Special language codes

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The language of a Wikimedia wiki can be found in the lang="..." and xml:lang="..." attributes of the <html> element of each page (or other elements for specific subcontents in multilingual pages); they are also used for styling in CSS language selectors. These language codes should generally be canonical language tags as defined by BCP 47.

In most cases, the subdomain names that we use for projects correspond to language codes, but there are some remaining exceptions. This usually occurs for historical reasons, where a valid ISO 639 code (or registered and non-deprecated BCP 47 variant code) was still not available at the time of creation of the project, but also because some former ISO 639 codes where deprecated or removed as they encompassed an group of languages that are now considered distinct.

Deprecated or removed ISO 639 codes are still considered valid in BCP 47 (where existing codes are not removed) most often as possible fallbacks for missing translations or to allow upward compatibility, even if they are no longer recommended for modern use and newly created contents (using these codes can potentially create unsolvable disputes in Wikimedia unless they are distinguished with distinct translations using newer codes). In some cases, some early distinctions in ISO 639 have also been removed because they were introduced artificially for a temporary time (sometimes for non-neutral political reasons) but not well supported by users, and when they unnecessarily complicated the task of translators, or when they too frequently required the use of language fallbacks or automatic transliterators (when a reliable standard and orthographic conventions was adopted between most users of different script variants), or because of development of education for better mutual understanding and acceptation of multiple variants in vernacular use.

Subdomains that do not match their `lang` attribute

Subdomain	Language	Project(s)	Notes
`als`	Local name: Alemannisch English name: Alemannic Language family: Germanic	Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikibooks, Wikiquote	Uses `gsw` which matches the language's ISO 639-3 code.
`bh`	Local name: भोजपुरी English name: Bihari Language family: Indo-Aryan	Wikipedia	Tracked in Phabricator: Task T41968 stalled Ambiguous legacy code. Uses `bho` which matches the language's ISO 639-3 code for one language of the family.
`roa-rup`	Local name: armãneashti English name: Aromanian Language family: Italic	Wikipedia, Wiktionary	Uses `rup` which matches the language's ISO 639-3 code.
`simple`	Local name: Simple English English name: Simple English Language family: Germanic	Wikipedia, Wiktionary	Uses `en` of ordinary English.
`zh-classical`	Local name: 文言 English name: Classical Chinese Language family: Sinitic	Wikipedia	Classical Chinese has ISO 639-3 code `lzh`.
`zh-min-nan`	Local name: 閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gú English name: Minnan Language family: Sinitic	Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wikisource	Min Nan has ISO 639-3 code `nan`.
`zh-yue`	Local name: 粵語 English name: Cantonese Language family: Sinitic	Wikipedia	Cantonese has ISO 639-3 code `yue`.

Miscellaneous:

All subdomains of wikimedia.org

Subdomains that do not conform to a valid ISO 639 language code

Subdomain	Language	Project(s)	Notes
`als`	Local name: Alemannisch English name: Alemannic Language family: Germanic	Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikibooks, Wikiquote	Tracked in Phabricator: Task T6793 stalled Alemannic has ISO 639-3 code `gsw`. ISO 639-3 code `als` is assigned to Tosk Albanian instead.
`bat-smg`	Local name: žemaitėška English name: Samogitian Language family: Baltic	Wikipedia	Tracked in Phabricator: Task T27522 stalled Samogitian has the ISO 639 code `sgs`.
`cbk-zam`	Local name: Chavacano de Zamboanga English name: Chavacano de Zamboanga Language family: Pidgin and Creole	Wikipedia	Tracked in Phabricator: Task T124657 stalled Chavacano de Zamboanga has no ISO 639 code as an individual language. ISO 639-3 code `cbk` is assigned to Chavacano, a superset of Chavacano de Zamboanga.
`eml`	Local name: emiliàn e rumagnòl English name: Emilian-Romagnol Language family: Italic	Wikipedia	Tracked in Phabricator: Task T36217 stalled ISO 639-3 code `eml` for Emilian-Romagnol is now retired and split into `egl` (Emilian) and `rgn` (Romagnol).
`fiu-vro`	Local name: võro English name: Võro Language family: Finno-Permic	Wikipedia	Tracked in Phabricator: Task T31186 stalled Võro has ISO 639-3 code `vro`.
`iu`	Local name: ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ / inuktitut English name: Inuktitut Language family: Eskimo-Aleut	Wikipedia	ISO 639 considers `iu`/`iku` not a single language, but a macrolanguage comprising `ike` and `ikt`. MediaWiki agrees (see phabricator), but: falls back to `ike`, called `ike-cans`; adds `ike-latn`; has no `ikt` support. CLDR considers Cans an aspirational script.
`ksh`	Local name: Ripoarisch English name: Ripuarian Language family: Germanic	Wikipedia	ISO 639-3 code `ksh` is assigned to Kölsch, a subset of Ripuarian.
`map-bms`	Local name: Basa Banyumasan English name: Banyumasan Language family: Sunda-Sulawesi	Wikipedia	Banyumasan has no ISO 639 code as an individual language. ISO 639-1 code `jv`/`jav` is assigned to Javanese, a superset of Banyumasan.
`nds-nl`	Local name: Nedersaksies English name: Dutch Low Saxon Language family: Germanic	Wikipedia	Duplicated with Low German's `nds`.
`nrm`	Local name: Nouormand English name: Norman Language family: Italic	Wikipedia	Tracked in Phabricator: Task T25216 stalled Norman has no ISO 639 code as an individual language (However, two dialects of Norman, Guernésiais and Jèrriais, are sharing ISO 639-3 code `nrf`). ISO 639-3 code `nrm` is assigned to Narom language instead. ISO 639-3 lumps Norman with French, as with most varieties of northern France.
`roa-rup`	Local name: armãneashti English name: Aromanian Language family: Italic	Wikipedia, Wiktionary	Tracked in Phabricator: Task T17988 stalled Aromanian has ISO 639-3 code `rup`.
`roa-tara`	Local name: tarandíne English name: Tarantino Language family: Italic	Wikipedia	Tarantino has no ISO 639 code as an individual language. ISO 639-3 lumps it with Italian, as with most varieties of northern Italy.
`sh`	Local name: srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски English name: Serbo-Croatian Language family: Slavic	Wikipedia, Wiktionary	Tracked in Phabricator: Task T127680 stalled `sh` was originally ISO 639-1 code for Serbo-Croatian but is no longer active. However, it remains a valid BCP 47 language tag. There is the ISO 639-3 code `hbs` for Serbo-Croatian. In CLDR aliases, `sh` maps to `sr-Latn`.
`simple`	Local name: Simple English English name: Simple English Language family: Germanic	Wikipedia, Wiktionary	Tracked in Phabricator: Task T110190 stalled Simple English has no ISO 639 code but has a registered IETF variant subtag `simple` However, even if the `simple` code is valid as a standard subtag for BCP 47, because it is only registered as a generic subtag for language variants for various base languages like `en-simple` or `fr-simple` (using the now standard variant subtag is preferable to using multiple subtags including an unregistered private extension, like "en-x-simple"). As a plain tag, "simple" means nothing in BCP 47 or ISO 639 (as it is not a plain language). Note that under ISO 639 rules, Simple English is a variant or dialect or special orthography of English (so it can be registered as a variant subtag of English, like "formal" or informal" used in German or Dutch), defined as a subset for some limited usage. The IANA database for IETF's BCP 47 already indicates this and BCP 47-aware applications should have no problem to identify the language as being part of normal English, as long as it is properly tagged as "en-simple" and not just "simple".
`zh-classical`	Local name: 文言 English name: Classical Chinese Language family: Sinitic	Wikipedia	Tracked in Phabricator: Task T10217 stalled Tracked in Phabricator: Task T30443 stalled Classical Chinese has ISO 639-3 code `lzh`.
`zh-min-nan`	Local name: 閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gú English name: Minnan Language family: Sinitic	Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wikisource	Tracked in Phabricator: Task T10217 stalled Tracked in Phabricator: Task T30442 stalled Min Nan has ISO 639-3 code `nan`.
`zh-yue`	Local name: 粵語 English name: Cantonese Language family: Sinitic	Wikipedia	Tracked in Phabricator: Task T10217 stalled Tracked in Phabricator: Task T30441 stalled Cantonese has ISO 639-3 code `yue`.

Miscellaneous:

tokipona – defunct Wikipedia subdomain
ru-sib – defunct Wikipedia subdomain, hoax in fictional “Siberian” language
be-x-old – fixed and redirected to be-tarask Wikipedia subdomain (see phab:T11823)

Other distinctions

Subdomain	Language	Project(s)	Notes
`ms`	Local name: Bahasa Melayu English name: Malay Language family: Sunda-Sulawesi	Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wiktionary	Malay language used to be "ms", just like Indonesian language is "id", but since the Malay Wikipedia inception, the code "ms" has become the code for macro language (not individual language). https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/may (639-2/B) = https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/msa (639-2/T and 639-3) = Malay (macrolanguage), with the ISO 639-1 code "ms" There are many individual languages under "ms"/"msa", including Indonesian ("id"/"ind"), Banjar ("bjn"), Minang ("min"), three living languages with their own Wikimedia projects, as well as Malay (individual language) ("mly"-Deprecated 2008 or "zlm"-Malay or "zsm"-Standard Malay / Malaysian Malay / Malaysian language) It should be noted that the Malay Wikipedia, Wikibooks, and Wiktionary all predate the change in the language code in 18 February 2008, with the latest one, Malay Wikibooks, created on 24 August 2004. See also: Wikisource Malay request for new project (approved April 2024) Policy for macrolanguage codes
`ak`	Local name: ak English name: Akan Language family: Niger-Congo	Closed: Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wiktionary	Akan (ak/aka in ISO 639-3) is a macrolanguage consisting of two separate languages Twi (tw) and Fante (fat). The Akan Wikipedia was closed in April 2023 as redundant to the Twi and Fante Wikipedias. Akan Wikibooks and Wiktionary also existed but were closed in 2007/2008 due to never having any content.
`de-formal`	Local name: Deutsch English name: German Language family: Germanic	—	Not used as host names but included as pseudo-variant subtags (unregistered) for some translations in translatewiki.net (used in Meta-Wiki for pages like policies when referring directly to wiki users according to their preferences): we should have used a private-use extension
`nl-informal`	Local name: Nederlands English name: Dutch Language family: Germanic	—

Technical language code

The special language code qqx can be used to display the ids of all system messages used on a page.

Subdomains that do not match their lang attribute

Subdomains that do not conform to a valid ISO 639 language code

Other distinctions

Technical language code

See also

Subdomains that do not match their `lang` attribute