A pangram, or holoalphabetic sentence, phrase, or word, uses every letter of a given alphabet at least once. Pangrams can be utilised to display typefaces, test equipment, or develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and typing, amongst other uses.
Origins
The best-known English pangram is "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog". It has been used since at least the late 19th century and was used by Western Union to test Telex/TWX data communication equipment for accuracy and reliability. Pangrams like this are now used by a number of computer programs to display computer typefaces.
Short pangrams Short pangrams in English are more difficult to devise, and may require uncommon words or unlikely sentences. Longer pangrams afford more opportunity for clever or humorous turns of phrase.
The following table lists several pangrams of 35 letters or fewer that use no abbreviations or proper nouns:
Pangram Number of words Number of letters Repeated letters Quick nymph bugs vex fjord waltz. 6 27 U Waltz, bad nymph, for quick jigs vex. 7 28 A, I Glib jocks quiz nymph to vex dwarf. 7 28 I, O Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow! 7 29 A, O, U How quickly daft jumping zebras vex! 6 30 A, E, I, U The five boxing wizards jump quickly. 6 31 E, I, U Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz. 7 31 A, I, O, S Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. 8 32 E, I, O, U The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 9 35 E, H, O, R, T, U
Perfect pangrams A perfect pangram contains every letter of the alphabet only once; as such, it is an anagram of the alphabet. The only known perfect pangrams of the English alphabet use abbreviations or other non-dictionary words, such as "Blowzy night-frumps vex'd Jack Q." or "Mr. Jock, TV quiz PhD, bags few lynx." or they include words so obscure that the phrase is challenging to understand, such as "Cwm fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz", in which is a loan word from Welsh meaning an amphitheatre-like glaciated depression, vext is an uncommon way to spell vexed, and quiz is used in an archaic sense to mean a puzzling or eccentric person. Taken together, it means "Symbols in the bowl-like depression on the edge of a long steep sea inlet confused an eccentric person".
Other writing systems may present more options: The Iroha is a well-known perfect pangram of the Japanese syllabary, while the Hanacaraka is a perfect pangram for the Javanese script and is commonly used to order its letters in sequence.
Other languages
Using the Latin script Whereas the English language uses all 26 letters of the Latin alphabet in native and naturalized words, many other languages using the same alphabet do not. Pangram writers in these languages are forced to choose between only using those letters found in native words or incorporating exotic loanwords into their pangrams. Some words, such as the Gaelic-derived whisk(e)y, which has been borrowed by many languages and uses the letters k, w and y, are frequent fixtures of many foreign pangrams.
There are also languages that use other Latin characters that do not appear in the traditional 26 letters of the Latin alphabet. This differs further from English pangrams, with letters such as ç, ä, and š.
Azerbaijani
Zafar, take your jacket and cap, it will be very cold tonight
At the night kind dragon wrapped in paper the rifle of the envious hunter
Czech
A horse that was too yellow moaned devilish odes The most commonly used one, especially to test alphabet support with fonts. This sentence includes all Czech letters with diacritics, but not all basic letters.
May the sinful saxophones of devils echo through the hall with dreadful melodies of waltz, tango and quickstep Used to include all basic letters, including letters that only occur in loanwords (g, q, w, x).
Danish
Tall shy groom won naughty sexquiz on wc A perfect pangram, using every letter exactly once (including the more unusual letters as q, w, and x, and including the Danish æ, ø, and å)pangram author Kenneth Rosenkilde (2000), pangram noted here by Martin B. Borup.
Dutch
Dad's wise lynx piously looked at the sizable aqueduct
Esperanto
Maybe every quasi-fitting bungle-choir makes a human type happy
According to Ludwig Zamenhof, fresh Czech food with spices tastes good
Echo-changes every Thursday Doesn't contain every letter but contains all accented letters.
Estonian
This little miller can jump on a train
Ewe
Have a nice birthday tonight, it's been a long time no see, it's been a while since we were in school.Good afternoon, yes, see you again at twelve o'clock in the morning. A two-part pangram consisting of a statement and response.
Filipino
The vulture is the one who hit Mister Judas.
Hi Roxas, aren't you and Victoria leaving Quezon and going to Naga? Are you going to check out the Peñafrancia? If so don't bring Juan.
Finnish
Although difficult to translate because of its non-practical use, it roughly means a whinge of a sleazy lover A perfect pangram not using any of the special letters used in Finnish only for foreign words (b, c, f, q, š, w, x, z, ž, å)
Albert bought a bassoon and blew a puffing tune An imperfect pangram not using some of the special letters used in Finnish only for foreign words (q, w, x, z, å) but which makes perfect everyday sense.
It is rather fun that bicycles are a daily phenomenon on the countryroads An imperfect pangram not containing the previously mentioned special letters.
A/the Viennese rich zombie who can speak Sioux likes Åsa's Roquefort tacos Contains all the letters of the Finnish alphabet.
French
Take this old whisky to the blond judge who is smoking Uses each basic consonant once, though not any letters with diacritics.
The naive, hasty aegithales of Aÿ who lay eggs at Christmas when it's freezing are sure to be disappointed when they see their funny eggs damaged Contains the letters with diacritics, including ÿ (only found in place names) as well as the ligature letters œ (common in French) and æ (only used in loanwords).
