List of ISO 639 language codes

ISO 639 is a standardized nomenclature used to classify languages.^[1] Each language is assigned a two-letter (set 1) and three-letter lowercase abbreviation (sets 2–5).^[2]

Table[edit]

This table lists all of two-letter codes (set 1), one per language for ISO 639 macrolanguage, and some of the three-letter codes of the other sets, formerly parts 2 and 3.

ISO language name	Set 1	Set 2/T	Set 2/B	Set 3	Notes
Abkhazian	`ab`	`abk`	`abk`	`abk`	also known as Abkhaz
Afar	`aa`	`aar`	`aar`	`aar`
Afrikaans	`af`	`afr`	`afr`	`afr`
Akan	`ak`	`aka`	`aka`	`aka` + 2	macrolanguage, Twi is `tw`/`twi`, Fanti is `fat`
Albanian	`sq`	`sqi`	`alb`	`sqi` + 4	macrolanguage, called "Albanian Phylozone" in 639-6
Amharic	`am`	`amh`	`amh`	`amh`
Arabic	`ar`	`ara`	`ara`	`ara` + 28	macrolanguage, Standard Arabic is `arb`
Aragonese	`an`	`arg`	`arg`	`arg`
Armenian	`hy`	`hye`	`arm`	`hye`	ISO 639-3 code `hye` is for Eastern Armenian, `hyw` is for Western Armenian, and `xcl` is for Classical Armenian
Assamese	`as`	`asm`	`asm`	`asm`
Avaric	`av`	`ava`	`ava`	`ava`	also known as Avar
Avestan	`ae`	`ave`	`ave`	`ave`	ancient
Aymara	`ay`	`aym`	`aym`	`aym` + 2	macrolanguage
Azerbaijani	`az`	`aze`	`aze`	`aze` + 2	macrolanguage, also known as Azeri
Bambara	`bm`	`bam`	`bam`	`bam`
Bashkir	`ba`	`bak`	`bak`	`bak`
Basque	`eu`	`eus`	`baq`	`eus`
Belarusian	`be`	`bel`	`bel`	`bel`
Bengali	`bn`	`ben`	`ben`	`ben`	also known as Bangla
Bislama	`bi`	`bis`	`bis`	`bis`	Language formed from English and Vanuatuan languages, with some French influence.
Bosnian	`bs`	`bos`	`bos`	`bos`
Breton	`br`	`bre`	`bre`	`bre`
Bulgarian	`bg`	`bul`	`bul`	`bul`
Burmese	`my`	`mya`	`bur`	`mya`	also known as Myanmar
Catalan, Valencian	`ca`	`cat`	`cat`	`cat`
Chamorro	`ch`	`cha`	`cha`	`cha`
Chechen	`ce`	`che`	`che`	`che`
Chichewa, Chewa, Nyanja	`ny`	`nya`	`nya`	`nya`
Chinese	`zh`	`zho`	`chi`	`zho` + 16	macrolanguage
Church Slavonic, Old Slavonic, Old Church Slavonic	`cu`	`chu`	`chu`	`chu`	ancient, in use by the Eastern Orthodox Church
Chuvash	`cv`	`chv`	`chv`	`chv`
Cornish	`kw`	`cor`	`cor`	`cor`
Corsican	`co`	`cos`	`cos`	`cos`
Cree	`cr`	`cre`	`cre`	`cre` + 6	macrolanguage
Croatian	`hr`	`hrv`	`hrv`	`hrv`
Czech	`cs`	`ces`	`cze`	`ces`
Danish	`da`	`dan`	`dan`	`dan`
Divehi, Dhivehi, Maldivian	`dv`	`div`	`div`	`div`
