Armenian alphabet: every letter to copy
The Armenian alphabet was created in 405 AD by the scholar and monk Mesrop Mashtots, and it has been used ever since. Armenians in Armenia and the worldwide diaspora, around 7 million people, still write with it. The original alphabet had 36 letters, and two more, Օ and Ֆ, were added later. This page lists every Armenian letter in capital and small forms, from Ա ա (ayb) to Ֆ ֆ (fe), plus the ligature և and Armenian punctuation.
Tap any letter to copy it.
The Armenian letters
- Ա Բ Գ Դ Ե Զ Է Ը Թ: Ayb, ben, gim, da, yech, za, e, et, to.
- Ժ Ի Լ Խ Ծ Կ Հ Ձ Ղ: Zhe, ini, liun, kheh, tsa, ken, ho, dza, ghat.
- Ճ Մ Յ Ն Շ Ո Չ Պ Ջ: Cheh, men, hi, nu, sha, vo, cha, peh, jheh.
- Ռ Ս Վ Տ Ր Ց Ւ Փ Ք: Ra, seh, vev, tiun, reh, co, yiwn, piur, keh.
- Օ Ֆ and և: Oh and feh, added later, and the ligature yev.
Capital and small letters
Like English, Armenian has capital and small letters. Capitals are used at the start of sentences and names, and small letters for everything else. Unicode has both forms for every letter. On this page the capitals come first, followed by the small letters, so you can easily find the one you need.
Armenian punctuation
Armenian punctuation is unique. The full stop is ։, which looks like a colon. The question mark ՞ and the exclamation mark ՜ are written above the stressed vowel of a word, not at the end of the sentence. The comma is a normal comma, and the apostrophe ՚ and the emphasis mark ՛ are also used. Copy these marks to write Armenian sentences correctly.
Letters as numbers
In older Armenian texts, letters were also used as numbers. Ա was 1, Բ was 2 and so on, with later letters standing for tens, hundreds and thousands. You can still see this on clocks, church inscriptions and in dates in old books. The Armenian dram sign ֏ is used for prices today.
Eastern and Western Armenian
There are two main forms of modern Armenian. Eastern Armenian is spoken in Armenia, and Western Armenian is spoken mostly in the diaspora. Both use the same letters, though some letters are pronounced differently and spelling can differ. The letters on this page work for both.
Typing Armenian
Windows, Mac, Android and iPhone include Armenian keyboards, including phonetic layouts. For a single letter, punctuation mark or the dram sign, copying from this page is easiest.
Frequently asked questions
- How many letters are in the Armenian alphabet?
- Modern Armenian has 38 letters, plus the ligature և. The original alphabet had 36.
- Who created the Armenian alphabet?
- Mesrop Mashtots created it in 405 AD.
- What is the Armenian question mark?
- It is ՞, written above the stressed vowel of the word being asked about.
- What is the Armenian full stop?
- The Armenian full stop is ։, which looks like a colon.
- What is the symbol for the Armenian dram?
- The dram sign is ֏.
- How do I say hello in Armenian?
- Hello is Բարեւ (barev), or Բարեւ ձեզ (barev dzez) to be polite.