German
Victor chases twelve boxers across the Great Levee of Sylt Contains all letters, including the umlauted vowels (ä, ö, ü) and ß. The letter y is limited to loanwords and proper names like Sylt.
Hungarian
An angry Mexican gentleman, pinching the ear of his unfainthful son-in-law, paints at Wesselényi's in Quito Contains all letters of the Hungarian alphabet, for a total of 64 letters. "Fülöncsípő" is transliterated here to "pinching the ear", but can also mean catching someone.
Flood-proof mirror-drilling machine This nonsensical short phrase contains all diacritic variations of letters in the Hungarian alphabet and is usually used to test how fonts handle these accent marks.
Icelandic
If a new axe were here, thieves would feel increasing deterrence and punishment Contains all 32 letters in the Icelandic alphabet including the vowels with diacritics (á, é, í, ó, ú, ý, and ö) as well as the letters ð, þ, and æ.
Indonesian
Muharjo is a universal xenophobic who fears the peninsula residents, such as Qatar Contains all 26 letters in the Indonesian alphabet, including the foreign letters f, q, v, x and z.
The Quran reciter figure gives the xylophone expert a ride on the tour guide's moped. Contains all 26 letters in the Indonesian alphabet. It also contains only words that are in the Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia.
Irish
A large black cat ate the rotten fish promptly Has 31 letters and includes all 18 letters found in native Irish words, but does not include the accented á, í, or ú, nor the non-accented e.
A maiden of large appetite with an intensely white, dense spade went through the hat of my good little porker Uses 64 letters and includes all 18 letters found in native Irish words plus all vowels with and without accents. If written with old-style poncanna séimhithe—
—it uses 54 letters and also shows every letter capable of lenition with and without a dot.
Jesus, Son of the blessed Virgin, redeemed the seed of Eve and Adam Has 58 letters and shows all 18 letters found in native Irish words. Shows all accented vowels as capitals.
Italian
A lunch of water makes twisted faces has 26 letters and includes all 21 letters found in native Italian words. It does not include the five letters which are only found in loanwords: j, k, w, y, and x.
That despicable, zealous xenophobe, tastes whisky and exclaims: Hallelujah! Contains all the 26 letters of the alphabet, including the ones found in loanwords, archaic orthography and/or classical morphemes.
Kurdish
There were more than four beautiful flowers near the filthy Feqo Has 42 letters and includes all 31 letters found in Kurdish words. This pangram was created by Îrec Mêhrbexş in 2023.
Malay
Muzafar often prayed and read the Quran while studying at the University of Oxford. Contains all 26 letters in the Malay Latin alphabet.
Norwegian
Strange golfplayer with club won sexquiz on wc in hometown
Polish
Make the ego yellow with a gusle Contains all diactrics, but not every letter and is mainly used to test font support.
Push a hedgehog or eight crates of figs in this boat Most commonly used, perfect pangram, archaic spelling of .
Be brave, protect your regiment and six flags Another pangram in common use.
The watchman pushed the bone/dice into a quiz of the musics or a fax of the washes A perfect pangram containing all letters, including those used only in loan words: q, v, x.
Portuguese
I see a sexy hunk forcibly stuff fifteen kiwis into a shallow trunk. Uses all diacritics (but not all diacriticized letters) and all letters from the Portuguese alphabet (including the foreign letters k, w, and y incorporated into the alphabet by the Orthographic Agreement of 1990).
I see a hobbler yelling that he performed the show without playback. Uses all letters from the Portuguese alphabet (including the letters k, w, and y), but no diacritics. Loans the words show and playback from the English language.
Romanian
[I'm] still selling jam, beige whisky, and pink tequila, [with a] fixed price. Contains all letters, including Romanian diacritics: ă, â, î, ș, and ț. The letters q, w, and y were introduced in the Romanian alphabet in 1982 with the first DOOM dictionary. They are used for loan words such as quodlibet, watt, and yoga. The letter k is also rarely used, mainly for names and international neologisms such as kilogram and folk. Academia Română, Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, Entry for K, Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 1998, dexonline.ro
Serbian
A kind lamplighter with a sooty face wants to show me a prank. Can equally be written in gajica.
Spanish
Benjamin ordered a kiwi and strawberry drink. Noah, without shame, the most exquisite champagne on the menu Uses all diacritics and the foreign letters k and w.
The quick Hindu bat was happily eating cardillo and kiwi. The stork was playing the saxophone behind the straw palenque. Contains 2 sentences and 92 letters; it is used in Microsoft Windows operating system if the language is set to Spanish (Español).
Slovak
Earl Maxwell's tense daughter with an IQ lower than a horse is forcing farmhands to bite a heap of apples.
A flock of happy woodpeckers by the mouth of the river Váh is teaching a silent horse to nibble on bark and feed on fresh meat. Missing f, g, j, l, q, w, x, y, as well as the accented vowel ó.
Swedish
Flying snipes seek rest on soft tussocks Missing q, x and z. Uses archaic spellings.
Axe killer Julia Blomqvist at fencing in Switzerland Uses the name "Julia Blomqvist" and the Swedish name for Switzerland.
Switzerland brings luxury feather on branch behind oven Feels quite contrived. The duplicated letters spell out serif.
FAQ about Switzerland: Did you cleave a narrow village of ski boots? Uses the English abbreviation FAQ alongside some made-up compounds.