Language Codes Reference

Look up ISO 639 language codes - 639-1 (two-letter), 639-2/T (terminology), and 639-2/B (bibliographic) codes for 75+ languages. Includes native language names. Search by code or name. Click any code to copy instantly.

FAQ

639-2/T (terminology) uses native-derived codes (e.g., deu for German). 639-2/B (bibliographic) uses English-derived codes (e.g., ger for German). Most modern systems use the /T variant, but both are listed for compatibility.

ISO 639-1 is the two-letter language code standard. Codes like en, fr, es, de, ja are used in HTML lang attributes, HTTP Accept-Language headers, and locale identifiers.

Combine them with a hyphen: en-US (English as used in the US), fr-CA (French as used in Canada), zh-CN (Simplified Chinese). The first part is the language, the second is the region variant. This is the IETF BCP 47 standard, used in HTML lang attributes and HTTP Accept-Language headers.

Some languages have both two-letter and three-letter codes. Additionally, macrolanguages like Chinese (zh/zho) encompass multiple individual languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, etc.). The codes capture this hierarchy — zh is the macrolanguage, cmn is specifically Mandarin.

Yes - the table includes native language names (e.g., ??? for Japanese). Search works across English names, native names, and all code formats simultaneously.

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