What writing system is used for most European languages?

The writing system used for most European languages is the Latin script, also called the Roman script.

It is an alphabetic writing system descended from the ancient Roman alphabet. The Romans adapted an Old Italic alphabet influenced by the Etruscans, whose script ultimately came from a western form of the Greek alphabet. Over time, Latin-script alphabets developed different letters, accents, and spelling conventions for individual languages.

Today, the script is standard for languages across Western and Central Europe, including English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Polish, Czech, and Finnish. It is also widely used outside Europe in the Americas, Oceania, much of sub-Saharan Africa, and many parts of Asia. European languages that primarily use other scripts include Greek, Russian, Bulgarian, and Ukrainian.

The Latin script is not identical to the English alphabet. English uses 26 basic letters, while other Latin-based alphabets may add characters such as ñ, å, ç, or ž, and some languages use fewer letters. The script also underlies systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet.