Tuareg Alphabet

Tap a Tifinagh letter to copy it: Tuareg forms first, then Morocco's standard alphabet, each with its sound.

Tuareg Alphabet

ⴰTuareg aU+2D30Ready to copy

90 letters. Tap one to copy it.

Tuareg letters 27

Other Tuareg forms 15

Moroccan standard 33

More letters 15

Next step Next script: the Ethiopian letters

How it works

The Tuareg alphabet is Tifinagh, the script of the Berber languages. First come its 27 letters as the Ahaggar writes them, then the signs four other regions use instead, the 33 letters of the Moroccan standard and the rest.

Read the full guide

Not one Tuareg alphabet

There are several Tuareg scripts, and they do not give every sign to the same sound. The first group follows the Ahaggar; the second holds what Ghat, Aïr, Azawagh and Adrar write in its place. Traditionally vowels are not written, except at the end of a word, where one dot can be any vowel.

The Moroccan standard

Neo-Tifinagh was made from the Tuareg script in the 1970s as a full alphabet, and Morocco adopted it in 2003. Every consonant name begins with ya: ⴱ is yab, ⵎ is yam. Two of the 33 letters, ⴳⵯ and ⴽⵯ, are a letter followed by a small raised mark.

  • ⵜ, t, is often joined to the letter before it.
  • ⵍ, l, is two strokes and ⵏ, n, is one; where they meet, the second is slanted, raised, lowered or shortened to keep them apart.
  • A device with no Tifinagh font shows an empty box in place of a letter.

Questions and answers

How many letters are in the Tuareg alphabet?

The table this page follows has 27 sounds, and only the Ahaggar has a sign for each of them. Regions differ, so there is no single count. The Moroccan standard alphabet has 33 letters.

What are the Berber letters called?

Tifinagh. The Berber letters come in two kinds: the traditional script, still used by the Tuareg of the Sahara, and Neo-Tifinagh, the modern alphabet made from it.

Is Tifinagh still used to write Berber languages?

Mostly for symbolic and cultural uses: the Latin script remains the main one for writing Berber languages in North Africa. Among the Tuareg it has served chiefly for short messages, games and puzzles.

Is Tifinagh in Unicode?

Yes, since version 4.1 of March 2005. The Tifinagh block runs from U+2D30 to U+2D7F, and every letter in it, U+2D30 to U+2D67, is on this page.

All 90 letters

Tuareg letters 27

  • Tuareg a U+2D30 Tifinagh letter ya. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound a (IPA a) as it is written in all five regions.
  • Tuareg b U+2D40 Tifinagh letter yah. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound b (IPA b) as it is written in all five regions.
  • Tuareg d U+2D38 Tifinagh letter yadh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound d (IPA d) as it is written in Ahaggar, Ghat and Adrar. In Aïr and Azawagh it is ⴹ.
  • Tuareg ḍ U+2D39 Tifinagh letter yadd. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound ḍ (IPA dˤ) as it is written in Ahaggar, Ghat and Adrar. The table gives no sign for it in Aïr and Azawagh.
  • Tuareg f U+2D3C Tifinagh letter yaf. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound f (IPA f) as it is written in Ahaggar, Ghat, Aïr and Azawagh. In Adrar it is ⵊ.
  • Tuareg g U+2D33 Tifinagh letter yag. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound g (IPA ɡ) as it is written in Ahaggar. In Ghat, Aïr, Azawagh and Adrar it is ⴶ.
Show all 90 letters (84 more)

