Symbols
83Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
Laki alphabet (Persian script with Kurdish-style letters)
Read right to left. Laki has no single official spelling: every writer uses the 32 Persian letters, in Persian order, and many add the Kurdish (Sorani-style) letters in the last two columns: ڕ for the rolled r, ڤ for v, ڵ for the dark l, ۆ for o, ھ for h, ە for the short a/e and ێ for ê. The letters ث ح ذ ص ض ط ظ ع, the hamza forms and ة come in words from Arabic and Persian.
Vowel signs and marks
Optional signs above or below a letter, used in Persian-style spelling: zebar َ, pish ُ and zir ِ for the short vowels, sokun ْ for no vowel, tashdid ّ to double a consonant. Writers who use the Kurdish-style letters spell vowels out with ا ە و ۆ ی ێ instead and rarely need these signs.
Punctuation
The Persian marks used in Iran: reversed comma and semicolon, mirrored question mark, guillemets for quotations.
Persian digits and number signs
Numbers in Iran are written with Persian digits, left to right inside the right-to-left line; ۴ ۵ ۶ differ from the Arabic ٤ ٥ ٦.
Currency and where it's spoken
The Iranian rial ﷼ (prices are usually said in toman, ten rials) and the flag of Iran, where Laki is spoken.
Lak country in emoji
The Zagros mountains and oak forests of northern Lorestan, the sheep, goats and tents of Lak herding families, and the drum and line dancing of a Lak wedding.
On the map
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The Laki language and the Lak people
Laki (لەکی in Kurdish-style spelling, لکی in Persian spelling) is a Western Iranian language spoken by the Lak, whose heartland is northern Lorestan in the Zagros mountains of western Iran. It has its own ISO 639-3 code, lki, but where it belongs is still argued: most linguists group it with Kurdish, close to Southern Kurdish, while centuries of living beside the Lurs have given it many words and features shared with Luri. Lak people themselves differ, some calling themselves Kurds and others Lurs.
Laki is not a school or official language. Lak children learn to read and write in Persian, and Laki lives in speech, songs, poetry, local books and, more and more, in messages and posts online. It should not be confused with Lak, the Caucasian language of the Lak people of Dagestan in Russia: the names sound alike, but the two languages are unrelated.
The Laki alphabet: Persian letters and Kurdish-style letters
Laki has no standard spelling, and writers follow one of two habits. Many use the Persian alphabet exactly as on a Persian keyboard: پ p, چ ch, ژ zh and گ g are the letters Persian added to Arabic, ک and ی are the Persian forms of kaf and ye, and several letters share one sound because they keep the spelling of Arabic words: ث س ص are all s, ذ ز ض ظ are all z, ت ط are t, and ح ه are h. In this style short vowels are left unwritten or shown with the optional signs zebar َ, pish ُ and zir ِ.
Others, especially writers who see Laki as a Kurdish language, borrow the extra letters of the Sorani Kurdish alphabet, which spells every vowel: ە for the short a or e, ۆ for o as distinct from و for u and w, ێ for ê as distinct from ی for i and y, ڤ for v, ڕ for a strongly rolled r and ڵ for a heavy, dark l, with the values they have in Sorani. In this style ھ is the letter for h, and, following Sorani practice, a word that starts with a vowel is written with ئ in front of it. Both styles appear side by side in Laki books and online, and the same word may be spelled either way, which is why this page has both sets.
Punctuation, Persian digits and the rial sign
Laki writing follows the conventions of Iranian Persian: the comma ، and semicolon ؛ turned upside down, the mirrored question mark ؟ and guillemets « » for quotations. The full stop and the exclamation mark are the ordinary . and !.
Numbers are written with Persian digits ۰ ۱ ۲ ۳ ۴ ۵ ۶ ۷ ۸ ۹, which run left to right inside right-to-left text; ۴ ۵ ۶ are shaped differently from the Arabic-Indic ٤ ٥ ٦ used in Iraq and the Arab world, so copy the Persian set. The percent sign is ٪, the decimal separator ٫ and the thousands separator ٬. Money is the Iranian rial, written or ریال, although prices are usually said in toman (تومان), ten rials.
