The Batak alphabet, surat Batak, to copy: the letters in Unicode chart order, from ᯀ a to ᯥ u, then the forms Simalungun, Mandailing, Karo and Pakpak write differently, the marks, shown on ᯅ, and the four bindu.
Read the full guide
One script, five ways to write it
The Batak script varies by region and language: Karo, Mandailing, Pakpak, Simalungun and Toba each shape some letters their own way. Unicode keeps many of those shapes apart: ᯂ ha has a Simalungun form, ᯃ, and a Mandailing one, ᯄ.
Marks, and no joined letters
A letter alone ends in a: ᯅ is ba. One mark turns it into ᯅᯪ bi or ᯅᯰ bang, and the pangolat takes the vowel away to leave ᯅ᯲, b. Unlike most scripts descended from Brahmi, Batak never joins two consonants into one sign. Lines run from left to right.
ᯤ i and ᯥ u are written only where a syllable ends on the vowel.
In Mandailing a small mark, the tompi, turns ᯄ ha into ᯄ᯦ ka and ᯚ sa into ᯚ᯦ ca.
A device with no Batak font shows empty boxes in place of the letters.
Questions and answers
How many letters are in the Batak alphabet?
Nineteen by its own name: the script is also called Surat na Sampulu Sia, the nineteen letters. Unicode has 38 Batak letters, because many regional shapes of a letter have a code point of their own.
What is the Batak script?
The Batak script is the writing of the Batak languages of Sumatra, in Indonesia. It fell out of use soon after the First World War, when books stopped being printed in it, and today it is used only for ornament.
Does the Batak script have punctuation?
Hardly any: text normally runs on without spaces or punctuation. Marks called bindu are used now and then. ᯼ and ᯽ begin a paragraph or a stanza, ᯾ parts a title from the text, and ᯿ comes at the end.
Is the Batak script in Unicode?
Yes, since version 6.0 of October 2010. The Batak block runs from U+1BC0 to U+1BFF, and every character in it is on this page, the marks shown on a letter.
All 57 letters
Letters 23
ᯀBatak aU+1BC0 Batak letter a. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. Unicode notes Karo and Pakpak use it as a or ha.
ᯅBatak baU+1BC5 Batak letter ba. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
ᯡBatak caU+1BE1 Batak letter ca. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
ᯑBatak daU+1BD1 Batak letter da. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
ᯎBatak gaU+1BCE Batak letter ga. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
ᯂBatak haU+1BC2 Batak letter ha. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. Unicode notes it is ha or ka in Toba, and called ka in Karo and Pakpak.
ᯤBatak iU+1BE4 Batak letter i. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
ᯐBatak jaU+1BD0 Batak letter ja. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
ᯞBatak laU+1BDE Batak letter la. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
ᯔBatak maU+1BD4 Batak letter ma. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
ᯣBatak mbaU+1BE3 Batak letter mba. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
ᯉBatak naU+1BC9 Batak letter na. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
ᯢBatak ndaU+1BE2 Batak letter nda. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
ᯝBatak ngaU+1BDD Batak letter nga. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
ᯠBatak nyaU+1BE0 Batak letter nya. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. Unicode notes that U+1BE0 or U+1BE1 may each write Karo letter ca.
ᯇBatak paU+1BC7 Batak letter pa. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
Show all 57 letters (41 more)
Letters, continued
ᯒBatak raU+1BD2 Batak letter ra. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
ᯘBatak saU+1BD8 Batak letter sa. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. Unicode's note: Pakpak letter sa or ca.
ᯥBatak uU+1BE5 Batak letter u. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
ᯋBatak waU+1BCB Batak letter wa. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. Unicode notes that U+1BCB or U+1BCD may each write Toba letter wa.
ᯛBatak yaU+1BDB Batak letter ya. Batak block, Unicode 6.0.
ᯗNorthern taU+1BD7 Batak letter northern ta. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. One of the two forms of ta.
ᯖSouthern taU+1BD6 Batak letter southern ta. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. One of the two forms of ta. Unicode notes that U+1BD6 or U+1BD7 may each write Toba letter ta.
Regional forms 15
ᯆKaro baU+1BC6 Batak letter Karo ba. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The Karo form of ba. Unicode's note: also used in Toba.
ᯄMandailing haU+1BC4 Batak letter Mandailing ha. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The Mandailing form of ha.
ᯊMandailing naU+1BCA Batak letter Mandailing na. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The Mandailing form of na.
ᯚMandailing saU+1BDA Batak letter Mandailing sa. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The Mandailing form of sa.
ᯍPakpak waU+1BCD Batak letter Pakpak wa. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The Pakpak form of wa.
ᯁSimalungun aU+1BC1 Batak letter Simalungun a. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The Simalungun form of a.
ᯏSimalungun gaU+1BCF Batak letter Simalungun ga. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The Simalungun form of ga.
ᯃSimalungun haU+1BC3 Batak letter Simalungun ha. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The Simalungun form of ha. Unicode notes its other name, Simalungun letter ka.
ᯟSimalungun laU+1BDF Batak letter Simalungun la. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The Simalungun form of la.
ᯕSimalungun maU+1BD5 Batak letter Simalungun ma. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The Simalungun form of ma.
