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Introduction

Kurdish (Kurdi, Kurmanji, and various dialects) is used in parts of Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Syria, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. It is generally written with a form of Arabic script in Iran, Iraq, and Syria. The Latin alphabet is used in Turkey while the Cyrillic alphabet is used in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Omniglot has a nice chart comparing Kurdish letters in those three writing systems.

This page covers only those fonts that support Kurdish using Arabic script. Several letters specific to Kurdish were added to the Persian script, which itself is an adaptation of Arabic script.

Arabic script is written from right-to-left but numbers are written from left-to-right. Numerals vary by language and Unicode has set aside two ranges for Arabic script numbers: "Arabic-Indic digits" (U+0660 - U+0669) for use with the Arabic language and "Eastern Arabic-Indic digits" (U+06F0 - U+06F9) for use with all other languages that employ Arabic script.

Since Arabic script is cursive, the appearance of a letter changes depending on its context/position: isolated, initial (joined on the left), medial (joined on both sides), and final (joined on the right). Arabic codepoints in the U+0600 - U+06FF range represent all of the letters without regard to their position. It is up to the font to show the letter with the proper appearance. For compatibility with existing standards, Unicode also defined codepoints with explicit positions for most letters (ARABIC PRESENTATION FORMS-A & -B), although use of these characters is discouraged. Likewise, explicit ligatures are also encoded in the PRESENTATION blocks.

Font Samples (page 1 of 2)

font sample * font information
Sample of Arabic Typesetting at 44pt Arabic Typesetting    [ show all samples ]  (arabtype.volt.ttf)
Note: Includes VOLT tables.
Source: Available from the Microsoft VOLT users community. Once you sign up, download the "Volt supplemental files" self-extracting archive (voltsupplementalfiles.exe) listed under "What's New". A later, more complete version comes with Microsoft Office Proofing Tools 2003.
Stats: Version 0.3 2001 has 1,901 glyphs and no kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Jawi, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, zz01)
Sample of Arial at 30pt Arial    [ show all samples ]  (arial.ttf, arialbd.ttf, arialbi.ttf and ariali.ttf)
Source: Supplied with the Windows XP SP2 (service pack 2) update. Older versions were supplied with various Microsoft products and the Smart package of Microsoft's core fonts project.
Stats: Version 3.00 has 1,674 glyphs and 909 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek), Cyrillic (Russian plus other Slavic and non-Slavic languages), Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Vietnamese.
Warning: Versions prior to 3.00 supported only the Arabic letters used for Arabic and Persian languages.
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, MAR)
Sample of A_Nefel_Adeti <em>fonts</em> at 36pt A_Nefel_Adeti fonts    [ show all samples ]
Fonts shown:
  1. A_Nefel_Adeti (A_Nefel_Adeti.ttf)
  2. A_Nefel_Adeti_Qelew (A_Nefel_Adeti_Qelew.ttf)

Source: Click on the "Dakişîne" link for the free download of a_nefel_font.exe, which will install the A_Nefel fonts. Note that the installer seems to ignore your choice of directories.
Stats: Version 1.01 has 641 glyphs and 264 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic only), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of A_Nefel_Botan at 28pt A_Nefel_Botan    [ show all samples ]  (A_Nefel_Botan.ttf)
Note: Uses Persian style digits for Arabic-Indic digits (U+0660 - U+0669).
Source: Click on the "Dakişîne" link for the free download of a_nefel_font.exe, which will install the A_Nefel fonts. Note that the installer seems to ignore your choice of directories.
Stats: Version 2.0, 2002 has 536 glyphs and 383 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of A_Nefel_Serek <em>fonts</em> at 30pt A_Nefel_Serek fonts    [ show all samples ]
Fonts shown:
  1. A_Nefel_Serek (A_Nefel_Serek.ttf)
  2. A_Nefel_Sereke_Qelew (A_Nefel_Serek_Qelew.ttf)