Tuareg letters, continued

  • Tuareg ġ U+2D36 Tifinagh letter yaj. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound ġ (IPA ɟ) as it is written in Ahaggar. In Ghat it is ⵊ. In Adrar it is ⵘ.
  • Tuareg gh U+2D57 Tifinagh letter Tuareg yagh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound gh (IPA ɣ) as it is written in Ahaggar, Ghat, Azawagh and Adrar. In Aïr it is ⵘ.
  • Tuareg h U+2D42 Tifinagh letter Tuareg yah. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound h (IPA h) as it is written in all five regions.
  • Tuareg j U+2D4B Tifinagh letter Ahaggar yazh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound j (IPA ʒ) as it is written in Ahaggar. In Aïr and Azawagh it is ⵌ. In Adrar it is ⵣ.
  • Tuareg k U+2D3E Tifinagh letter Tuareg yak. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound k (IPA k) as it is written in all five regions.
  • Tuareg l U+2D4D Tifinagh letter yal. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound l (IPA l) as it is written in all five regions.
  • Tuareg m U+2D4E Tifinagh letter yam. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound m (IPA m) as it is written in all five regions.
  • Tuareg n U+2D4F Tifinagh letter yan. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound n (IPA n) as it is written in all five regions.
  • Tuareg ñ U+2D50 Tifinagh letter Tuareg yagn. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound ñ (IPA ɲ) as it is written in Ahaggar. The table gives no sign for it in Ghat, Aïr, Azawagh and Adrar.
  • Tuareg ng U+2D51 Tifinagh letter Tuareg yang. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound ng (IPA ŋ) as it is written in Ahaggar. The table gives no sign for it in Ghat, Aïr, Azawagh and Adrar.
  • Tuareg q U+2D48 Tifinagh letter Tuareg yaq. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound q (IPA q) as it is written in Ahaggar, Ghat and Adrar. In Aïr it is ⵗ. In Azawagh it is ⵆ.
  • Tuareg r U+2D54 Tifinagh letter yar. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound r (IPA r) as it is written in all five regions.
  • Tuareg s U+2D59 Tifinagh letter yas. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound s (IPA s) as it is written in all five regions.
  • Tuareg š U+2D5B Tifinagh letter yash. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound š (IPA ʃ) as it is written in Ahaggar, Ghat, Aïr and Azawagh.
  • Tuareg t U+2D5C Tifinagh letter yat. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound t (IPA t) as it is written in all five regions.
  • Tuareg ṭ U+2D5F Tifinagh letter yatt. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound ṭ (IPA tˤ) as it is written in Ahaggar and Azawagh. The table gives no sign for it in Ghat, Aïr and Adrar.
  • Tuareg w U+2D53 Tifinagh letter yu. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound w (IPA w) as it is written in all five regions.
  • Tuareg x U+2D46 Tifinagh letter Tuareg yakh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound x (IPA x) as it is written in Ahaggar, Ghat, Azawagh and Adrar. In Aïr it is ⵗ.
  • Tuareg y U+2D62 Tifinagh letter yay. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound y (IPA j) as it is written in Ahaggar and Azawagh. In Ghat, Aïr and Adrar it is ⵉ.
  • Tuareg z U+2D63 Tifinagh letter yaz. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound z (IPA z) as it is written in Ahaggar, Aïr and Azawagh. In Ghat it is ⵌ. In Adrar it is ⵋ.
  • Tuareg ẓ U+2D4C Tifinagh letter Tuareg yazh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound ẓ (IPA zˤ) as it is written in Ahaggar and Adrar. In Ghat and Azawagh it is ⵣ.

