Uchen script
formal printed style of the Tibetan alphabet
Uchen (Tibetan: དབུ་ཅན་, Wylie: dbu-can; IPA: [utɕɛ̃] is the upright, block style of the Tibetan script. The name means "with a head", and is the style of the script used for printing and for formal manuscripts.
It is used to write both the Tibetan language and Dzongkha, the official language of Bhutan.
There are also a number of cursive forms of the Tibetan script, sometimes collectively referred to as umê (Tibetan: དབུ་མེད་, Wylie: dbu-med), "headless".
Origin
Uchen script is a written Tibetan script that uses alphabetic characters to physically record the spoken languages of Tibet and Bhutan. Uchen script emerged in between the seventh and early eighth century, alongside the formation and development of the Tibetan Empire. The script originally was created in Tibet but was also adopted in the neighbouring country of Bhutan located in East Asia. Historians believe the script was created by the seventh century scribe and academic Thonmi Sambhota. The creation of the script was undertaken by Thonmi Sambhota in the reign of Songtsen Gampo under the king's instructions. The subsequent implementation of Uchen script, under the reign of Songtsen Gampo has been credited to have aided in improving the Tibetan economy, trade and foreign relations of the period.
The public source identifies “Uchen script” as formal printed style of the Tibetan alphabet. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Uchen, script and formal.
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This entry incorporates text from “Uchen script” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.