The Dhivehi Alphabet

Dhivehi is written in the Thaana script (Unicode Block U+0780–U+07BF), a unique writing system used exclusively for the Dhivehi language of the Maldives. Thaana is written right to left and is an abugida — consonants are the base letters, and vowels are written as diacritical marks called fili placed above or below the consonant.

A distinctive feature of Thaana is its origin: the first nine native letters are derived from Arabic-Indic (Eastern Arabic) numerals and the next nine from Hindu-Arabic (Western Arabic) numerals. This unusual origin makes Thaana unlike any other writing system in the world. The remaining letters, added later, were adapted from Arabic letters for words borrowed from Arabic and Persian through centuries of Islamic contact.

The Thaana script used for Dhivehi contains 33 consonant letters in total. Of these, 24 are native Dhivehi letters, and 9 are derived from Arabic for use in Arabic loanwords, particularly in religious vocabulary. Vowels are not separate letters but are written as diacritical marks (fili) — there are 10 vowel diacritics plus the sukun mark (which indicates no vowel).

Unlike most abugidas, Thaana consonant letters do not carry an inherent vowel. Every written consonant must be followed by either a vowel fili or a sukun. This rule means that Dhivehi writing is fully vowelled — readers do not need to infer vowels from context, unlike in Arabic or Hebrew where short vowels are often omitted in everyday text.

Dhivehi belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European language family. Within Indo-Aryan, it is classified in the Insular Indo-Aryan subgroup alongside Sinhala (spoken in Sri Lanka). Dhivehi and Sinhala are the only two living members of this geographically isolated branch of Indo-Aryan, separated from the mainland languages by the Indian Ocean.

Both Dhivehi and Sinhala descend from Elu Prakrit, an ancient Apabhramsha form that was brought to Sri Lanka and the Maldives approximately 2,500 years ago. Over millennia, the two languages diverged significantly. Dhivehi was further shaped by extensive contact with Arabic, Persian, Malayalam, and Portuguese, resulting in a significant layer of loanwords. Despite this contact, the core grammar and basic vocabulary of Dhivehi remain firmly Indo-Aryan.

Yes — Dhivehi and Maldivian refer to the same language. "Dhivehi" (ދިވެހި) is the native name of the language, meaning "Island language" or "language of the Maldives". "Maldivian" is the English exonym used to describe the same language in reference to the Maldivian nation. Both names are used internationally and in academic literature to refer to the sole official language of the Republic of Maldives.

Dhivehi has several regional dialects spoken across the different atolls of the Maldives, with Standard Dhivehi (based on the dialect of Malé, the capital) serving as the prestige variety used in education, government, and media. The language is written in the Thaana script, which has been in use since at least the 18th century, replacing an earlier indigenous script called Divehi Akuru.

The Thaana script has several features that make it unique among world writing systems. First, its letter shapes are derived from numerals rather than from an older script tradition — the first 9 letters from Arabic-Indic numerals and the next 9 from Hindu-Arabic numerals. This is an origin found in no other script. Second, unlike most South Asian abugidas, Thaana consonants have no inherent vowel — every consonant must carry either a vowel fili or a sukun mark.

Thaana is written right to left, in line with the Arabic tradition that influenced Maldivian culture through centuries of Islamic contact. The script was standardised during the reign of Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar I (1648–1687 CE), who systematised the Thaana letters and established the orthographic conventions still in use today. Modern Dhivehi uses a Unicode-encoded Thaana, allowing the script to be used across digital platforms and the internet.

Dhivehi is spoken exclusively in the Republic of Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean southwest of Sri Lanka and India. The Maldives consists of approximately 1,200 coral islands grouped into 26 natural atolls, of which around 200 are inhabited. Dhivehi is spoken across all inhabited islands, with the standard dialect based on the variety spoken in Malé, the capital island.

Due to the geographical isolation of the Maldivian atolls, several regional dialects of Dhivehi have developed. The southern atolls, particularly Addu Atoll and Huvadhu Atoll, have the most divergent dialects and may be partially unintelligible to speakers of Standard Dhivehi. A small number of Dhivehi speakers also live in the Maliku (Minicoy) island of the Lakshadweep territory of India, where a related variety called Mahl is spoken.