Meitei script
Brahmic abugida writing system, used to write the Meitei language in Manipur, India
The Meitei script (Meitei: ꯃꯩꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ, romanized: Meitei mayek), also known as the Kanglei script (Meitei: ꯀꯪꯂꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ, romanized: Kanglei mayek) or the Kok Sam Lai script (Meitei: ꯀꯣꯛ ꯁꯝ ꯂꯥꯏ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ, romanized: Kok Sam Lai mayek), after its first three letters, is an abugida in the Brahmic family used to write Meitei language, the official language of Manipur, Assam and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is first known from engravings on coins and copper plate inscriptions dated between 568 and 658 C.E, as verified by the various publications of the National Sahitya Akademi. It was used till the 18th century, until it was replaced by the Bengali script. In the 21st century, it was revived and reused. Beginning in 2021, the Government of Manipur began to officially use it, alongside the Bengali script, per the Manipur Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2021.
Since Meitei language does not have voiced consonants, there are only fifteen consonant letters used for native words, plus three letters for pure vowels. Nine additional consonants letters are available for writing loan words. There are seven vowel diacritics and a final consonant (/ŋ/) diacritic. The names of the twenty-seven letters are based on parts of the human body.
Origin
The origin of the Meitei script remains undetermined.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2981413. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2021.
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This entry incorporates text from “Meitei 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.