The ISO 639-2 Language Code List

ISO 639-2 is part of the ISO 639 language code standards, which exist to identify the languages, dialects and languages scripts around the world. ISO 639-2 has three-letter codes for languages.

What are ISO language standards

ISO 639 language codes were released by ISO (International Organization for Standardization). ISO standards are the most frequently used linguistic codification - from language recognition to translation, ISO language codes have proven to be crucial for neural learning.

ISO 639 language codes exist to provide an international standardization of linguistic codes.

The ISO 639-2 standard was released for the first time in 1998, as a build up of ISO 639-1. The ISO 639-1 language provides a list of two-letter identifiers of mostly macro languages. On the other hand, the ISO 639-2 standard provides a more extensive list and a three-letter codification.

ISO 639-2 Language Code List

The full ISO 639-2 language code list is available below.

It includes:

• Individual languages (living, extinct, ancient, historic, constructed languages)

• Macrolanguages - a group of linguistically varied dialects within one “umbrella language“.

• Language collections - or collective language codes refer to languages which have a similarity, but not a high enough level of similarity to be considered dialects (example, Germanic, Slavic languages)

• Special situations (uncoded or miscellaneous, undetermined languages, non linguistic content)

ISO 639-2 Code Language & Language Names		ISO 639-2 Code Language & Language Names
aar	Afar	lad	Ladino
abk	Abkhazian	lah	Lahnda
ace	Achinese	lam	Lamba
ach	Acoli	lao	Lao
ada	Adangme	lat	Latin
ady	Adyghe; Adygei	lav	Latvian
afa	Afro-Asiatic languages	lez	Lezghian
afh	Afrihili	lim	Limburgan; Limburger; Limburgish
afr	Afrikaans	lin	Lingala
ain	Ainu	lit	Lithuanian
aka	Akan	lol	Mongo
akk	Akkadian	loz	Lozi
alb (B), sqi (T)	Albanian	ltz	Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch
ale	Aleut	lua	Luba-Lulua
alg	Algonquian languages	lub	Luba-Katanga
alt	Southern Altai	lug	Ganda
amh	Amharic	lui	Luiseno
ang	English, Old (ca.450-1100)	lun	Lunda
anp	Angika	luo	Luo (Kenya and Tanzania)
apa	Apache languages	lus	Lushai
ara	Arabic	mac (B), mkd (T)	Macedonian
arc	Official Aramaic (700-300 BCE); Imperial Aramaic (700-300 BCE)	mad	Madurese
arg	Aragonese	mag	Magahi
arm (B), hye (T)	Armenian	mah	Marshallese
arn	Mapudungun; Mapuche	mai	Maithili
arp	Arapaho	mak	Makasar
art	Artificial languages	mal	Malayalam
arw	Arawak	man	Mandingo
asm	Assamese	mao (B), mri (T)	Maori
ast	Asturian; Bable; Leonese; Asturleonese	map	Austronesian languages
ath	Athapascan languages	mar	Marathi
aus	Australian languages	mas	Masai
ava	Avaric	may (B), msa (T)	Malay
ave	Avestan	mdf	Moksha
awa	Awadhi	mdr	Mandar
aym	Aymara	men	Mende
aze	Azerbaijani	mga	Irish, Middle (900-1200)
bad	Banda languages	mic	Mi'kmaq; Micmac
bai	Bamileke languages	min	Minangkabau
bak	Bashkir	mis	Uncoded languages
bal	Baluchi	mac (B), mkd (T)	Macedonian
bam	Bambara	mkh	Mon-Khmer languages
ban	Balinese	mlg	Malagasy
baq (B), eus (T)	Basque	mlt	Maltese
bas	Basa	mnc	Manchu
bat	Baltic languages	mni	Manipuri
bej	Beja; Bedawiyet	mno	Manobo languages
bel	Belarusian	moh	Mohawk
bem	Bemba	mon	Mongolian
ben	Bengali	mos	Mossi
ber	Berber languages	mao (B), mri (T)	Maori
bho	Bhojpuri	may (B), msa (T)	Malay
bih	Bihari languages	mul	Multiple languages
bik	Bikol	mun	Munda languages
bin	Bini; Edo	mus	Creek
bis	Bislama	mwl	Mirandese
bla	Siksika	mwr	Marwari
bnt	Bantu languages	bur (B), mya (T)	Burmese
