Language Codes Table

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Code	Language	ISO 639-2	ISO 639-3	Native name	Scope
ab	Abkhazian	abk	abk	Аҧсуа	Individual
aa	Afar	aar	aar	Qafar af	Individual
af	Afrikaans	afr	afr	Afrikaans	Individual
ak	Akan	aka	aka	Ákán	Macrolanguage
sq	Albanian	sqi / alb	sqi	Shqip	Macrolanguage
am	Amharic	amh	amh	አማርኛ (Amarəñña)	Individual
ar	Arabic	ara	ara	اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ (al-ʿarabiyyah)	Macrolanguage
an	Aragonese	arg	arg	Aragonés	Individual
hy	Armenian	hye / arm	hye	Հայերեն (Hayeren)	Individual
as	Assamese	asm	asm	অসমীয়া (Ôxômiya)	Individual
av	Avaric	ava	ava	Авар	Individual
ae	Avestan	ave	ave	''Upastawakaēna''	Individual
ay	Aymara	aym	aym	Aymara	Macrolanguage
az	Azerbaijani	aze	aze	Azərbaycan	Macrolanguage
bm	Bambara	bam	bam	بَمَنَنكَن	Individual
ba	Bashkir	bak	bak	Башҡорт теле	Individual
eu	Basque	eus / baq	eus	Euskara/Euskera	Individual
be	Belarusian	bel	bel	Беларуская мова (Biełaruskaja mova)	Individual
bn	Bengali	ben	ben	বাংলা (Bāŋlā)	Individual
bi	Bislama	bis	bis	Bislama	Individual
bs	Bosnian	bos	bos	Босански (Bosanski)	Individual
br	Breton	bre	bre	Brezhoneg	Individual
bg	Bulgarian	bul	bul	Български (Bulgarski)	Individual
my	Burmese	mya / bur	mya	မြန်မာစာ (Mrãmācā)	Individual
ca	Catalan	cat	cat	Català	Individual
ch	Chamorro	cha	cha	Finu' Chamoru	Individual
ce	Chechen	che	che	Нохчийн мотт	Individual
ny	Chichewa	nya	nya	Chichewa	Individual
zh	Chinese	zho / chi	zho	中文	Macrolanguage
cu	Church Slavonic	chu	chu	Славе́нскїй ѧ҆зы́къ	Individual
cv	Chuvash	chv	chv	Чӑвашла (Çăvaşla)	Individual
kw	Cornish	cor	cor	Kernowek	Individual
co	Corsican	cos	cos	Corsu	Individual
cr	Cree	cre	cre	ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐁᐧᐃᐧᐣ (Nehiyawewin)	Macrolanguage
hr	Croatian	hrv	hrv	Hrvatski	Individual
cs	Czech	ces / cze	ces	Čeština	Individual
da	Danish	dan	dan	Dansk	Individual
dv	Divehi	div	div	ދިވެހި (Dhivehi)	Individual
nl	Dutch	nld / dut	nld	Nederlands	Individual
dz	Dzongkha	dzo	dzo	རྫོང་ཁ་ (Dzongkha)	Individual
en	English	eng	eng	English	Individual
eo	Esperanto	epo	epo	Esperanto	Individual
et	Estonian	est	est	Eesti keel	Macrolanguage
ee	Ewe	ewe	ewe	Èʋegbe	Individual
fo	Faroese	fao	fao	Føroyskt	Individual
fj	Fijian	fij	fij	Na Vosa Vakaviti	Individual
fi	Finnish	fin	fin	Suomi	Individual
fr	French	fra / fre	fra	Français	Individual
fy	Western Frisian	fry	fry	Frysk	Individual
ff	Fulah	ful	ful	𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤬𞤵𞤤𞤣𞤫	Macrolanguage
gd	Gaelic	gla	gla	Gàidhlig	Individual
gl	Galician	glg	glg	Galego	Individual
lg	Ganda	lug	lug	Luganda	Individual
ka	Georgian	kat / geo	kat	ქართული (k'art'uli)	Individual
de	German	deu / ger	deu	Deutsch	Individual
el	Greek	ell / gre	ell	Νέα	Individual
kl	Kalaallisut	kal	kal	Kalaallisut	Individual
gn	Guarani	grn	grn	Avañe'ẽ	Macrolanguage
gu	Gujarati	guj	guj	ગુજરાતી (Gujarātī)	Individual
ht	Haitian	hat	hat	Kreyòl ayisyen	Individual
ha	Hausa	hau	hau	هَرْشٜن هَوْس (halshen	Individual
he	Hebrew	heb	heb	עברית‎ (Ivrit)	Individual
hz	Herero	her	her	Otjiherero	Individual
hi	Hindi	hin	hin	हिन्दी (Hindī)	Individual
ho	Hiri Motu	hmo	hmo	Hiri Motu	Individual
hu	Hungarian	hun	hun	Magyar nyelv	Individual
is	Icelandic	isl / ice	isl	Íslenska	Individual
io	Ido	ido	ido	Ido	Individual
ig	Igbo	ibo	ibo	ásụ̀sụ́ Ìgbò	Individual
id	Indonesian	ind	ind	Bahasa Indonesia	Individual
ia	Interlingua	ina	ina	Interlingua	Individual
ie	Interlingue	ile	ile	Interlingue	Individual
iu	Inuktitut	iku	iku	ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ (Inuktitut)	Macrolanguage
ik	Inupiaq	ipk	ipk	Iñupiaq	Macrolanguage
ga	Irish	gle	gle	Gaeilge	Individual
it	Italian	ita	ita	Italiano	Individual
ja	Japanese	jpn	jpn	日本語 (Nihongo)	Individual
jv	Javanese	jav	jav	ꦧꦱꦗꦮ	Individual
kn	Kannada	kan	kan	ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannađa)	Individual
kr	Kanuri	kau	kau	كَنُرِيِه	Macrolanguage
ks	Kashmiri	kas	kas	कॉशुर	Individual
kk	Kazakh	kaz	kaz	Қазақша	Individual
km	Central Khmer	khm	khm	ខេមរភាសា	Individual
ki	Kikuyu	kik	kik	Gĩgĩkũyũ	Individual
rw	Kinyarwanda	kin	kin	Ikinyarwanda	Individual
ky	Kyrgyz	kir	kir	Кыргыз	Individual
kv	Komi	kom	kom	Коми кыв	Macrolanguage
kg	Kongo	kon	kon	Kikongo	Macrolanguage
ko	Korean	kor	kor	한국어 (Hangugeo), 조선말 (Chosŏnmal)	Individual
kj	Kuanyama	kua	kua	Oshikwanyama	Individual
ku	Kurdish	kur	kur	کوردی	Macrolanguage
lo	Lao	lao	lao	ພາສາລາວ (phasa Lao)	Individual
la	Latin	lat	lat	Latinum	Individual
lv	Latvian	lav	lav	Latviešu	Macrolanguage
li	Limburgan	lim	lim	Limburgisch	Individual
ln	Lingala	lin	lin	Lingála	Individual
lt	Lithuanian	lit	lit	Lietuvių	Individual
lu	Luba-Katanga	lub	lub	Kiluba	Individual
lb	Luxembourgish	ltz	ltz	Lëtzebuergesch	Individual
mk	Macedonian	mkd / mac	mkd	Македонски (Makedonski)	Individual
mg	Malagasy	mlg	mlg	–	Macrolanguage
ms	Malay	msa / may	msa	بهاس	Macrolanguage
ml	Malayalam	mal	mal	മലയാളം (Malayāḷam)	Individual
mt	Maltese	mlt	mlt	Malti	Individual
gv	Manx	glv	glv	Gaelg	Individual
mi	Maori	mri / mao	mri	reo Māori	Individual
mr	Marathi	mar	mar	मराठी (Marāṭhī)	Individual
mh	Marshallese	mah	mah	kajin M̧ajel‌̧	Individual
mn	Mongolian	mon	mon	{{MongolUnicode/ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠬᠡᠯᠡ}}	Macrolanguage
na	Nauru	nau	nau	dorerin Naoe	Individual
nv	Navajo	nav	nav	Diné	Individual
nd	North Ndebele	nde	nde	isiNdebele	Individual
nr	South Ndebele	nbl	nbl	isiNdebele	Individual
ng	Ndonga	ndo	ndo	Ndonga	Individual
ne	Nepali	nep	nep	नेपाली भाषा (Nepālī	Macrolanguage
no	Norwegian	nor	nor	Norsk	Macrolanguage
nb	Norwegian Bokmål	nob	nob	Norsk Bokmål	Individual