How to type the Laki alphabet
For Persian-style spelling, use a Persian keyboard: it is built into Windows, macOS, Android and iOS and has all 32 letters. Avoid an Arabic keyboard, which types the Arabic kaf ك and ye ي instead of the Persian ک and ی; they look alike in the middle of a word but are different characters, so searches miss the words.
For Kurdish-style spelling, Windows has a Central Kurdish keyboard and Gboard on Android offers Kurdish (Sorani); both have ڕ ڤ ڵ ۆ ە ێ ھ. Or copy them from this page. In Microsoft Word, type the code and press AltX: 0695 gives ڕ, 06A4 ڤ, 06B5 ڵ, 06C6 ۆ, 06D5 ە, 06CE ێ, 06BE ھ, and 067E پ, 0686 چ, 0698 ژ, 06AF گ, 06A9 ک, 06CC ی, FDFC . In HTML use numeric references such as ڵ for ڵ, and set dir="rtl" so the text runs right to left and lang="lki" to identify the language.
Where Laki is spoken
Laki is spoken in Iran , mainly in the north of Lorestan province, around Nurabad in Delfan, Aleshtar in Selseleh and Kuhdasht, and by Lak communities in the neighbouring provinces of Kermanshah, Ilam and Hamadan, such as Harsin. CLDR estimates about 670,000 speakers; other estimates run higher, and many Lak families now live in Tehran and other cities, where children often grow up speaking Persian.
Lak country is high Zagros land of oak forest , valleys and pasture, where herding families long moved their sheep and goats between summer and winter grounds and lived in black tents . Lak weddings are known for their music: the drum and the sorna, a loud reed pipe, with men and women dancing hand in hand in a line . Neighbouring languages with their own collections are Southern Kurdish, Central Kurdish (Sorani), Northern Luri, Bakhtiari and Persian; the Iran collection has the country's flag, food and emoji.
How to use them
5 situationsClick to copyLaki Alphabet combos
13Worth knowing
- Karim Khan Zand, who ruled most of Iran from Shiraz from 1751 until his death in 1779, came from the Zand, a Lak tribe; the dynasty he founded is named after it.
- Laki of Iran and Lak of Dagestan share little more than a sound: Lak is a Northeast Caucasian language written in Cyrillic, Laki an Iranian language written in Arabic script.
- In Swahili, laki means one hundred thousand, borrowed via Omani Arabic from the Indian word lakh; laki moja is 100,000. That is why searches for laki often turn up Swahili number words.
- The Luristan bronzes, including horse bits, weapons and ornaments cast roughly 3,000 years ago and now in museums around the world, are named after the historical region of Luristan, which includes present-day Lorestan and Ilam.
Questions people ask
7What is the Laki language?
Laki is a Western Iranian language of the Lak people, spoken mainly in northern Lorestan and neighbouring provinces of western Iran. CLDR estimates about 670,000 speakers. It is written in Arabic script, with Persian letters and often a few Kurdish ones.
Is Laki Kurdish or Lori?
Most linguists group Laki with Kurdish, close to Southern Kurdish, but long contact with Luri has given it many shared words and features, so some count it as Luri or as a language between the two. Lak people themselves identify both ways.
Who are the Lak people of Iran?
The Lak are a people of the Zagros mountains in western Iran, living mostly in northern Lorestan around Nurabad, Aleshtar and Kuhdasht and in parts of Kermanshah, Ilam and Hamadan provinces. Their language is Laki.
Is Laki the same as the Lak language of Dagestan?
No. Lak in Dagestan, Russia, is a Northeast Caucasian language written in Cyrillic. Laki in Iran is an Iranian language written in Arabic script. The names are similar by chance.
What alphabet is Laki written in?
The Persian alphabet, read right to left. Many writers add the Sorani Kurdish letters ڕ ڤ ڵ ۆ ە ێ and ھ to spell vowels and sounds that Persian letters do not show. There is no single official spelling.
Is there a Laki keyboard?
Not as a separate layout. Use a Persian keyboard for the 32 Persian letters and a Central Kurdish (Sorani) keyboard for ڕ ڤ ڵ ۆ ە ێ ھ, or copy those letters from this page.
How do I copy and paste Laki letters?
Tap or click any letter on this page to copy it, then paste with CtrlV, CmdV or long-press and Paste. Set the text direction to right to left if the letters come out in the wrong order.