tib (B), bod (T)	Tibetan	myn	Mayan languages
bos	Bosnian	myv	Erzya
bra	Braj	nah	Nahuatl languages
bre	Breton	nai	North American Indian languages
btk	Batak languages	nap	Neapolitan
bua	Buriat	nau	Nauru
bug	Buginese	nav	Navajo; Navaho
bul	Bulgarian	nbl	Ndebele, South; South Ndebele
bur (B), mya (T)	Burmese	nde	Ndebele, North; North Ndebele
byn	Blin; Bilin	ndo	Ndonga
cad	Caddo	nds	Low German; Low Saxon;
cai	Central American Indian languages	nep	Nepali
car	Galibi Carib	new	Nepal Bhasa; Newari
cat	Catalan; Valencian	nia	Nias
cau	Caucasian languages	nic	Niger-Kordofanian languages
ceb	Cebuano	niu	Niuean
cel	Celtic languages	dut (B), nld (T)	Dutch; Flemish
cze (B), ces (T)	Czech	nno	Norwegian Nynorsk; Nynorsk, Norwegian
cha	Chamorro	nob	Bokmål, Norwegian; Norwegian Bokmål
chb	Chibcha	nog	Nogai
che	Chechen	non	Norse, Old
chg	Chagatai	nor	Norwegian
chi (B), zho (T)	Chinese	nqo	N'Ko
chk	Chuukese	nso	Pedi; Sepedi; Northern Sotho
chm	Mari	nub	Nubian languages
chn	Chinook jargon	nwc	Classical/Old Newari; Classical Nepal Bhasa
cho	Choctaw	nya	Chichewa; Chewa; Nyanja
chp	Chipewyan; Dene Suline	nym	Nyamwezi
chr	Cherokee	nyn	Nyankole
chu	Church Slavic; Old Slavonic; Church Slavonic; Old Bulgarian	nyo	Nyoro
chv	Chuvash	nzi	Nzima
chy	Cheyenne	oci	Occitan (post 1500)
cmc	Chamic languages	oji	Ojibwa
cnr	Montenegrin	ori	Oriya
cop	Coptic	orm	Oromo
cor	Cornish	osa	Osage
cos	Corsican	oss	Ossetian; Ossetic
cpe	Creoles and pidgins, English based	ota	Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928)
cpf	Creoles and pidgins, French-based	oto	Otomian languages
cpp	Creoles and pidgins, Portuguese-based	paa	Papuan languages
cre	Cree	pag	Pangasinan
crh	Crimean Tatar; Crimean Turkish	pal	Pahlavi
crp	Creoles and pidgins	pam	Pampanga; Kapampangan
csb	Kashubian	pan	Panjabi; Punjabi
cus	Cushitic languages	pap	Papiamento
wel (B), cym (T)	Welsh	pau	Palauan
cze (B), ces (T)	Czech	peo	Persian, Old (ca.600-400 B.C.)
dak	Dakota	per (B), fas (T)	Persian
dan	Danish	phi	Philippine languages
dar	Dargwa	phn	Phoenician
day	Land Dayak languages	pli	Pali
del	Delaware	pol	Polish
den	Slave (Athapascan)	pon	Pohnpeian
ger (B), deu (T)	German	por	Portuguese
dgr	Dogrib	pra	Prakrit languages
din	Dinka	pro	Provençal, Old (to 1500); Occitan, Old (to 1500)
div	Divehi; Dhivehi; Maldivian	pus	Pushto; Pashto
doi	Dogri	qaa-qtz	Reserved for local use
dra	Dravidian languages	que	Quechua
dsb	Lower Sorbian	raj	Rajasthani
dua	Duala	rap	Rapanui
dum	Dutch, Middle (ca.1050-1350)	rar	Rarotongan; Cook Islands Maori
dut (B), nld (T)	Dutch; Flemish	roa	Romance languages
dyu	Dyula	roh	Romansh
dzo	Dzongkha	rom	Romany
efi	Efik	rum (B), ron (T)	Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan
egy	Egyptian (Ancient)	rum (B), ron (T)	Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan
eka	Ekajuk	run	Rundi
gre (B), ell (T)	Greek, Modern (1453-)	rup	Aromanian; Arumanian; Macedo-Romanian
elx	Elamite	rus	Russian
eng	English	sad	Sandawe
enm	English, Middle (1100-1500)	sag	Sango
epo	Esperanto	sah	Yakut
est	Estonian	sai	South American Indian languages
baq (B), eus (T)	Basque	sal	Salishan languages
ewe	Ewe	sam	Samaritan Aramaic
ewo	Ewondo	san	Sanskrit
fan	Fang	sas	Sasak
fao	Faroese	sat	Santali
per (B), fas (T)	Persian	scn	Sicilian
fat	Fanti	sco	Scots
fij	Fijian	sel	Selkup
fil	Filipino; Pilipino	sem	Semitic languages
fin	Finnish	sga	Irish, Old (to 900)
fiu	Finno-Ugrian languages	sgn	Sign Languages
fon	Fon	shn	Shan
fre (B), fra (T)	French	sid	Sidamo
fre (B), fra (T)	French	sin	Sinhala; Sinhalese
frm	French, Middle (ca.1400-1600)	sio	Siouan languages