Source: Click on the "Dakişîne" link for the free download of a_nefel_font.exe, which will install the A_Nefel fonts. Note that the installer seems to ignore your choice of directories.
Stats: Version 1.01 has 487 glyphs and 615 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of BPG Glaho Arial V5 Big at 30pt BPG Glaho Arial V5 Big    [ show all samples ]  (BPG_Glaho_Arial_V5_big.ttf)
Note: There is also a BPG-specific font called "Arial Unicode MS" (BPG_Glaho_Arial_Unicode_MS_V5.ttf) with similar Unicode range support as BPG Glaho Arial V5 Big.
Source: Free download from either the shavlego file area or the bpgfonts file area.
Stats: Version 3.00 has 1,757 glyphs and 1,172 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek), Cyrillic (Russian plus other Slavic and non-Slavic languages), Georgian (Mkhedruli), Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Vietnamese
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (...), Latin
unusable font K Dylan fonts    [ show all samples ]
Warning: Unusable for Kurdish because of non-compliant Unicode mapped.
Source: Free download of the KurdiFonts.exe archive from KurdSoft.
Support: n/a
Sample of Kurdish AllAlphabets at 34pt Kurdish AllAlphabets    [ show all samples ]  (KurdArabLatinCyrillic.ttf from files.zip)
Note: Excludes Kurdish characters U+0692, U+0694, U+06B6, U+06B7, & U+06CA.
Note: Only supports Arabic-Indic digits (U+0660 - U+0669). Contains no European (U+0030 - U+0039) nor Eastern Arabic-Indic (U+06F0 - U+06F9) digits.
Source: Free download from Ernst Tremel. (Click "Kurdish" on the left to get to the download page.)
Stats: Version 2.000 2004 has 694 glyphs and 529 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Kurdish, Persian), Cyrillic (Russian and Kurdish letters), Latin (including characters for Kurdish)
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of Lateef at 36pt Lateef    [ show all samples ]  (LateefRegOT.ttf)
Source: Free download from SIL International's Arabic script Unicode font page.
Stats: Version 1.0rc1 build 117/117 has 1,147 glyphs and no kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Parkari, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek; Also includes letters in the "Arabic Supplement" block), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, Kurdish, Sindhi, Urdu), Latin
Sample of Microsoft Sans Serif at 30pt Microsoft Sans Serif    [ show all samples ]  (micross.ttf)
Source: Supplied with Windows XP SP2 (service pack 2). Older versions were supplied with Windows XP and Windows 2000.
Stats: Version 1.41 has 2,257 glyphs and no kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek), Cyrillic (all or most of range), Greek (including polytonic and Coptic characters), Hebrew, Latin (basic and beyond), Thai, Vietnamese
Warning: IPA, Greek polytonic, Greek Coptic, and many Cyrillic characters were only added with version 1.41.
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, MAR)
Sample of PakType Naqsh at 24pt PakType Naqsh    [ show all samples ]  (PakType Naqsh 2.2.ttf)
Style is handwritten.
Source: Free download from the Pakistani Typography (PakType) Project.
Stats: Version 2.2 has 1,849 glyphs and no kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Parkari, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek), IPA, Latin, Vietnamese
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of PakType Tehreer at 26pt PakType Tehreer    [ show all samples ]  (PakType-Tehreer1.3.ttf)
Source: Free download from the Pakistani Typography (PakType) Project.
Stats: Version 1.3 has 869 glyphs and 480 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Parkari, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek; Also includes letters in the "Arabic Supplement" block)
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, Sindhi, Urdu)
Sample of Riwaj at 24pt Riwaj    [ show all samples ]  (Riwaj.ttf)
Note: Contains no European digits (U+0030 - U+0039).
Source: Free download from the Hifazat e Quran site.
Stats: Version 1.1 has 581 glyphs and no kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek)
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of Scheherazade at 36pt Scheherazade    [ show all samples ]  (ScheherazadeRegOT.ttf)
Source: Free download from SIL International's Arabic script Unicode font page.
Stats: Version 1.0rc1 build 117/117 has 1,197 glyphs and no kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Parkari, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek; Also includes letters in the "Arabic Supplement" block), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, Kurdish, Sindhi, Urdu)
