What Is Baybayin? The Pre-Colonial Script of the Philippines
Updated: Oct 5
Baybayin is a writing system that was used in the Philippines before and during the early years of Spanish colonization, most famously to write Tagalog. Today it is having a revival in tattoos, art, clothing and classrooms, as Filipinos at home and across the diaspora reconnect with their roots.
Where Baybayin comes from
Baybayin belongs to the Brahmic family of scripts that spread from South Asia across Southeast Asia, alongside scripts used in Indonesia and Malaysia. The name comes from the Tagalog word baybay, which means to spell.
Spanish missionaries recorded Baybayin in the 1500s and 1600s, and the 1593 Doctrina Christiana, one of the first books printed in the Philippines, includes Tagalog text written in Baybayin. Over the colonial period, the Latin alphabet replaced it for everyday writing.
How Baybayin works
Baybayin is an abugida: each consonant carries a built-in "a" sound. The classic set has 17 base characters:
3 vowels: a, e/i and o/u
14 consonants: ka, ga, nga, ta, da/ra, na, pa, ba, ma, ya, la, wa, sa and ha
A mark called the kudlit changes the vowel. Above the character it makes an e or i sound, and below it makes o or u. A later mark, the virama, cancels the vowel so a word can end on a consonant. See all the shapes in our Baybayin chart.
Baybayin or Alibata?
You will often see Baybayin called Alibata. That name was coined in the early 1900s, after the first letters of the Arabic alphabet, and it was never used by the people who wrote the script. Baybayin is the historical name. We explain more in Alibata vs Baybayin.
Living scripts today
Baybayin is not the only Philippine script. Related scripts such as Hanunuo and Buhid in Mindoro and Tagbanwa in Palawan are still taught and used by their communities today.
How to start learning
Learn the 17 characters with our chart.
Trace each one on the Practice Writing page.
Write your own name with the Baybayin Translator.
Learn with others in a live Baybayin workshop.
Wear what you learn: every design from Learn Baybayin is titled in Baybayin.
Learn it live, then wear it
The fastest way to really learn Baybayin is with a teacher and a group. In the Baybayin Workshop you will learn all 17 characters, the kudlit and the virama, and leave able to write your own name and the names of your family.
Baybayin Character Hoodie: all the characters on one hoodie
Comments