to represent people, animals, and objects.
Unlike its predecessor, hieroglyphs were phonetic right from the start. It evolved to use over 800 symbols, as well as cursive scripts for everyday writing. Their popularity also led to the development of papyrus paper, one of the most important innovations from ancient Egypt.
Early Chinese writing
China also developed the idea of writing independently. The earliest examples appeared around 6600 BCE in the form of pictures—pictograms—found on artefacts excavated at the renowned Jiahu architectural site.
However, it wasn’t until the reign of the Shang dynasty in 1400 BCE that a complete writing system was developed.
Why did writing spread fast around the world?
Wherever writing was developed, it spread quickly, mainly because it was so useful. Early writing allowed for accurate record-keeping, which was vital for trade. It also led to the first written laws, such as the Code of Hammurabi in ancient Babylon.
Writing allowed societies to organize themselves at a greater level of complexity than ever before. Suddenly, people could communicate across long distances without ever meeting. It also encouraged the development of religious ideas, since they could be passed down accurately from one generation to the next.
Understanding writing system categories
There are several different types of writing systems. Even today, some countries use not only diverse languages, but sometimes completely distinct writing systems, too. Let’s look at the major ones.
Logographic systems
Logographic writing systems use symbols to represent entire words or concepts, instead of individual sounds. Each character conveys meaning by itself.
How do they work?
If that’s hard to imagine, think of Chinese characters (hanzi). After centuries of streamlining, you might not recognize what a character represents just by looking at it. But with a little imagination, you can see the links between how the symbols look today and the concepts they were designed to express.
For example, look at 山 (shān), which means “mountain”, or 木 (mù), equating to “tree” or “wood”.
Pros and cons
Like all writing systems, this one has several advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages
- A single character can express an idea that might take several letters or words in a phonetic script.
- It allows communication across different dialects. Even when the spoken forms of a language diverge, they may use the same characters in writing.
Disadvantages
- Chinese has thousands of unique characters, and learning how to write the language requires a lot of memorization.
- It can take years of study and practice to become fully literate.
Syllabic scripts
Syllabic writing systems use symbols to represent syllables—a unit of pronunciation with one vowel—rather than individual sounds or whole words. Each character usually stands for a consonant-vowel combination, making them capable of expressing information with fewer characters than logographic systems.
Examples through history
Japanese writing systems work this way. Hiragana uses native Japanese words and grammar, while katakana focuses on loanwords and emphasis.
The ancient Greeks also had a syllabic system called Linear B, which represented an early form of the Greek language.
And it’s not just in ancient writing: the Cherokee syllabary was invented in the early 19th century. It enabled rapid literacy development among Cherokee speakers, helping to preserve this historic language before it was lost. Students were able to achieve a literacy level in a few weeks that took English writing students two years to achieve.
Pros and cons
So, what are the upsides and downsides of using syllabic scripts?
Advantages
- More intuitive than logographic systems, with fewer characters that need to be memorized.
- Well-suited to languages that have relatively simple syllable structures.
Disadvantages
- In languages with lots of sellable combinations, a large number of symbols will be required.
- It is harder to represent complex or irregular sound systems than with alphabet writing.
Alphabetic systems
If you’re reading this, you’re already familiar with an alphabetic system. After all, that’s what I’m currently writing in.
These types of writing systems use letters to represent individual sounds. They break language into its smallest sound units and allow you to combine them to form recognizable words.
How did they develop?
The proto-Sinaitic script was developed in Egypt sometime between 1850 BCE and 1550 BCE. It used signs based on Egyptian hieroglyphs, but simplified to represent speech sounds.
This led to the development of the Phoenician alphabet around 1050 BCE. This compact and adaptable writing system spread widely across the Mediterranean and beyond, thanks to Phoenician traders.
However, it was only capable of representing consonants. The Greeks adopted it but also introduced vowels, making reading and writing much more precise.
The Greek system was then adapted and modified by the Romans, who originated the Latin alphabet we use today. The Romans spread this alphabet writing across European nations, who then disseminated it around the world through trade and colonization. Now, this alphabet is the most widely used in the world.
Pros and cons
Despite their popularity, alphabetic systems offer several pros and cons:
Advantages
- Doesn’t require as many symbols as other systems. Typically, these systems only use around 20 to 30 letters, making them easy to learn.
- They are highly adaptable across different languages.
Disadvantages
- Pronunciation and spelling can drift apart over time. Just consider the differences between the English words ‘rough’ and ‘through’, for example.
- Some languages need to add diacritics—accents—or new letters to adapt the alphabet to their unique sounds. Think about the German character ß, for example, which represents an “s” sound.
Scripts that shaped civilizations
The Arabic script family
Even if you don’t speak Arabic, you’ve probably seen what Arabic script looks like. Known for its flowing calligraphic beauty, it’s written from left to right, with connected letterforms giving it a distinctive rhythm and look.
