Latin alphabet

Latin
Script type
Period
c.700 BC  present
Official scriptRoman Republic and Roman Empire
LanguagesLatin
Related scripts
Parent systems
Child systems
Numerous Latin alphabets; also more divergent derivations such as Osage
Sister systems
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Latn (215), Latin
Unicode
Unicode alias
Latin
See Latin script in Unicode

The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. J from I, and U from V—additions such as W, and extensions such as letters with diacritics, it forms the Latin script that is used to write most languages of modern Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania. Its basic modern inventory is standardized as the ISO basic Latin alphabet.