fro	French, Old (842-ca.1400)	sit	Sino-Tibetan languages
frr	Northern Frisian	sla	Slavic languages
frs	Eastern Frisian	slo (B), slk (T)	Slovak
fry	Western Frisian	slo (B), slk (T)	Slovak
ful	Fulah	slv	Slovenian
fur	Friulian	sma	Southern Sami
gaa	Ga	sme	Northern Sami
gay	Gayo	smi	Sami languages
gba	Gbaya	smj	Lule Sami
gem	Germanic languages	smn	Inari Sami
geo (B), kat (T)	Georgian	smo	Samoan
ger (B), deu (T)	German	sms	Skolt Sami
gez	Geez	sna	Shona
gil	Gilbertese	snd	Sindhi
gla	Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic	snk	Soninke
gle	Irish	sog	Sogdian
glg	Galician	som	Somali
glv	Manx	son	Songhai languages
gmh	German, Middle High (ca.1050-1500)	sot	Sotho, Southern
goh	German, Old High (ca.750-1050)	spa	Spanish; Castilian
gon	Gondi	alb (B), sqi (T)	Albanian
gor	Gorontalo	srd	Sardinian
got	Gothic	srn	Sranan Tongo
grb	Grebo	srp	Serbian
grc	Greek, Ancient (to 1453)	srr	Serer
gre (B), ell (T)	Greek, Modern (1453-)	ssa	Nilo-Saharan languages
grn	Guarani	ssw	Swati
gsw	Swiss German; Alemannic; Alsatian	suk	Sukuma
guj	Gujarati	sun	Sundanese
gwi	Gwich'in	sus	Susu
hai	Haida	sux	Sumerian
hat	Haitian; Haitian Creole	swa	Swahili
hau	Hausa	swe	Swedish
haw	Hawaiian	syc	Classical Syriac
heb	Hebrew	syr	Syriac
her	Herero	tah	Tahitian
hil	Hiligaynon	tai	Tai languages
him	Himachali languages; Western Pahari languages	tam	Tamil
hin	Hindi	tat	Tatar
hit	Hittite	tel	Telugu
hmn	Hmong; Mong	tem	Timne
hmo	Hiri Motu	ter	Tereno
hrv	Croatian	tet	Tetum
hsb	Upper Sorbian	tgk	Tajik
hun	Hungarian	tgl	Tagalog
hup	Hupa	tha	Thai
arm (B), hye (T)	Armenian	tib (B), bod (T)	Tibetan
iba	Iban	tig	Tigre
ibo	Igbo	tir	Tigrinya
ice (B), isl (T)	Icelandic	tiv	Tiv
ido	Ido	tkl	Tokelau
iii	Sichuan Yi; Nuosu	tlh	Klingon; tlhIngan-Hol
ijo	Ijo languages	tli	Tlingit
iku	Inuktitut	tmh	Tamashek
ile	Interlingue; Occidental	tog	Tonga (Nyasa)
ilo	Iloko	ton	Tonga (Tonga Islands)
ina	Interlingua (International Auxiliary Language Association)	tpi	Tok Pisin
inc	Indic languages	tsi	Tsimshian
ind	Indonesian	tsn	Tswana
ine	Indo-European languages	tso	Tsonga
inh	Ingush	tuk	Turkmen
ipk	Inupiaq	tum	Tumbuka
ira	Iranian languages	tup	Tupi languages
iro	Iroquoian languages	tur	Turkish
ice (B), isl (T)	Icelandic	tut	Altaic languages
ita	Italian	tvl	Tuvalu
jav	Javanese	twi	Twi
jbo	Lojban	tyv	Tuvinian
jpn	Japanese	udm	Udmurt
jpr	Judeo-Persian	uga	Ugaritic
jrb	Judeo-Arabic	uig	Uighur; Uyghur
kaa	Kara-Kalpak	ukr	Ukrainian
kab	Kabyle	umb	Umbundu
kac	Kachin; Jingpho	und	Undetermined
kal	Kalaallisut; Greenlandic	urd	Urdu
kam	Kamba	uzb	Uzbek
kan	Kannada	vai	Vai
kar	Karen languages	ven	Venda
kas	Kashmiri	vie	Vietnamese
geo (B), kat (T)	Georgian	vol	Volapük
kau	Kanuri	vot	Votic
kaw	Kawi	wak	Wakashan languages
kaz	Kazakh	wal	Wolaitta; Wolaytta
kbd	Kabardian	war	Waray
kha	Khasi	was	Washo
khi	Khoisan languages	wel (B), cym (T)	Welsh
khm	Central Khmer	wen	Sorbian languages
kho	Khotanese; Sakan	wln	Walloon
kik	Kikuyu; Gikuyu	wol	Wolof
kin	Kinyarwanda	xal	Kalmyk; Oirat
kir	Kirghiz; Kyrgyz	xho	Xhosa
kmb	Kimbundu	yao	Yao
kok	Konkani	yap	Yapese
kom	Komi	yid	Yiddish
kon	Kongo	yor	Yoruba
kor	Korean	ypk	Yupik languages
kos	Kosraean	zap	Zapotec
kpe	Kpelle	zbl	Blissymbols; Blissymbolics; Bliss
krc	Karachay-Balkar	zen	Zenaga
krl	Karelian	zgh	Standard Moroccan Tamazight
kro	Kru languages	zha	Zhuang; Chuang
kru	Kurukh	chi (B), zho (T)	Chinese
kua	Kuanyama; Kwanyama	znd	Zande languages
kum	Kumyk	zul	Zulu
kur	Kurdish	zun	Zuni
kut	Kutenai	zxx	No linguistic content; Not applicable
		zza	Zaza; Dimili; Dimli; Kirdki; Kirmanjki; Zazaki