The New Uzbek Alphabet: What Changed and How to Type Ö, Ğ, Ş, Ç on Your Computer and Phone

On 21 October 2026 the president of Uzbekistan signed a law on the updated Uzbek Latin alphabet. The familiar oʻ, gʻ, sh and ch are being replaced by the single letters Ö, Ğ, Ş and Ç. That raises practical questions right away: how familiar words are now spelled, when the switch happens, whether documents need replacing, and how to type these letters when your keyboard does not have them. Below are the answers, plus step-by-step ways to type the new letters on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android that you can use today.

What has changed in the alphabet

The new law amends the 1993 Law on the Introduction of the Uzbek Alphabet Based on the Latin Script. The alphabet used to have 26 letters and three letter combinations; now it has 28 letters and one apostrophe (tutuq belgisi). Four letters change:

• Oʻ oʻ → Ö ö: oʻzbek → özbek, Oʻzbekiston → Özbekiston, oʻqish → öqiş.
• Gʻ gʻ → Ğ ğ: gʻalaba → ğalaba, togʻ → toğ, bogʻ → boğ.
• Sh sh → Ş ş: shahar → şahar, Toshkent → Toşkent, quyosh → quyoş.
• Ch ch → Ç ç: choy → çoy, kuch → kuç, chiroyli → çiroyli.

Words that contain several of these letters change throughout: oʻqituvchi → öqituvçi, choʻl → çöl.

The main reason for the reform is practical. During the debate, senators said that typing oʻ and gʻ on a computer can take up to six actions, and that more than ten different forms of these letters are in use: o', o`, o’, oʻ and others. As a result, search engines, dictionaries and software do not always recognise "o'zbek" and "oʻzbek" as the same word. Ö, Ğ, Ş and Ç already exist in the Turkish and Azerbaijani alphabets, so fonts, operating systems and keyboards have supported them for a long time.

What stays the same

• The other 24 letters do not change.
• The apostrophe (tutuq belgisi) remains in words such as maʼno, sheʼr and taʼlim. In the new spelling, sheʼr becomes şeʼr.
• The combination ng is no longer counted as a separate element of the alphabet, but words are spelled as before: tong, ming, singil. Its pronunciation and spelling will be covered by the orthography rules.

When the switch happens and who it affects

The law takes effect six months after its official publication, which means spring 2027. The Cabinet of Ministers has two months to draw up a programme of measures to implement it.

• Government bodies, official record-keeping and the mass media will be required to use the new alphabet.
• In private correspondence, according to a government official, people can keep writing the way they are used to.
• Passports, diplomas and other documents issued in the old alphabet remain valid and do not need to be replaced. Banknotes and securities also stay in circulation.
• Signs and markers of government bodies will not be replaced all at once, but as they wear out or by deadlines set in a dedicated programme.
• First-grade school textbooks will be published in the new alphabet from 2027, and all textbooks are due to be switched over by 2031.

In government information systems, the transition will be technical: a single standard will be developed, databases will be audited and oʻ, gʻ, sh and ch in them will be replaced automatically with ö, ğ, ş and ç, and search and identification mechanisms will be improved.

How to type Ö, Ğ, Ş, Ç right now

Official Uzbek keyboard layouts with the new letters are still being prepared. During the Senate debate, it was proposed to place the four letters on unused keys of a standard keyboard so that each can be typed with a single keystroke. Until that happens, there are several methods that work.

Windows

• Alt codes. Hold Alt and type the code on the numeric keypad: Alt+0214 gives Ö, Alt+0246 gives ö, Alt+0199 gives Ç and Alt+0231 gives ç. There is no such code for Ğ and Ş, and the method does not work on a laptop without a numeric keypad.
• Word and LibreOffice. Type the letter's hexadecimal code and immediately press Alt+X to turn it into the letter. For example, 015F followed by Alt+X gives ş. The codes for all the letters are in the table below.
• Character Map. Press Win+R, type charmap and press Enter. In the window that opens, you can find any letter and copy it.
• Turkish keyboard layout. In Settings, open Time & language, then Language & region, and add Turkish; Windows adds the Turkish Q layout. Switch between layouts with Win+Space. The letters ğ, ş, ö and ç sit on the keys to the right of P, L and M. But watch out: in this layout the usual i key types a dotless ı, the ordinary i has moved to the key to the right of ş, and the full stop and comma have moved too. That makes long texts in Uzbek awkward.