The language originated in the Arabian Peninsula and spread with the Islamic conquest. Today, it’s been adapted to many languages beyond Arabic, including Persian, Urdu, and Malay.
Indian scripts
Devangari and Indian scripts are used in Sanskrit, Hindi, and other South Asian languages. Devanagari organizes consonants and vowels in a grid reflecting phonetic features.
The spread of these scripts influenced Thai, Javanese, and Khmer writing, among others. They are also linked to spiritual traditions, with words like Om (ओम्) representing deeper philosophical concepts.
East Asian writing complexity
Japan blends three different systems—kanji, hiragana, and katakana—into a single language. Chinese characters evolved from oracle bone inscriptions into today’s more simplified forms, with thousands of characters available in this ancient writing system.
Meanwhile, in the 15th century, the Korean Hangul alphabet was deliberately designed to be more accessible.
Ancient scripts deciphered
The complexity and diversity of language systems and alphabets are mind-blowing—and that’s just the ones that exist today. But most of the world’s writing systems are extinct now, with many lost to time.
Examples of scripts lost to time
That was almost the case with Egyptian hieroglyphics. It wasn’t until Napoleon’s armies discovered the Rosetta Stone that we could translate Egyptian into Greek and decipher the writings in the tombs of the Pharaohs. On the other hand, the Indus script represents a language no one living now knows.
Then there are syllabic scripts. Linear A was used by the ancient Minoans from 1800 BCE to 1450 BCE. It evolved into Linear B, which has long been deciphered. But despite years of trying, no one has figured out how to read Linear A.
Rongorongo is another mystery language. Discovered on Easter Island in the 19th century, no one has been able to decode it. However, it represents another independent emergence of written language on these isolated islands.
The secrets hidden in undeciphered scripts
It’s tantalizing to think about what these lost languages might have to tell us. So much of what we know about the history of ancient Egypt comes from hieroglyphs, so there’s no doubt we could also learn a lot from other scripts. Every undeciphered writing system holds the potential to reveal lost histories, traditions, and forgotten cultures.
Cracking these puzzles is no small task; it requires a combination of linguistics, archaeology, and statistics. But it’s worth the effort to shed some light on the past.
Writing systems in the digital age
The development of writing in Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia continues to shape the modern world to this day. It’s fair to say there has never been a time of more widespread literacy than the age we live in now. That makes writing systems more important than ever.
Modern alphabets
Digital technology needs to handle not just alphabets like Latin or Cyrillic, but also complex scripts like Arabic and Chinese. That’s why the Unicode standard was developed. It assigns a unique code to every character across languages, making it possible to send an email in Hindi or mix English and Chinese on the same screen.
But language is always changing, and so is writing. For example, look at emojis. Originally developed in Japan, they are a kind of modern pictography that allows people to express feelings and concepts in a single image.
Ancient scripts and digital tools
Digital tools can also help preserve endangered scripts and languages. Around the world, projects exist to digitize manuscripts, create fonts for rare scripts, and build online dictionaries to preserve languages once at risk of disappearing.
With the emergence of AI and its incredible capabilities for pattern recognition, things are changing again. We might finally get some challenging ancient scripts deciphered by modern technology.
The future of human writing
The different types of writing systems used around the world and throughout time show human ingenuity and diversity at their best.
Now, as online spaces and cutting-edge technologies like AI become more popular, they’re reshaping how we read, write, and communicate. Language continues to develop, further proving our collective creativity and complexity across cultures.
FAQs
How many writing systems exist in the world today?
A definitive number is hard to find, but it’s estimated that there are around 156 “living” writing systems in active use today.
What was the very first writing system ever created?
The earliest known writing system is Sumerian cuneiform, developed in modern-day Iraq around 3400 BCE. Egyptian hieroglyphics are also close in age.
Why do some languages use multiple scripts?
Languages and writing systems usually grow organically. Sometimes, different scripts are incorporated as a result of conquest, trade, or for practical reasons like improving literacy rates. Punjabi and Japanese both use two distinct writing systems for the same language, and Serbo-Croatian can be written using both Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.
How long does it typically take to learn a new writing system?
It depends on the system. Alphabetic systems like the Latin alphabet tend to be the easiest to learn, taking a few weeks or months. Meanwhile, complex logographic systems like Chinese can require years of study.
Are any writing systems in danger of disappearing?
Yes. Endangered languages like N’ko in West Africa often have unique scripts that are at risk of disappearing, along with the language they represent.
What makes a writing system effective for its language?
An effective system strikes a balance between simplicity, adaptability, and cultural fit. Ideally, it’ll be easy to learn, adaptable enough to change with the times, and allow a full range of expression.