nn	Norwegian Nynorsk	nno	nno	Norsk Nynorsk	Individual
oc	Occitan	oci	oci	Occitan	Individual
oj	Ojibwa	oji	oji	ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᒧᐎᓐ (Anishinaabemowin)	Macrolanguage
or	Oriya	ori	ori	ଓଡ଼ିଆ (Odia)	Macrolanguage
om	Oromo	orm	orm	afaan Oromoo	Macrolanguage
os	Ossetian	oss	oss	ирон	Individual
pi	Pali	pli	pli	Pāli	Individual
ps	Pashto	pus	pus	پښتو (Pax̌tow)	Macrolanguage
fa	Persian	fas / per	fas	فارسی (Fārsiy)	Macrolanguage
pl	Polish	pol	pol	Polski	Individual
pt	Portuguese	por	por	Português	Individual
pa	Punjabi	pan	pan	ਪੰਜਾਬੀ	Individual
qu	Quechua	que	que	Runa	Macrolanguage
ro	Romanian	ron / rum	ron	Română	Individual
rm	Romansh	roh	roh	Rumantsch	Individual
rn	Rundi	run	run	Ikirundi	Individual
ru	Russian	rus	rus	Русский	Individual
se	Northern Sami	sme	sme	Davvisámegiella	Individual
sm	Samoan	smo	smo	gagana Sāmoa	Individual
sg	Sango	sag	sag	yângâ tî Sängö	Individual
sa	Sanskrit	san	san	संस्कृतम् (Saṃskṛtam)	Macrolanguage
sc	Sardinian	srd	srd	Sardu	Macrolanguage
sr	Serbian	srp	srp	Српски (Srpski)	Individual
sn	Shona	sna	sna	chiShona	Individual
sd	Sindhi	snd	snd	سنڌي	Individual
si	Sinhala	sin	sin	සිංහල (Siṁhala)	Individual
sk	Slovak	slk / slo	slk	Slovenčina	Individual
sl	Slovenian	slv	slv	Slovenščina	Individual
so	Somali	som	som	Soomaali	Individual
st	Southern Sotho	sot	sot	Sesotho	Individual
es	Spanish	spa	spa	Español	Individual
su	Sundanese	sun	sun	basa Sunda	Individual
sw	Swahili	swa	swa	Kiswahili	Macrolanguage
ss	Swati	ssw	ssw	siSwati	Individual
sv	Swedish	swe	swe	Svenska	Individual
tl	Tagalog	tgl	tgl	Wikang Tagalog	Individual
ty	Tahitian	tah	tah	reo Tahiti	Individual
tg	Tajik	tgk	tgk	Тоҷикӣ (Tojikī)	Individual
ta	Tamil	tam	tam	தமிழ் (Tamiḻ)	Individual
tt	Tatar	tat	tat	Татар теле	Individual
te	Telugu	tel	tel	తెలుగు (Telugu)	Individual
th	Thai	tha	tha	ภาษาไทย (Phasa Thai)	Individual
bo	Tibetan	bod / tib	bod	བོད་སྐད་ (Bodskad)	Individual
ti	Tigrinya	tir	tir	ትግርኛ (Təgrəñña)	Individual
to	Tonga	ton	ton	lea faka-Tonga	Individual
ts	Tsonga	tso	tso	Xitsonga	Individual
tn	Tswana	tsn	tsn	Setswana	Individual
tr	Turkish	tur	tur	Türkçe	Individual
tk	Turkmen	tuk	tuk	Türkmençe	Individual
tw	Twi	twi	twi	Twi	Individual
ug	Uighur	uig	uig	ئۇيغۇر تىلى	Individual
uk	Ukrainian	ukr	ukr	Українська (Ukraїnska)	Individual
ur	Urdu	urd	urd	اُردُو (Urduw)	Individual
uz	Uzbek	uzb	uzb	Ózbekça	Macrolanguage
ve	Venda	ven	ven	Tshivenḓa	Individual
vi	Vietnamese	vie	vie	tiếng Việt	Individual
vo	Volapük	vol	vol	Volapük	Individual
wa	Walloon	wln	wln	Walon	Individual
cy	Welsh	cym / wel	cym	Cymraeg	Individual
wo	Wolof	wol	wol	وࣷلࣷفْ	Individual
xh	Xhosa	xho	xho	isiXhosa	Individual
yi	Yiddish	yid	yid	ייִדיש (Yidiš)	Macrolanguage
yo	Yoruba	yor	yor	èdè Yorùbá	Individual
za	Zhuang	zha	zha	話僮 (''Vahcuengh'')	Macrolanguage
zu	Zulu	zul	zul	isiZulu	Individual

