Typeface · Script & handwriting
Nastaʿlīq
Nastaliq is one of the main calligraphic hands used to write the Persian and sometimes Arabic scripts, and is used for several significant Indo-Iranian languages, predominantly Persian, Urdu, Kurdish, Pashto, Balochi, Punjabi (in Pakistan), Kashmiri and Saraiki.
About Nastaʿlīq
Nastaliq is one of the main calligraphic hands used to write the Persian and sometimes Arabic scripts, and is used for several significant Indo-Iranian languages, predominantly Persian, Urdu, Kurdish, Pashto, Balochi, Punjabi (in Pakistan), Kashmiri and Saraiki. It is also often used for Ottoman Turkish, but rarely for Arabic (particularly in Iraq) and Arwi. Nastaliq developed in Iran from a combination of Naskh and Ta'liq, beginning in the 13th century and it remains widely used in Iran, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other countries for writing poetry and as a form of art.
From the Wikipedia article “Nastaliq”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Using Nastaʿlīq in a book
Script faces belong on covers, titles and short accents. Avoid them for body text and never set them in all caps.
Commercial typefaces require a licence that covers embedding in PDFs and ebooks; check the foundry's licence before you publish.
Sources & data
- Structured data from Wikidata Q1133121 (CC0).
- Summary text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).