The Aramaic script was originally adapted from the Phoenician alphabet about the 8th century BC. It was first used to write the Aramaic language. It was also used to write several other languages and alphabets including the Hebrew square script. It was also developed into the Nabataean, Syriac and Mongolian writing systems, among others. The modern Arabic script is also descended from the Aramaic alphabet.
The Aramaic script contains 22 characters used mainly to indicate consonants. However, some symbols can be used to indicate long vowels. By comparison, the later Hebrew and Arabic scripts use only consonants. Hebrew uses 22; Arabic 28.
