Script guide › Brahmic / Indic
How to recognize Bengali
Bengali is one of 14 languages in Grafle's Brahmic / Indic group. Here's what it looks like, where you'll see it on signs, and how to tell it apart from its lookalikes.
Spot it fast
- Has a top bar like Devanagari, but the letters below are more angular and triangular with hooks and tails.
What Bengali looks like
সমস্ত মানুষ স্বাধীনভাবে সমান মর্যাদা নিয়ে জন্মগ্রহণ করে।
নমস্কার, আপনি কেমন আছেন?
বাংলা একটি মিষ্টি ভাষা।
Brahmic / Indic scripts: The scripts of South and Southeast Asia — letters hang from top bars, curl into loops, or stack vowel marks above and below.
Where you'll see it on signs
- Bangladesh
- India
Easy to confuse with
- Hindi / Nepali (Devanagari) — Both hang from a top bar — Bengali's letters below it are angular, with little left-pointing triangles and hooks; Devanagari's are rounder and boxier.
- Punjabi (Gurmukhi) — Both barred scripts — Bengali runs angular with hooks; Gurmukhi is rounder and simpler below the bar.
- Dzongkha (Tibetan) — Dzongkha syllables are split by raised dots (་) with sharp descenders; Bengali flows under its bar with angular hooks.