Kyrgyz Alphabets

The Kyrgyz alphabets are the alphabets used to write the Kyrgyz language. The Kyrgyz language uses the following alphabets:

• The Cyrillic script is officially used in the Kyrgyz Republic
• The Arabic script is officially used in People's Republic of China in the Kyzylsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture and the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The Arabic script was traditionally used to write Kyrgyz before the introduction of the first Latin-based alphabets in 1927. Today an Arabic alphabet is used in China. The Uniform Turkic Alphabet was used in the USSR in the 1930s until its replacement by a Cyrillic script. The Kyrgyz Cyrillic alphabet is the alphabet used in Kyrgyzstan. It contains 36 letters: 33 from the Russian alphabet with 3 additional letters for sounds of the Kyrgyz language: Ң, Ү, Ө.