ᯈSimalungun paU+1BC8 Batak letter Simalungun pa. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The Simalungun form of pa.
ᯓSimalungun raU+1BD3 Batak letter Simalungun ra. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The Simalungun form of ra.
ᯙSimalungun saU+1BD9 Batak letter Simalungun sa. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The Simalungun form of sa.
ᯌSimalungun waU+1BCC Batak letter Simalungun wa. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The Simalungun form of wa.
ᯜSimalungun yaU+1BDC Batak letter Simalungun ya. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The Simalungun form of ya.
Marks on ᯅ 15
ᯅ᯲Batak bU+1BC5 U+1BF2 Batak letter ba with the sign pangolat. Takes the vowel away and leaves b. Pangolat is its name in Toba.
ᯅ᯳Batak b (panongonan)U+1BC5 U+1BF3 Batak letter ba with the sign panongonan. Takes the vowel away and leaves b: the other sign for it, used in place of the pangolat in some of the languages.
ᯅᯱBatak bahU+1BC5 U+1BF1 Batak letter ba with the consonant sign h, which Unicode also lists as hajoringan. Closes the syllable with h.
ᯅᯰBatak bangU+1BC5 U+1BF0 Batak letter ba with the consonant sign ng, which Unicode also lists as amisara. Closes the syllable with ng.
ᯅᯧBatak beU+1BC5 U+1BE7 Batak letter ba with the vowel sign e, which Unicode also lists as kebereten. Changes ba to be.
ᯅᯨBatak be (Pakpak)U+1BC5 U+1BE8 Batak letter ba with the vowel sign Pakpak e, which Unicode also lists as ketolongen. The Pakpak sign for e.
ᯅᯩBatak beeU+1BC5 U+1BE9 Batak letter ba with the vowel sign ee, which Unicode also lists as talinga. Changes the vowel to the one the Unicode name spells ee.
ᯅᯪBatak biU+1BC5 U+1BEA Batak letter ba with the vowel sign i, which Unicode also lists as ulua. Changes ba to bi.
ᯅᯫBatak bi (Karo)U+1BC5 U+1BEB Batak letter ba with the vowel sign Karo i, which Unicode also lists as haluan. The Karo sign for i.
ᯅᯬBatak boU+1BC5 U+1BEC Batak letter ba with the vowel sign o, which Unicode also lists as siala ulu. Changes ba to bo.
ᯅᯭBatak bo (Karo)U+1BC5 U+1BED Batak letter ba with the vowel sign Karo o, which Unicode also lists as hatulungan. The Karo sign for o.
ᯅᯮBatak buU+1BC5 U+1BEE Batak letter ba with the vowel sign u, which Unicode also lists as boruta. Changes ba to bu.
ᯚ᯦Mandailing caU+1BDA U+1BE6 Batak letter Mandailing sa with the sign tompi. In Mandailing the tompi changes sa to ca.
ᯄ᯦Mandailing kaU+1BC4 U+1BE6 Batak letter Mandailing ha with the sign tompi. In Mandailing the tompi changes ha to ka.
ᯙᯯSimalungun suU+1BD9 U+1BEF Batak letter Simalungun sa with the vowel sign u for Simalungun sa, which Unicode also lists as haboritan. The form the sign u takes on the Simalungun sa.
Bindu 4
᯾Bindu judulU+1BFE Batak symbol bindu judul. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The title bindu. Separates a title from the text under it.
᯼Bindu na metekU+1BFC Batak symbol bindu na metek. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The small bindu. Begins a paragraph or a stanza.
᯽Bindu pinarborasU+1BFD Batak symbol bindu pinarboras. Batak block, Unicode 6.0. The rice-shaped bindu. Begins a paragraph or a stanza.
How this list was compiled: Every character was checked against UnicodeData.txt, version 18.0.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/UnicodeData.txt): the code points and the character names in the notes come from that file, names in sentence case. Block names come from Blocks.txt (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/Blocks.txt) and the Unicode version each character arrived in from DerivedAge.txt (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/DerivedAge.txt), both version 18.0.0. Other names of a character come from NamesList.txt, version 18.0.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/NamesList.txt). The letters stand in the order of the Batak block, U+1BC0 to U+1BE5, which is also the order of the letter table in Wikipedia's Batak script article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batak_script). Which letters are regional forms follows the Unicode names: a name with Simalungun, Mandailing, Karo or Pakpak in it is in the second group, and the lines marked Unicode's note are that file's own annotations. What each mark does, the two signs that take a vowel away, the tompi, the bindu and what each is for follow the same article, restated in this site's own words; its table of marks is made of pictures, so the spellings be, bee, bi, bo and bu follow the Unicode names of the signs (e, ee, i, o, u), and the article says nothing here about how e and ee differ in sound. Each mark tile is ᯅ with the mark added, except the three whose sign belongs to one letter. Every character of the block is on the page. No locale of CLDR is written in these letters, so there was none to compare. The article spells the rice-shaped bindu panarboras; its tile follows the Unicode name, pinarboras. The tile names and the grouping are this site's own. Each tile was drawn on 2026-10-08 before it was kept, and all of them drew. All sources were read on 2026-10-08. Licence: own work