Mac

• Press and hold. Hold o or c and a menu of variants appears, including ö and ç. For s and g, the variant you need may be missing in the English layout.
• Option shortcuts. Option+U followed by o gives ö. Option+C gives ç, and Option+Shift+C gives Ç.
• Unicode Hex Input. In System Settings, open Keyboard, then Text Input and Edit, click + and add Unicode Hex Input. With this layout active, hold Option and type the letter's code: Option+015F gives ş, Option+011F gives ğ.
• Character Viewer. Control+Command+Space opens the emoji and symbols window, where you can search for any letter.
• The Turkish layout is added in the same place, under input sources. Before using it, check where the ordinary i is.

iPhone and iPad

• Hold o or c on the keyboard to choose ö or ç.
• For ş and ğ, add the Turkish keyboard: Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard → Turkish. Switch keyboards with the globe key. The on-screen keyboard shows which letter you are tapping, so there is no confusion with ı.
• Auto-correction on the Turkish keyboard may "fix" Uzbek words the Turkish way. If it gets in the way, turn it off in the keyboard settings.

Android

• In Gboard and most other keyboards, letters with diacritics appear when you long-press o, g, s or c. If the variant you need is missing, add a layout: in Gboard settings, open Languages, tap Add keyboard and choose Türkçe or Azərbaycanca.
• As on the iPhone, keep an eye on auto-correction when using another language's layout.

Codes for the new letters

Useful in Word, LibreOffice and Unicode Hex Input on a Mac:

Ö  00D6    ö  00F6
Ğ  011E    ğ  011F
Ş  015E    ş  015F
Ç  00C7    ç  00E7

A tip for people who write a lot: set up text replacement. On the iPhone and Mac it is Text Replacement in the keyboard settings; in Gboard it is the Personal dictionary. For example, you can set a short shortcut that automatically turns into ş. That way you do not depend on the layout until the official ones arrive.

How to convert existing text to the new alphabet

If you have a lot of text, replacing letters by hand takes a long time. Converters can do it for you: for example, our free new Uzbek alphabet converter, which turns existing text into the new spelling. Similar tools from other developers have appeared too, as was mentioned in the Senate. Whichever converter you use, before you work with the result, check the places where automatic conversion most often goes wrong:

• Different forms of the mark in oʻ and gʻ. A good converter treats o', o`, o’ and oʻ the same way; a poor one misses some of them.
• The apostrophe in words like maʼno: it should stay an apostrophe and not turn into a letter.
• Words where s and h are separated by a mark, such as Isʼhoq: this is not the letter ş.
• Personal names, company and brand names, website and email addresses: these are best left as they were.
• When converting from Cyrillic, check the letters е, ё and ц and any loanwords.

A simple check after conversion: search the text for sh and ch, and for the marks ʻ, ' and ` next to o and g. If any remain, review them by hand.

If you have a website

There is no need to rewrite your site right away, but before spring 2027 it is worth checking fonts, site search and page URLs. We set out a detailed plan in the section on the new alphabet in "Website in Uzbek, Russian and English: How to Get Multilingual Right". We handle moving websites, CRMs and mobile apps to the new alphabet as part of our website, web application and mobile app work.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to replace my passport or diploma?

No. Documents issued before the law takes effect remain valid. Banknotes and securities with the old spelling also stay valid.

Can I keep writing the old way?

In private correspondence, yes. Once the law takes effect, the new alphabet becomes mandatory for government bodies, official record-keeping and the media.

Are Ö, Ğ, Ş, Ç in Uzbek the same characters as in Turkish?

Yes, they are the same Unicode characters used in Turkish and Azerbaijani. That is why almost all modern fonts, phones and computers already support them, and you do not need to install anything to use them.

When will Uzbek keyboard layouts with the new letters appear?

There are no exact dates yet. Transition measures, including technical solutions for typing the letters, will be part of the programme the Cabinet of Ministers is preparing. Until then, use the methods described above.

What happens to ng?

The combination ng simply stops being counted as a separate element of the alphabet. Words such as tong and ming are spelled as before.

Want to get your website, CRM or app ready for the new alphabet in advance, checking fonts, search, databases and page URLs? Get in touch and we will estimate the work involved.