Script guide › Brahmic / Indic
How to recognize Malayalam
Malayalam 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
- The curliest script in India — loops inside loops, like tangled spaghetti.
What Malayalam looks like
എല്ലാ മനുഷ്യരും സ്വതന്ത്രരായി തുല്യാവകാശത്തോടെ ജനിക്കുന്നു.
നമസ്കാരം, സുഖമാണോ?
മലയാളം മനോഹരമായ ഭാഷയാണ്.
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
- India
Easy to confuse with
- Tamil — Malayalam is far curlier — loops inside loops; Tamil is chunkier with strong straight angles.
- Sinhala — Both very round — Sinhala's curls are plumper, separate little spirals; Malayalam's run denser and more tangled.
- Kannada — Malayalam is loop-dense with no headstroke; Kannada letters wear crescents/bars on top.