Pangram

A pangram (Greek: παν γράμμα, pan gramma, "every letter") or holoalphabetic sentence for a given alphabet is a sentence using every letter of the alphabet at least once. Pangrams have been used to display typefaces, test equipment, and develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and keyboarding. Some examples:

• English: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" (all 26 letters).
• Polish: Pójdźże, kiń tę chmurność w głąb flaszy! (perfect pangram: all 32 letters of the Polish alphabet appear only once).
• Dutch: Lynx c.q. vos prikt bh: dag zwemjuf! (perfect pangram: all 26 letters, containing 26 letters).
• German: Victor jagt zwölf Boxkämpfer quer über den großen Sylter Deich (with every umlaut plus the ß).
• French: Portez ce vieux whisky au juge blond qui fume (all 26 letters).
• Turkish: Pijamalı hasta yağız şoföre çabucak güvendi (all 29 letters of the Turkish alphabet).
• Spanish: El veloz murciélago hindú comía feliz cardillo y kiwi. La cigüeña tocaba el saxofón detrás del palenque de paja. (all 27 letters and diacritics).
• Russian: Любя, съешь щипцы, — вздохнёт мэр, — кайф жгуч (perfect pangram: all 33 letters of the Russian Cyrillic alphabet appear only once).
• Czech: Nechť již hříšné saxofony ďáblů rozzvučí síň úděsnými tóny waltzu, tanga a quickstepu. (all 42 letters and diacritics)
• Lithuanian: Įlinkusi fechtuotojo špaga blykčiodama gręžė apvalų arbūzą. (all letters, including diacritics)
• Arabic: أبجد هوَّز حُطّي كلَمُن سَعْفَص قُرِشَت ثَخَدٌ ضَظَغ‎
• Catalan: Jove xef, porti whisky amb quinze glaçons d'hidrogen, coi!
• Igbo: Nne wepụ he'l’ụjọ dum n’ime ọzụzụ-ụmụ, vufesị obi na Chukwu;ṅụrịanụ nime nwa enyere unu;gbakọọnụ, kpaa, kwe ya k’o-guzoshie ike, ọ ghaghị ito, nwapụta ezi agwa (all 36 letters and diacritics).
• Yoruba: Ìwò̩fà ń yò̩ séji tó gbojúmó̩, ó hàn pákànpò̩ gan-an nis̩é̩ rè̩ bó dò̩la. (all 25 letters with diacritics).

The quick-brown-fox pangram, which has been used since at least the late 19th century, was utilized by Western Union to test Telex / TWX data communication equipment for accuracy and reliability, and is now used by a number of computer programs (most notably the font viewer built into Microsoft Windows) to display computer fonts. The German Victor-jagt pangram, used since before 1800, contains all the letters, including the 3 umlaut letters: ä, ö, ü.

Short pangrams in English are more difficult to come up with and tend to use uncommon words, because the English language uses some letters (especially vowels) much more frequently than others. Longer pangrams may afford more opportunity for humor, cleverness, or thoughtfulness. In a sense, the pangram is the opposite of the lipogram, in which the aim is to omit one or more letters. A perfect pangram contains every letter of the alphabet only once and can be considered an anagram of the alphabet; it is the shortest possible pangram. An example is the phrase "Cwm fjord bank glyphs vext quiz", although cwm is actually a Welsh word, meaning valley. For more examples, see: List of pangrams.