The two-letter codes are ISO 639-1, and every one of them is also a registered language subtag in the IANA language subtag registry - the registry that powers BCP 47 language tags on the web. Chinese carries two ISO 639-2 codes because the standard keeps a preferred "terminological" code derived from the native name (zho) alongside a legacy "bibliographic" code derived from the English name (chi); BCP 47 uses the terminological zho, while old MARC records still carry chi. Bottom line: pick the two-letter ISO 639-1 code whenever one exists for your language, drop to the three-letter ISO 639-3 code for the ~7,000 languages that have no two-letter form, and combine either with a script code for full tags like zh-Hans. Locale companions: ISO 15924 script codes table, country codes table, HTML lang codes table and currency codes table.

Two-letter language codes are the smallest piece of the biggest localization standard: en, zh, fr, de appear in every hreflang tag, Accept-Language header, locale identifier (en-US, pt-BR) and subtitle track. This table lists all 182 codes in ISO 639-1 - the complete set, because the registry has been closed to new two-letter codes since the standard matured - each with its ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3 equivalents, the native name (Français, Deutsch, Русский) and a macrolanguage flag.

The assignment logic favours native names over English ones: de for Deutsch, es for Español, ja for Nihongo, el for Ellinika. But the system is not perfectly consistent - zh follows the English-rooted 'Chinese' tradition, and some codes echo colonial-era exonyms rather than endonyms, which is why checking the native-name column matters before assuming a code from the English name alone.

How to use

Type a language name, native name or code to filter - the search covers all three, so 'de', 'German' and 'Deutsch' all land on the same row.
Click the Living / Macrolanguage / Extinct chips to slice the table - 34 entries are macrolanguages (languages that group several closely related member languages) and about a dozen are extinct or historic.
Click any code to copy the two-letter abbreviation straight to the clipboard.

Frequently asked questions

Why does Chinese have two ISO 639-2 codes, zho and chi?

ISO 639-2 deliberately maintains two parallel code sets: a preferred 'terminological' code (T) derived from the native name, and a legacy 'bibliographic' code (B) derived from the English name. For Chinese that yields zho (from Zhongwen) and chi (from Chinese). BCP 47 and modern web standards use the terminological zho; older library systems such as MARC records still carry chi. Only about 22 languages have both forms, and Chinese is by far the most encountered.

What is a macrolanguage and why is Chinese one?

A macrolanguage groups several closely related individual languages under one code. Chinese (zho) covers 19 member languages including Mandarin, Cantonese (yue), Wu (wuu) and Min Nan (nan) - mutually unintelligible when spoken, historically unified by the written script. The table flags all 34 macrolanguages (also Arabic, Quechua, Malay) because picking the macrolanguage code when you mean a specific member language loses real information.

My language is not in this table - does it have no code?

It almost certainly has one in ISO 639-3, which covers around 7,900 languages versus the 182 in this closed ISO 639-1 set. New languages are no longer added to the two-letter registry; they go to ISO 639-3 directly. For web tags this is fine: BCP 47 accepts three-letter subtags, so a language with no two-letter code still gets a valid language tag.

How do I combine a language code with a country or script?

BCP 47 builds tags from subtag chains: language, then script, then region. en-GB is English as used in the UK; zh-Hans is Chinese written in Simplified Han script; sr-Latn-RS is Serbian in Latin script as used in Serbia. Order matters - script before region - and each subtag comes from its own ISO registry (639 for language, 15924 for script, 3166 for region).

Language Codes Table

How to use

Frequently asked questions

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