Other Tuareg forms 15

  • d (Aïr, Azawagh) U+2D39 Tifinagh letter yadd. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound d (IPA d) in Aïr and Azawagh; the Ahaggar form is ⴸ.
  • f (Adrar) U+2D4A Tifinagh letter yazh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound f (IPA f) in Adrar; the Ahaggar form is ⴼ.
  • g (4 regions) U+2D36 Tifinagh letter yaj. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound g (IPA ɡ) in Ghat, Aïr, Azawagh and Adrar; the Ahaggar form is ⴳ.
  • ġ (Adrar) U+2D58 Tifinagh letter Ayer yagh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound ġ (IPA ɟ) in Adrar; the Ahaggar form is ⴶ.
  • ġ (Ghat) U+2D4A Tifinagh letter yazh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound ġ (IPA ɟ) in Ghat; the Ahaggar form is ⴶ.
  • gh (Aïr) U+2D58 Tifinagh letter Ayer yagh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound gh (IPA ɣ) in Aïr; the Ahaggar form is ⵗ.
  • j (Adrar) U+2D63 Tifinagh letter yaz. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound j (IPA ʒ) in Adrar; the Ahaggar form is ⵋ.
  • j (Aïr, Azawagh) U+2D4C Tifinagh letter Tuareg yazh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound j (IPA ʒ) in Aïr and Azawagh; the Ahaggar form is ⵋ.
  • q (Aïr) U+2D57 Tifinagh letter Tuareg yagh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound q (IPA q) in Aïr; the Ahaggar form is ⵈ.
  • q (Azawagh) U+2D46 Tifinagh letter Tuareg yakh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound q (IPA q) in Azawagh; the Ahaggar form is ⵈ.
  • x (Aïr) U+2D57 Tifinagh letter Tuareg yagh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound x (IPA x) in Aïr; the Ahaggar form is ⵆ.
  • y (3 regions) U+2D49 Tifinagh letter yi. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound y (IPA j) in Ghat, Aïr and Adrar; the Ahaggar form is ⵢ.
  • z (Adrar) U+2D4B Tifinagh letter Ahaggar yazh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound z (IPA z) in Adrar; the Ahaggar form is ⵣ.
  • z (Ghat) U+2D4C Tifinagh letter Tuareg yazh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound z (IPA z) in Ghat; the Ahaggar form is ⵣ.
  • ẓ (Ghat, Azawagh) U+2D63 Tifinagh letter yaz. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. The sound ẓ (IPA zˤ) in Ghat and Azawagh; the Ahaggar form is ⵌ.

Moroccan standard 33

  • a (ya) U+2D30 Tifinagh letter ya. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 1 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named ya. IPA æ.
  • b (yab) U+2D31 Tifinagh letter yab. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 2 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yab. IPA b.
  • c (yaš) U+2D5B Tifinagh letter yash. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 27 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yaš. IPA ʃ.
  • d (yad) U+2D37 Tifinagh letter yad. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 5 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yad. IPA d.
  • ḍ (yaḍ) U+2D39 Tifinagh letter yadd. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 6 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yaḍ. IPA dˤ.
  • e (yey) U+2D3B Tifinagh letter yey. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 7 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yey. IPA ə.
  • f (yaf) U+2D3C Tifinagh letter yaf. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 8 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yaf. IPA f.
  • g (yag) U+2D33 Tifinagh letter yag. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 3 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yag. IPA ɡ.
  • gh (yaɣ) U+2D56 Tifinagh letter yagh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 24 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yaɣ. IPA ɣ.
  • gw (yag + mark) U+2D33 U+2D6F Tifinagh letter yag with the labialization mark, the tamatart. Letter 4 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, written gw. IPA ɡʷ.
  • h (yah) U+2D40 Tifinagh letter yah. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 11 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yah. IPA h.
  • ḥ (yaḥ) U+2D43 Tifinagh letter yahh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 12 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yaḥ. IPA ħ.
  • i (yi) U+2D49 Tifinagh letter yi. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 16 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yi. IPA i.
  • j (yaj) U+2D4A Tifinagh letter yazh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 17 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yaj. IPA ʒ.
  • k (yak) U+2D3D Tifinagh letter yak. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 9 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yak. IPA k.
  • kh (yax) U+2D45 Tifinagh letter yakh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 14 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yax. IPA χ.
  • kw (yak + mark) U+2D3D U+2D6F Tifinagh letter yak with the labialization mark, the tamatart. Letter 10 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, written kw. IPA kʷ.
  • l (yal) U+2D4D Tifinagh letter yal. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 18 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yal. IPA l.
  • m (yam) U+2D4E Tifinagh letter yam. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 19 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yam. IPA m.
  • n (yan) U+2D4F Tifinagh letter yan. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 20 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yan. IPA n.
  • q (yaq) U+2D47 Tifinagh letter yaq. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 15 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yaq. IPA q.
  • r (yar) U+2D54 Tifinagh letter yar. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 22 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yar. IPA r.
  • ṛ (yaṛ) U+2D55 Tifinagh letter yarr. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 23 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yaṛ. IPA rˤ.
  • s (yas) U+2D59 Tifinagh letter yas. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 25 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yas. IPA s.
  • ṣ (yaṣ) U+2D5A Tifinagh letter yass. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 26 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yaṣ. IPA sˤ.
  • t (yat) U+2D5C Tifinagh letter yat. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 28 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yat. IPA t.
  • ṭ (yaṭ) U+2D5F Tifinagh letter yatt. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 29 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yaṭ. IPA tˤ.
  • u (yu) U+2D53 Tifinagh letter yu. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 21 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yu.
  • w (yaw) U+2D61 Tifinagh letter yaw. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 30 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yaw. IPA w.
  • y (yay) U+2D62 Tifinagh letter yay. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 31 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yay. IPA j.
  • ʕ (yaʕ) U+2D44 Tifinagh letter yaa. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 13 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yaʕ. IPA ʕ.
  • z (yaz) U+2D63 Tifinagh letter yaz. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 32 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yaz. IPA z.
  • ẓ (yaẓ) U+2D65 Tifinagh letter yazz. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Letter 33 of 33 in the Moroccan standard, named yaẓ. IPA zˤ.