Dutch, Flemish	`nl`	`nld`	`dut`	`nld`	Flemish is not to be confused with the closely related West Flemish which is referred to as Vlaams (Dutch for "Flemish") in ISO 639-3 and has the ISO 639-3 code `vls`
Dzongkha	`dz`	`dzo`	`dzo`	`dzo`
English	`en`	`eng`	`eng`	`eng`
Esperanto	`eo`	`epo`	`epo`	`epo`	constructed, initially by L.L. Zamenhof in 1887
Estonian	`et`	`est`	`est`	`est` + 2	macrolanguage
Ewe	`ee`	`ewe`	`ewe`	`ewe`
Faroese	`fo`	`fao`	`fao`	`fao`
Fijian	`fj`	`fij`	`fij`	`fij`
Finnish	`fi`	`fin`	`fin`	`fin`
French	`fr`	`fra`	`fre`	`fra`
Western Frisian	`fy`	`fry`	`fry`	`fry`	also known as Frisian or Fries
Fulah	`ff`	`ful`	`ful`	`ful` + 9	macrolanguage, also known as Fula
Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic	`gd`	`gla`	`gla`	`gla`
Galician	`gl`	`glg`	`glg`	`glg`
Ganda	`lg`	`lug`	`lug`	`lug`
Georgian	`ka`	`kat`	`geo`	`kat`
German	`de`	`deu`	`ger`	`deu`
Greek, Modern (1453–)	`el`	`ell`	`gre`	`ell`	for Ancient Greek, use the ISO 639-3 code `grc`
Kalaallisut, Greenlandic	`kl`	`kal`	`kal`	`kal`
Guarani	`gn`	`grn`	`grn`	`grn` + 5	macrolanguage
Gujarati	`gu`	`guj`	`guj`	`guj`
Haitian, Haitian Creole	`ht`	`hat`	`hat`	`hat`
Hausa	`ha`	`hau`	`hau`	`hau`
Hebrew	`he`	`heb`	`heb`	`heb`	Modern Hebrew. Code changed in 1989 from original ISO 639:1988, `iw`.^[3]
Herero	`hz`	`her`	`her`	`her`
Hindi	`hi`	`hin`	`hin`	`hin`
Hiri Motu	`ho`	`hmo`	`hmo`	`hmo`
Hungarian	`hu`	`hun`	`hun`	`hun`
Icelandic	`is`	`isl`	`ice`	`isl`
Ido	`io`	`ido`	`ido`	`ido`	constructed by De Beaufront, 1907, as variation of Esperanto
Igbo	`ig`	`ibo`	`ibo`	`ibo`
Indonesian	`id`	`ind`	`ind`	`ind`	covered by macrolanguage `ms`/`msa`. Changed in 1989 from original ISO 639:1988, `in`.^[3]
Interlingua (International Auxiliary Language Association)	`ia`	`ina`	`ina`	`ina`	constructed by the International Auxiliary Language Association
Interlingue, Occidental	`ie`	`ile`	`ile`	`ile`	constructed by Edgar de Wahl, first published in 1922
Inuktitut	`iu`	`iku`	`iku`	`iku` + 2	macrolanguage
Inupiaq	`ik`	`ipk`	`ipk`	`ipk` + 2	macrolanguage
Irish	`ga`	`gle`	`gle`	`gle`
Italian	`it`	`ita`	`ita`	`ita`
Japanese	`ja`	`jpn`	`jpn`	`jpn`
Javanese	`jv`	`jav`	`jav`	`jav`
Kannada	`kn`	`kan`	`kan`	`kan`
Kanuri	`kr`	`kau`	`kau`	`kau` + 3	macrolanguage
Kashmiri	`ks`	`kas`	`kas`	`kas`
Kazakh	`kk`	`kaz`	`kaz`	`kaz`
Central Khmer	`km`	`khm`	`khm`	`khm`	also known as Khmer or Cambodian
Kikuyu, Gikuyu	`ki`	`kik`	`kik`	`kik`
