Coptic Alphabet

The Coptic alphabet was spread in Egypt in the 4th century. It replaced the Egyptian hieroglyphic script, which had been used to write the Coptic language (the indigenous Egyptians, direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians, and Egyptian Christians). It is based on the  Greek  0391–03C9 alphabet, with a few letters borrowed from the Demotic script. It also became one of the sources for the ancient Nubian script. In the 7th century, Egypt was conquered by the Arabs, and the Coptic alphabet was gradually replaced by the  Arabic  FE8E–FEF1 script. Currently, it is only used by Coptic clergy.