Wikipedia:Naming conventions (writing systems)

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Names of articles on

1. A general segmental writing system, as opposed to the alphabets based on it:
   • Roman script; cf. Latin alphabet, roman type
     )
   • Cyrillic script (cross-linguistic; cf. Russian alphabet)
   • Arabic script (cross-linguistic; cf. Arabic alphabet)
   • Georgian scripts
2. In the plural for a family or geographic group of such scripts. 'Writing systems' conveys the same idea:
   • Brahmic scripts
   • Mesoamerican writing systems
3. A calligraphic style. In many cases '
   hand
   ' may be used instead, and may this avoid confusion with other uses of the term 'script':
   • Nastaliq hand
   • Insular script
   • Seal script
   • Italic script (or Italic hand: cf. italic type)
   • Chancery hand
4. A non-segmental writing system, especially one which is logographic, mixed, or of unknown character:
   • Maya script ('hieroglyphs' is widely considered a misnomer)
   • Khitan small script
   • Yi script (syllabic and logographic variants)

'Alphabet' is used for language-specific adaptations of a segmental script, usually with a defined sorting order and sometimes with not all of the letters, or with additional letters:

• Latin alphabet (for Latin)
• English alphabet
• Arabic alphabet (for Arabic)
• Urdu alphabet
• Russian alphabet (as distinct from Cyrillic script)
• Bengali alphabet (for Bengali/Bangla)
• Assamese alphabet
• Thai alphabet
  (for Thai)

The terms abjad and abugida, though often used in the text, are considered jargon and inappropriate for a title.

For true syllabaries:

• Cherokee syllabary
• Vai syllabary

Where an unambiguous conventional name exists, 'script', 'alphabet', or 'syllabary' may not be necessary:

• Hangul
• Hiragana
• Fraktur
• Devanagari
• Cuneiform
• Rongorongo
• Egyptian hieroglyphs

Note: "hieroglyphics" is deprecated.

• Canadian Aboriginal syllabics

Exceptions may also occur where a different technical term is widely used:

• Chinese characters
• Carolingian minuscule
• Pitman shorthand

Modifiers may be used for subtypes or other cases of disambiguation:

• Classical Mongolian alphabet
• Romanian Cyrillic alphabet
• Taiwanese kana
• Cree syllabics

Names should include some indication that the article concerns a glyph and not a word.

• Kra (letter) – 'Latin' is generally understood
• Pi (letter) – like most Greek letters, pi is used in conjunction with the Latin script
• Pe (Cyrillic) – 'Cyrillic' cannot be a language, and so is unambiguous
• Pe (Persian letter) – 'Pe (Persian)' could be about a Persian word pe
• Ka (kana) – cf. Ka (Cyrillic)
• WP:primary topic
  , as any word zeta derives from the letter
• Ou (ligature)
• Radical (Chinese character)
• Ascender (typography)

• Wikipedia: Naming conventions (languages)