Kinyarwanda	`rw`	`kin`	`kin`	`kin`
Kirghiz, Kyrgyz	`ky`	`kir`	`kir`	`kir`
Komi	`kv`	`kom`	`kom`	`kom` + 2	macrolanguage
Kongo	`kg`	`kon`	`kon`	`kon` + 3	macrolanguage
Korean	`ko`	`kor`	`kor`	`kor`
Kuanyama, Kwanyama	`kj`	`kua`	`kua`	`kua`
Kurdish	`ku`	`kur`	`kur`	`kur` + 3	macrolanguage
Lao	`lo`	`lao`	`lao`	`lao`
Latin	`la`	`lat`	`lat`	`lat`	ancient
Latvian	`lv`	`lav`	`lav`	`lav` + 2	macrolanguage
Limburgan, Limburger, Limburgish	`li`	`lim`	`lim`	`lim`
Lingala	`ln`	`lin`	`lin`	`lin`
Lithuanian	`lt`	`lit`	`lit`	`lit`
Luba-Katanga	`lu`	`lub`	`lub`	`lub`	also known as Luba-Shaba
Luxembourgish, Letzeburgesch	`lb`	`ltz`	`ltz`	`ltz`	also known as Luxembourgian and Lëtzebuergesch
Macedonian	`mk`	`mkd`	`mac`	`mkd`
Malagasy	`mg`	`mlg`	`mlg`	`mlg` + 11	macrolanguage
Malay	`ms`	`msa`	`may`	`msa` + 36	macrolanguage, Standard Malay is `zsm`, Indonesian is `id`/`ind`
Malayalam	`ml`	`mal`	`mal`	`mal`
Maltese	`mt`	`mlt`	`mlt`	`mlt`
Manx	`gv`	`glv`	`glv`	`glv`
Maori	`mi`	`mri`	`mao`	`mri`	also known as Māori
Marathi	`mr`	`mar`	`mar`	`mar`	also known as Marāṭhī
Marshallese	`mh`	`mah`	`mah`	`mah`
Mongolian	`mn`	`mon`	`mon`	`mon` + 2	macrolanguage
Nauru	`na`	`nau`	`nau`	`nau`	also known as Nauruan
Navajo, Navaho	`nv`	`nav`	`nav`	`nav`
North Ndebele	`nd`	`nde`	`nde`	`nde`	also known as Northern Ndebele
South Ndebele	`nr`	`nbl`	`nbl`	`nbl`	also known as Southern Ndebele
Ndonga	`ng`	`ndo`	`ndo`	`ndo`
Nepali	`ne`	`nep`	`nep`	`nep` + 2	macrolanguage
Norwegian	`no`	`nor`	`nor`	`nor` + 2	macrolanguage, Bokmål is `nb`/`nob`, Nynorsk is `nn`/`nno`
Norwegian Bokmål	`nb`	`nob`	`nob`	`nob`	covered by macrolanguage `no`/`nor`
Norwegian Nynorsk	`nn`	`nno`	`nno`	`nno`	covered by macrolanguage `no`/`nor`
Sichuan Yi, Nuosu	`ii`	`iii`	`iii`	`iii`	standard form of the Yi languages
Occitan	`oc`	`oci`	`oci`	`oci`
Ojibwa	`oj`	`oji`	`oji`	`oji` + 7	macrolanguage, also known as Ojibwe
Oriya	`or`	`ori`	`ori`	`ori` + 2	macrolanguage, also known as Odia
Oromo	`om`	`orm`	`orm`	`orm` + 4	macrolanguage
Ossetian, Ossetic	`os`	`oss`	`oss`	`oss`
Pali	`pi`	`pli`	`pli`	`pli`	ancient, also known as Pāli
Pashto, Pushto	`ps`	`pus`	`pus`	`pus` + 3	macrolanguage
Persian	`fa`	`fas`	`per`	`fas` + 2	macrolanguage, also known as Farsi
Polish	`pl`	`pol`	`pol`	`pol`
Portuguese	`pt`	`por`	`por`	`por`
Punjabi, Panjabi	`pa`	`pan`	`pan`	`pan`
Quechua	`qu`	`que`	`que`	`que` + 43	macrolanguage