More letters 15

  • b (fricative) U+2D32 Tifinagh letter yabh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. One of the extended letters beside the Moroccan standard: b, IPA β, a fricative.
  • ch (yatš) U+2D5E Tifinagh letter yach. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. One of the extended letters beside the Moroccan standard: ch, IPA t͡ʃ.
  • ḍ (fricative) U+2D3A Tifinagh letter yaddh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. One of the extended letters beside the Moroccan standard: ḍ, IPA ðˤ, a fricative.
  • dj (Academy) U+2D35 Tifinagh letter Berber Academy yaj. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. One of the extended letters beside the Moroccan standard: dj, IPA d͡ʒ, a Berber Academy letter.
  • g (fricative) U+2D34 Tifinagh letter yaghh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. One of the extended letters beside the Moroccan standard: g, IPA ʝ, a fricative.
  • h (Academy) U+2D41 Tifinagh letter Berber Academy yah. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. One of the extended letters beside the Moroccan standard: h, IPA h, a Berber Academy letter.
  • k (fricative) U+2D3F Tifinagh letter yakhh. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. One of the extended letters beside the Moroccan standard: k, IPA x, a fricative.
  • Labialization mark U+2D6F Tifinagh modifier letter labialization mark, named tamatart. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. A small raised sign after g or k: ⴳⵯ gw, ⴽⵯ kw.
  • o (yo) U+2D67 Tifinagh letter yo. Tifinagh block, Unicode 6.1. One of the extended letters beside the Moroccan standard: o, IPA o, ɔ.
  • p (yap) U+2D52 Tifinagh letter yap. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. One of the extended letters beside the Moroccan standard: p, IPA p.
  • Separator mark U+2D70 Tifinagh separator mark, named tazarast. Tifinagh block, Unicode 6.0.
  • t (fricative) U+2D5D Tifinagh letter yath. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. One of the extended letters beside the Moroccan standard: t, IPA θ, a fricative.
  • Tawellemet yaz U+2D64 Tifinagh letter Tawellemet yaz. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. Unicode gives it a second name, harpoon yaz.
  • v (yav) U+2D60 Tifinagh letter yav. Tifinagh block, Unicode 4.1. One of the extended letters beside the Moroccan standard: v, IPA v.
  • ye U+2D66 Tifinagh letter ye. Tifinagh block, Unicode 6.1. Added later than the rest of the letters, together with yo.

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 Tuareg letters follow the table of Tuareg scripts in Wikipedia's Tifinagh article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tifinagh), which gives 27 sounds and the sign for each in five regions (Ahaggar, Ghat, Aïr, Azawagh, Adrar) and is based, as the article says, on Mohamed Aghali-Zakara (1993). The first group is the Ahaggar column, the only one with a sign for every sound; the second is every sign another region uses in its place. One cell of that table holds a character from outside the Tifinagh block and is left out. Where a Unicode character name marks a letter as Tuareg, Ahaggar or Ayer, the name agrees with the table. The Moroccan standard is the 33 letters of the article's table of the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture's alphabet, with the Latin spelling, the letter name and the sound in the International Phonetic Alphabet given there; the same 33, in the same order, are the exemplar characters of CLDR's Standard Moroccan Tamazight locale (https://github.com/unicode-org/cldr/blob/main/common/main/zgh.xml). The extended letters follow the same article; the last group also holds the two letters of the block no table names. Every letter from U+2D30 to U+2D67 is on the page. The grouping and the tile names 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

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