ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Jawi alphabet

Okay kiddo, have you ever heard of the Jawi alphabet? It's a writing system that was used a long time ago in Southeast Asia, specifically in places like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei.

Now, the Jawi alphabet looks a little different than what you might be used to seeing. Instead of using the letters you know like A, B, and C, it uses a different set of characters that represent different sounds. These characters are called "abjad" in Jawi.

So when someone writes in Jawi, they use these abjad characters to make words and sentences, just like we use letters in the English alphabet.

But why did people in Southeast Asia use the Jawi alphabet instead of the English alphabet? Well, back in the day, some people in these countries practiced a religion called Islam. And in Islam, it's important to be able to read and write in Arabic, which uses a different alphabet than English.

So the Jawi alphabet was actually based on the Arabic alphabet, which made it easier for people in Southeast Asia to learn how to read and write in Arabic. It was a way for them to connect with their religion and communicate with other people who spoke Arabic, too.

Today, not as many people use the Jawi alphabet anymore, since most people in Southeast Asia use languages that are written with the English alphabet. But it's still an important part of history and culture in these countries, and some people still use it to write in certain contexts.