Romanian, Moldavian, Moldovan	`ro`	`ron`	`rum`	`ron`	the identifiers `mo` and `mol` for Moldavian are deprecated. They will not be assigned to different items, and recordings using these identifiers will not be invalid.
Romansh	`rm`	`roh`	`roh`	`roh`
Rundi	`rn`	`run`	`run`	`run`	also known as Kirundi
Russian	`ru`	`rus`	`rus`	`rus`
Northern Sami	`se`	`sme`	`sme`	`sme`
Samoan	`sm`	`smo`	`smo`	`smo`
Sango	`sg`	`sag`	`sag`	`sag`
Sanskrit	`sa`	`san`	`san`	`san` + 2	macrolanguage
Sardinian	`sc`	`srd`	`srd`	`srd` + 4	macrolanguage
Serbian	`sr`	`srp`	`srp`	`srp`	the ISO 639-2/T code `srp` deprecated the ISO 639-2/B code `scc`^[4]
Shona	`sn`	`sna`	`sna`	`sna`
Sindhi	`sd`	`snd`	`snd`	`snd`
Sinhala, Sinhalese	`si`	`sin`	`sin`	`sin`
Slovak	`sk`	`slk`	`slo`	`slk`
Slovenian	`sl`	`slv`	`slv`	`slv`	also known as Slovene
Somali	`so`	`som`	`som`	`som`
Southern Sotho	`st`	`sot`	`sot`	`sot`
Spanish, Castilian	`es`	`spa`	`spa`	`spa`
Sundanese	`su`	`sun`	`sun`	`sun`
Swahili	`sw`	`swa`	`swa`	`swa` + 2	macrolanguage
Swati	`ss`	`ssw`	`ssw`	`ssw`	also known as Swazi
Swedish	`sv`	`swe`	`swe`	`swe`
Tagalog	`tl`	`tgl`	`tgl`	`tgl`	note: Filipino (Pilipino) has the code `fil`
Tahitian	`ty`	`tah`	`tah`	`tah`	one of the Reo Mā`ohi (languages of French Polynesia)^[5]
Tajik	`tg`	`tgk`	`tgk`	`tgk`
Tamil	`ta`	`tam`	`tam`	`tam`	also known as Tamizh
Tatar	`tt`	`tat`	`tat`	`tat`
Telugu	`te`	`tel`	`tel`	`tel`
Thai	`th`	`tha`	`tha`	`tha`
Tibetan	`bo`	`bod`	`tib`	`bod`	also known as Standard Tibetan
Tigrinya	`ti`	`tir`	`tir`	`tir`
Tonga (Tonga Islands)	`to`	`ton`	`ton`	`ton`	also known as Tongan
Tsonga	`ts`	`tso`	`tso`	`tso`
Tswana	`tn`	`tsn`	`tsn`	`tsn`
Turkish	`tr`	`tur`	`tur`	`tur`
Turkmen	`tk`	`tuk`	`tuk`	`tuk`
Twi	`tw`	`twi`	`twi`	`twi`	covered by macrolanguage `ak`/`aka`
Uighur, Uyghur	`ug`	`uig`	`uig`	`uig`
Ukrainian	`uk`	`ukr`	`ukr`	`ukr`
Urdu	`ur`	`urd`	`urd`	`urd`
Uzbek	`uz`	`uzb`	`uzb`	`uzb` + 2	macrolanguage
Venda	`ve`	`ven`	`ven`	`ven`
Vietnamese	`vi`	`vie`	`vie`	`vie`
Volapük	`vo`	`vol`	`vol`	`vol`	constructed
Walloon	`wa`	`wln`	`wln`	`wln`
Welsh	`cy`	`cym`	`wel`	`cym`
Wolof	`wo`	`wol`	`wol`	`wol`
Xhosa	`xh`	`xho`	`xho`	`xho`
Yiddish	`yi`	`yid`	`yid`	`yid` + 2	macrolanguage. Changed in 1989 from original ISO 639:1988, `ji`.^[3]
Yoruba	`yo`	`yor`	`yor`	`yor`
Zhuang, Chuang	`za`	`zha`	`zha`	`zha` + 16	macrolanguage
Zulu	`zu`	`zul`	`zul`	`zul`

