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The new Uzbek alphabet

28 letters plus the tutuq belgisi. Four signs changed; everything else stayed put.

What replaced what

The four signs the reform touched
OldNewUnicodeExample
oʻöU+00F6 / U+00D6oʻzbek → özbek
gʻğU+011F / U+011Etogʻ → toğ
shşU+015F / U+015Eshahar → şahar
chçU+00E7 / U+00C7choy → çoy

The full alphabet

The letter order follows Turkish and Azerbaijani practice: ç after b, ğ after g, ö after o, ş after s. The revised spelling rules have not been published yet — we will update the table as soon as the official order appears.

The Uzbek alphabet, 2026 revision: 28 letters and the tutuq belgisi
LetterNameSoundNote
A aa[a]
B bbe[b]
Ç ççe[tʃ]changed by the reform · ch → ç
D dde[d]
E ee[e]
F fef[f]
G gge[ɡ]
Ğ ğğe[ʁ]changed by the reform · gʻ → ğ
H hha[h]
I ii[i]
J jje[dʒ] / [ʒ]
K kka[k]
L lel[l]
M mem[m]
N nen[n]
O oo[ɔ]
Ö öö[o]changed by the reform · oʻ → ö
P ppe[p]
Q qqa[q]
R rer[r]
S ses[s]
Ş şşe[ʃ]changed by the reform · sh → ş
T tte[t]
U uu[u]
V vve[v]
X xxa[χ]
Y yye[j]
Z zze[z]
ʼtutuq belgisi[ʔ]new sign

The tutuq belgisi ʼ

The tutuq belgisi is a letter, not punctuation. It lengthens a vowel or separates consonants: sanʼat, maʼno, aʼlo. The correct sign is ʼ (U+02BC). Neither the straight apostrophe ' from the keyboard nor the typographic quote ’ will do: they are different characters, and a search will not match them. Our converter folds every shape into one on input and always writes ʼ on output.

What happened to ng

Before the reform ng counted as a separate letter. Now it is simply two letters in a row. Nothing changes in the text: singil and keng are spelled exactly as before. What changed is the order in the alphabet list and the number of letters.

How the letter count changed

  • Before: 26 letters and 3 digraphs (sh, ch, ng)
  • Now: 28 letters and the tutuq belgisi ʼ

Why this is easier

One sound, one sign. The number of letters in a word matches the number of sounds, sorting and search behave correctly, and the apostrophe confusion goes away. The letters ö ğ ş ç exist in Turkish and Azerbaijani, so every system font already carries them.

Frequently asked questions

When does the new alphabet become mandatory?

No firm deadline yet. The law names a single date — 2031 for school textbooks. The rest of the schedule will live in the Cabinet of Ministers programme, which is still being drafted.

What happens to my documents in the old Latin script?

They remain perfectly readable. For several years the country will use three scripts side by side — old Latin, new Latin and Cyrillic. Our converter handles all three and goes in either direction.

Is Cyrillic being abolished?

No. The reform changed the orthography of the Latin script and left Cyrillic alone. Converting from Cyrillic to the new Latin is a separate direction in the converter.

How do I type ö ğ ş ç on my keyboard?

See the guide for your device on the Keyboard page. We have a ready layout for macOS and Windows; the iPhone and Android apps are in the works. If you need it right now, convert your text here and copy the result.

Do all fonts have these letters?

Yes. ö ğ ş ç are used in Turkish and Azerbaijani, so system fonts already include them. Trouble only shows up in custom web fonts that had the latin-ext subset stripped out.

Does the converter store my text?

No. Conversion happens inside the browser; the text is never sent to a server. You can verify that by switching off your connection.

Why does Chelsea not become Çelsea?

Because the general rule gets proper nouns and loanwords wrong. We keep an exceptions dictionary, and it grows from user reports. Found a word converted incorrectly? Tell us and we will add it.

Will the service start charging?

The converter and the keyboards stay free forever. No sign-up, no quotas, no ads.

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