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Arabic alphabet
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Kūfic script
Kūfic script Kūfic script, double folio from the Qurʾān, ink on parchment, Abbasid caliphate, 9th–10th century; in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Arabic alphabet

writing system
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•History

Arabic alphabet, second most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (the Latin alphabet is the most widespread). Originally developed for writing the Arabic language and carried across much of the Eastern Hemisphere by the spread of Islam, the Arabic script has been adapted to such diverse languages as Persian, Turkish, Spanish, and Swahili. Although it probably developed in the 4th century ce as a direct descendant of the Nabataean alphabet, its origins and...

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