Table of all possible two letter codes[edit]

Decoding table of ISO 639 alpha-2 codes (set 1)
Colour legend
aa	ab	ac	ad	ae	af	ag	ah	ai	aj	ak	al	am	an	ao	ap	aq	ar	as	at	au	av	aw	ax	ay	az
ba	bb	bc	bd	be	bf	bg	bh	bi	bj	bk	bl	bm	bn	bo	bp	bq	br	bs	bt	bu	bv	bw	bx	by	bz
ca	cb	cc	cd	ce	cf	cg	ch	ci	cj	ck	cl	cm	cn	co	cp	cq	cr	cs	ct	cu	cv	cw	cx	cy	cz
da	db	dc	dd	de	df	dg	dh	di	dj	dk	dl	dm	dn	do	dp	dq	dr	ds	dt	du	dv	dw	dx	dy	dz
ea	eb	ec	ed	ee	ef	eg	eh	ei	ej	ek	el	em	en	eo	ep	eq	er	es	et	eu	ev	ew	ex	ey	ez
fa	fb	fc	fd	fe	ff	fg	fh	fi	fj	fk	fl	fm	fn	fo	fp	fq	fr	fs	ft	fu	fv	fw	fx	fy	fz
ga	gb	gc	gd	ge	gf	gg	gh	gi	gj	gk	gl	gm	gn	go	gp	gq	gr	gs	gt	gu	gv	gw	gx	gy	gz
ha	hb	hc	hd	he	hf	hg	hh	hi	hj	hk	hl	hm	hn	ho	hp	hq	hr	hs	ht	hu	hv	hw	hx	hy	hz
ia	ib	ic	id	ie	if	ig	ih	ii	ij	ik	il	im	in	io	ip	iq	ir	is	it	iu	iv	iw	ix	iy	iz
ja	jb	jc	jd	je	jf	jg	jh	ji	jj	jk	jl	jm	jn	jo	jp	jq	jr	js	jt	ju	jv	jw	jx	jy	jz
ka	kb	kc	kd	ke	kf	kg	kh	ki	kj	kk	kl	km	kn	ko	kp	kq	kr	ks	kt	ku	kv	kw	kx	ky	kz
la	lb	lc	ld	le	lf	lg	lh	li	lj	lk	ll	lm	ln	lo	lp	lq	lr	ls	lt	lu	lv	lw	lx	ly	lz
ma	mb	mc	md	me	mf	mg	mh	mi	mj	mk	ml	mm	mn	mo	mp	mq	mr	ms	mt	mu	mv	mw	mx	my	mz
na	nb	nc	nd	ne	nf	ng	nh	ni	nj	nk	nl	nm	nn	no	np	nq	nr	ns	nt	nu	nv	nw	nx	ny	nz
oa	ob	oc	od	oe	of	og	oh	oi	oj	ok	ol	om	on	oo	op	oq	or	os	ot	ou	ov	ow	ox	oy	oz
pa	pb	pc	pd	pe	pf	pg	ph	pi	pj	pk	pl	pm	pn	po	pp	pq	pr	ps	pt	pu	pv	pw	px	py	pz
qa	qb	qc	qd	qe	qf	qg	qh	qi	qj	qk	ql	qm	qn	qo	qp	qq	qr	qs	qt	qu	qv	qw	qx	qy	qz
ra	rb	rc	rd	re	rf	rg	rh	ri	rj	rk	rl	rm	rn	ro	rp	rq	rr	rs	rt	ru	rv	rw	rx	ry	rz
sa	sb	sc	sd	se	sf	sg	sh	si	sj	sk	sl	sm	sn	so	sp	sq	sr	ss	st	su	sv	sw	sx	sy	sz
ta	tb	tc	td	te	tf	tg	th	ti	tj	tk	tl	tm	tn	to	tp	tq	tr	ts	tt	tu	tv	tw	tx	ty	tz
ua	ub	uc	ud	ue	uf	ug	uh	ui	uj	uk	ul	um	un	uo	up	uq	ur	us	ut	uu	uv	uw	ux	uy	uz
va	vb	vc	vd	ve	vf	vg	vh	vi	vj	vk	vl	vm	vn	vo	vp	vq	vr	vs	vt	vu	vv	vw	vx	vy	vz
wa	wb	wc	wd	we	wf	wg	wh	wi	wj	wk	wl	wm	wn	wo	wp	wq	wr	ws	wt	wu	wv	ww	wx	wy	wz
xa	xb	xc	xd	xe	xf	xg	xh	xi	xj	xk	xl	xm	xn	xo	xp	xq	xr	xs	xt	xu	xv	xw	xx	xy	xz
ya	yb	yc	yd	ye	yf	yg	yh	yi	yj	yk	yl	ym	yn	yo	yp	yq	yr	ys	yt	yu	yv	yw	yx	yy	yz
za	zb	zc	zd	ze	zf	zg	zh	zi	zj	zk	zl	zm	zn	zo	zp	zq	zr	zs	zt	zu	zv	zw	zx	zy	zz
183/676		Officially assigned: assigned to a language
7/676		Deprecated: used previously but no longer assigned
486/676		Unassigned