Sample of Tahoma at 24pt Tahoma    [ show all samples ]  (tahoma.ttf and tahomabd.ttf)
Source: Comes with Microsoft's Windows XP and Windows 2000.
Stats: Version 3.14 has 2,034 glyphs and 674 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek), Cyrillic (Russian plus other Slavic and non-Slavic languages), Greek (including polytonic), Hebrew, Latin, Thai, Vietnamese
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of Times New Roman at 32pt Times New Roman    [ show all samples ]  (times.ttf, timesbd.ttf, timesbi.ttf and timesi.ttf)
Source: Supplied with the Windows XP SP2 (service pack 2) update. Older versions were supplied with various Microsoft products and the Smart package of Microsoft's core fonts project.
Stats: Version 3.00 has 1,674 glyphs and 867 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek), Cyrillic (Russian plus other Slavic and non-Slavic languages), Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Vietnamese.
Warning: Versions prior to 3.00 supported only the Arabic letters used for Arabic and Persian languages.
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, MAR)
Sample of Unikurd Chimen at 28pt Unikurd Chimen    [ show all samples ]  (KChimen.ttf)
Note: Excludes Kurdish characters U+0692, U+0694, U+06B6, U+06B7, & U+06CA.
Note: Uses Persian style digits for Arabic-Indic digits (U+0660 - U+0669) and has incongruent or incomplete coverage of Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9)
Source: Free download from Kurditgroup. Click on the page numbers at the bottom of the screen if the font you want isn't on the first page.
Stats: Version 1.00 has 339 glyphs and 533 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Kurdish, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of Unikurd Digital at 28pt Unikurd Digital    [ show all samples ]  (KDigital.ttf)
Note: Excludes Kurdish characters U+0692, U+0694, U+06B6, U+06B7, & U+06CA.
Note: Uses Persian style digits for Arabic-Indic digits (U+0660 - U+0669) and has incongruent or incomplete coverage of Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9)
Source: Free download from Kurditgroup. Click on the page numbers at the bottom of the screen if the font you want isn't on the first page.
Stats: Version 1.00 has 339 glyphs and 533 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Kurdish, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of Unikurd Diyako at 28pt Unikurd Diyako    [ show all samples ]  (kDiyako.ttf)
Note: Excludes Kurdish characters U+0692, U+0694, U+06B6, U+06B7, & U+06CA.
Note: Uses Persian style digits for Arabic-Indic digits (U+0660 - U+0669) and has incongruent or incomplete coverage of Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9)
Source: Free download from Kurditgroup. Click on the page numbers at the bottom of the screen if the font you want isn't on the first page.
Stats: Version 1.00 has 339 glyphs and 533 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Kurdish, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of Unikurd Ezmer at 34pt Unikurd Ezmer    [ show all samples ]  (KEzmer.ttf)
Note: Excludes Kurdish characters U+0692, U+0694, U+06B6, U+06B7, & U+06CA.
Note: Uses Sindhi style digits for Arabic-Indic digits (U+0660 - U+0669) and has incongruent or incomplete coverage of Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9)
Source: Free download from Kurditgroup. Click on the page numbers at the bottom of the screen if the font you want isn't on the first page.
Stats: Version 1.00 has 339 glyphs and 533 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Kurdish, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
38p Unikurd Golnaw    [ show all samples ]  (KGolnaw.ttf)
Note: Excludes Kurdish characters U+0692, U+0694, U+06B6, U+06B7, & U+06CA.
Note: Uses Persian style digits for Arabic-Indic digits (U+0660 - U+0669) and has incongruent or incomplete coverage of Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9)
Source: Free download from Kurditgroup. Click on the page numbers at the bottom of the screen if the font you want isn't on the first page.
Stats: Version 1.00 has 339 glyphs and 533 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Kurdish, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of Unikurd Goran at 28pt Unikurd Goran    [ show all samples ]  (KGoran.ttf)
Note: Excludes Kurdish characters U+0692, U+0694, U+06B6, U+06B7, & U+06CA.
Note: Incongruent or incomplete coverage of Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9).
Source: Free download from Kurditgroup. Click on the page numbers at the bottom of the screen if the font you want isn't on the first page.
