ucheN

Uchen, also known as dbu-can, is the standard Tibetan script used to write the Tibetan language. It is the most common form for printed Tibetan texts and is widely used in religious, literary, and academic contexts. The name Uchen is often contrasted with Umé, a cursive handwriting tradition, and together they form the two main families of Tibetan writing.

Origins and development: Uchen descends from the Brahmic family of scripts and was developed in Tibet under the influence of Indian writing systems. It was introduced to write Tibetan during the early medieval period, with the form later crystallized by scholars in the 7th to 11th centuries, notably through the work of Thonmi Sambhota's lineage. It became the standard for blocks, religious scriptures, and scholarly works.

Characteristics: Uchen is written in horizontal lines, with a prominent head stroke that connects many letters into syllable blocks. It features consonant clusters (stacked consonants) to represent conjuncts. The script is designed for printed text and typographic use. It has two main variants: Uchen (the book or print script) and Umé (the cursive, handwritten variant).

Modern usage and encoding: In the modern era, Tibetan script is encoded in the Unicode Tibetan block (U+0F00–U+0FFF) and is supported by most fonts and input methods. It is used not only for Tibetan but also for Dzongkha, Ladakhi, Sikkimese, and other languages using Tibetan script.

See also: Tibetan script; Thonmi Sambhota; Dzongkha.