References[edit]

^ "ISO 639:2023 Code for individual languages and language groups". International Organization for Standardization. 2023-11-01. Retrieved 2023-12-17. This document specifies the ISO 639 language code and establishes the harmonized terminology and general principles of language coding.
^ "Access to the databases of the ISO 639 Language Code" (PDF). International Organization for Standardization. 2023-04-14. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
^ ^a ^b ^c Cover, Robin. "Code for the Representation of the Names of Languages. From ISO 639, revised 1989". xml.coverpages.org. Archived from the original on 2018-04-04. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
^ "Code Changes". ISO 639-2. Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
^ Charpentier, Jean-Michel; François, Alexandre (2015). Atlas Linguistique de Polynésie Française — Linguistic Atlas of French Polynesia (in French and English). Mouton de Gruyter & Université de la Polynésie Française. p. 106. ISBN 978-3-11-026035-9. Archived from the original on 2019-10-29. Retrieved 2021-01-22.

External links[edit]

Official ISO 639 list at the Library of Congress
meta:Template:List of language names ordered by code on Wikimedia

[1] "ISO 639:2023 Code for individual languages and language groups". International Organization for Standardization. 2023-11-01. Retrieved 2023-12-17. This document specifies the ISO 639 language code and establishes the harmonized terminology and general principles of language coding.

[2] "Access to the databases of the ISO 639 Language Code" (PDF). International Organization for Standardization. 2023-04-14. Retrieved 2023-12-17.

[coverpage-3] Cover, Robin. "Code for the Representation of the Names of Languages. From ISO 639, revised 1989". xml.coverpages.org. Archived from the original on 2018-04-04. Retrieved 2018-03-21.

[LOC_Changes-4] "Code Changes". ISO 639-2. Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2012.

[5] Charpentier, Jean-Michel; François, Alexandre (2015). Atlas Linguistique de Polynésie Française — Linguistic Atlas of French Polynesia (in French and English). Mouton de Gruyter & Université de la Polynésie Française. p. 106. ISBN 978-3-11-026035-9. Archived from the original on 2019-10-29. Retrieved 2021-01-22.

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