Stats: Version 1.00 has 339 glyphs and 533 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Kurdish, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of Unikurd Hana at 32pt Unikurd Hana    [ show all samples ]  (KHana.ttf)
Note: Excludes Kurdish characters U+0692, U+0694, U+06B6, U+06B7, & U+06CA.
Note: Uses Persian style digits for Arabic-Indic digits (U+0660 - U+0669) and has incongruent or incomplete coverage of Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9)
Source: Free download from Kurditgroup. Click on the page numbers at the bottom of the screen if the font you want isn't on the first page.
Stats: Version 1.00 has 339 glyphs and 533 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Kurdish, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of Unikurd Hejar at 30pt Unikurd Hejar    [ show all samples ]  (kHejar.ttf)
Note: Excludes Kurdish characters U+0692, U+0694, U+06B6, U+06B7, & U+06CA.
Note: Incongruent or incomplete coverage of Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9).
Source: Free download from Kurditgroup. Click on the page numbers at the bottom of the screen if the font you want isn't on the first page.
Stats: Version 1.00 has 339 glyphs and 533 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Kurdish, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of Unikurd Hemen at 24pt Unikurd Hemen    [ show all samples ]  (KHemen.ttf)
Note: Excludes Kurdish characters U+0692, U+0694, U+06B6, U+06B7, & U+06CA.
Note: Incongruent or incomplete coverage of Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9).
Source: Free download from Kurditgroup. Click on the page numbers at the bottom of the screen if the font you want isn't on the first page.
Stats: Version 1.00 has 339 glyphs and 533 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Kurdish, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of Unikurd Hiwa at 28pt Unikurd Hiwa    [ show all samples ]  (kHiwa.ttf)
Note: Excludes Kurdish characters U+0692, U+0694, U+06B6, U+06B7, & U+06CA.
Note: Incongruent or incomplete coverage of Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9).
Source: Free download from Kurditgroup. Click on the page numbers at the bottom of the screen if the font you want isn't on the first page.
Stats: Version 1.00 has 339 glyphs and 533 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Kurdish, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of Unikurd Jino at 30pt Unikurd Jino    [ show all samples ]  (kJino.ttf)
Note: Excludes Kurdish characters U+0692, U+0694, U+06B6, U+06B7, & U+06CA.
Note: Incongruent or incomplete coverage of Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9).
Source: Free download from Kurditgroup. Click on the page numbers at the bottom of the screen if the font you want isn't on the first page.
Stats: Version 1.00 has 339 glyphs and 533 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Kurdish, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of Unikurd Kale at 30pt Unikurd Kale    [ show all samples ]  (kKale.ttf)
Note: Excludes Kurdish characters U+0692, U+0694, U+06B6, U+06B7, & U+06CA.
Note: Incongruent or incomplete coverage of Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9).
Source: Free download from Kurditgroup. Click on the page numbers at the bottom of the screen if the font you want isn't on the first page.
Stats: Version 1.00 has 339 glyphs and 533 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Kurdish, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of Unikurd Kamran at 36pt Unikurd Kamran    [ show all samples ]  (KKamran.ttf)
Note: Excludes Kurdish characters U+0692, U+0694, U+06B6, U+06B7, & U+06CA.
Note: Incongruent or incomplete coverage of Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9).
Source: Free download from Kurditgroup. Click on the page numbers at the bottom of the screen if the font you want isn't on the first page.
Stats: Version 1.00 has 339 glyphs and 533 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Kurdish, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
Sample of Unikurd Kawe at 28pt Unikurd Kawe    [ show all samples ]  (KKawe.ttf)
Note: Excludes Kurdish characters U+0692, U+0694, U+06B6, U+06B7, & U+06CA.
Note: Incongruent or incomplete coverage of Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9).
Source: Free download from Kurditgroup. Click on the page numbers at the bottom of the screen if the font you want isn't on the first page.
Stats: Version 1.00 has 339 glyphs and 533 kerning pairs
Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Kurdish, Persian), Latin
OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic
 

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This page was last updated on 2006-04-25