The Polish Writing System

The Polish writing system is based on the 26-letter Latin alphabet with a total of 32 letters. The q, v, and x letters are excluded from the standard 26 found in the Latin, while nine letters specific to Polish are added: the vowels ą, ę and ó, and the consonants ć, ł, ń, ś, ź and ż.

The first example of Polish writing is a list of Polish names found in Pope Innocent's Papal Bull to the archbishop of Gniezno produced in 1136. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it wasn't until the 16th Century that the modern form of the Polish writing system began to appear (specifically, in publications using the dialects found in the Western parts of Poland).1

Unlike its Slavic cousins Czech, Slovak and Sorbian, Polish did not adopt the orthographic system developed by the Czech religious reformer Jan Hus and as a result is rather unique in its use of diacritic marks. This refers in particular to its use of the following:

  • Kropka - Found in the form of the ż character. Kropka literally means "dot."
  • Kreska - Found in the forms of the ć, ń, ś, and ź characters. It looks like an accent mark, but actually sits quite differently over these Polish characters. Kreska literally means "stroke."
  • Ogonek - A character element (as opposed to an accent) found in the letters ą and ę. The Ogonek is also used in Lithuanian and Navajo.
  • Stroke - Only appears in the ł character.2

Additional resources on the Polish writing system can be found on the Web at:

For information on The Polish Language, please see our Quick Facts Library.

1 "Polish language" Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9060625
[Accessed December 10, 2004]

2 "Polish Diacritics: how to?" FONT.ORG
http://studweb.euv-frankfurt-o.de/twardoch/f/en/typo/ogonek/index.html
[Accessed December 10, 2004]