Pangram

A pangram or holoalphabetic sentence is a sentence using every letter of a given alphabet at least once. Pangrams have been used to display typefaces, test equipment, and develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and typing.

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 tend to use uncommon words and unnatural sentences. Longer pangrams afford more opportunity for humor, cleverness, or thoughtfulness.
The following are examples of pangrams that are shorter than "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" and use standard written English without abbreviations or proper nouns:

"Quick nymph bugs vex fjord waltz."
"Waltz, bad nymph, for quick jigs vex."
"Glib jocks quiz nymph to vex dwarf."
"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."
"How quickly daft jumping zebras vex!"
"The five boxing wizards jump quickly."
"Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz."
"Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs."
Perfect pangrams

A perfect pangram contains every letter of the alphabet only once and can be considered 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 Cwm 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 whisky, which has been borrowed by many languages and uses the letters k, w and y, are a frequent fixture 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

; Zəfər, jaketini də papağını da götür, bu axşam hava çox soyuq olacaq
; Gecə ürəyiyumşaq əjdaha paxıl ovçunun tüfəngini söküb kağıza bükdü

Czech

; Příliš žluťoučký kůň úpěl ďábelské ódy
; Nechť již hříšné saxofony ďáblů rozezvučí síň úděsnými tóny waltzu, tanga a quickstepu

Danish

; Høj bly gom vandt fræk sexquiz på wc

Dutch

; Pa's wijze lynx bezag vroom het fikse aquaduct

Esperanto

; Eble ĉiu kvazaŭ-deca fuŝĥoraĵo ĝojigos homtipon
; Laŭ Ludoviko Zamenhof bongustas freŝa ĉeĥa manĝaĵo kun spicoj
; Eĥoŝanĝoj ĉiuĵaŭde

Estonian

; See väike mölder jõuab rongile hüpata
; Põdur Zagrebi tšellomängija-följetonist Ciqo külmetas kehvas garaažis

Ewe

; ''Dzigbe zã nyuie na wò, ɣeyiɣi didi aɖee nye sia no see, ɣeyiɣi aɖee nye sia tso esime míeyi suku.
Ŋdɔ nyui, ɛ nyteƒe, míagakpɔ wò ake wuieve kele ʋ heda kpedeŋu.''

Finnish

; Törkylempijävongahdus
; Albert osti fagotin ja töräytti puhkuvan melodian
; On sangen hauskaa, että polkupyörä on maanteiden jokapäiväinen ilmiö
; Wieniläinen siouxia puhuva ökyzombi diggaa Åsan roquefort-tacoja

French

; Portez ce vieux whisky au juge blond qui fume
; Les naïfs ægithales hâtifs d'Aÿ pondant à Noël où il gèle sont sûrs d'être déçus en voyant leurs drôles d'œufs abîmés

German

; Victor jagt zwölf Boxkämpfer quer über den großen Sylter Deich

Hungarian

; Egy hűtlen vejét fülöncsípő, dühös mexikói úr ázik Quitóban
; Egy hűtlen vejét fülöncsípő, dühös mexikói úr Wesselényinél mázol Quitóban

Icelandic

; Kæmi ný öxi hér, ykist þjófum nú bæði víl og ádrepa

Indonesian

; Muharjo seorang xenofobia universal yang takut pada warga jazirah, contohnya Qatar.
; Tokoh qari bonceng juru xilofon di vespanya muzawir.

Irish

; D'ith cat mór dubh na héisc lofa go pras
; Chuaigh bé mhórshách le dlúthspád fíorfhinn trí hata mo dhea-phorcáin bhig
; D'fhuascail Íosa Úrmhac na hÓighe Beannaithe pór Éabha agus Ádhaimh

Italian

; Pranzo d'acqua fa volti sghembi

Kurdish

; Cem vî Feqoyê pîs zêdetir ji çar gulên xweşik hebûn

Malay

; Muzafar kerap sembahyang dan baca al-Quran waktu belajar di Universiti Oxford.

Norwegian

; Sær golfer med kølle vant sexquiz på wc i hjemby

Polish

; Zażółć gęślą jaźń
; Pchnąć w tę łódź jeża lub ośm skrzyń fig
; Mężny bądź, chroń pułk twój i sześć flag
; Stróż pchnął kość w quiz gędźb vel fax myjń

Portuguese

; Vejo galã sexy pôr quinze kiwis à força em baú achatado.
; Vejo coxo gritando que fez show sem playback.

Romanian

; Încă vând gem, whisky bej și tequila roz, preț fix.

Serbian

; Љубазни фењерџија чађавог лица хоће да ми покаже штос.
Ljubazni fenjerdžija čađavog lica hoće da mi pokaže štos.

Spanish

; Benjamín pidió una bebida de kiwi y fresa. Noé, sin vergüenza, la más exquisita champaña del menú
; El veloz murciélago hindú comía feliz cardillo y kiwi. La cigüeña tocaba el saxofón detrás del palenque de paja.

Slovak

; Kŕdeľ šťastných ďatľov učí pri ústí Váhu mĺkveho koňa obhrýzať kôru a žrať čerstvé mäso.

Swedish

; Flygande bäckasiner söka hwila på mjuka tuvor
; Yxmördaren Julia Blomqvist på fäktning i Schweiz
; Schweiz för lyxfjäder på qvist bakom ugn
; FAQ om Schweiz: Klöv du trång pjäxby?
; Yxskaftbud, ge vår WC-zonmö IQ-hjälp
; Gud hjälpe Zorns mö qwickt få byx av
; Byxfjärmat föl gick på duvshowen

Toki Pona

; jan li pana e moku tawa sina

Turkish

; Pijamalı hasta yağız şoföre çabucak güvendi

Welsh

; Ni pharciais fy nghas gar ffabrig pinc a'm jac codi baw hud llawn dŵr chwerw ger tŷ Mabon ar ddydd Mawrth, ond parciais fe mewn lagŵn rhydlyd

Vietnamese

; Trường quê em do bố của em xây kĩ nên sạch và đẹp lắm

Other alphabetic scripts

Non-Latin alphabetic or phonetic scripts such as Greek, Armenian, and others can also have pangrams. In some writing systems, exactly what counts as a distinct symbol can be debated. For example, many languages have accents or other diacritics, but one might count "é" and "e" as the same for pangrams. A similar problem arises for older English orthography that includes the long s.

Arabic

; نص حكيم له سر قاطع وذو شأن عظيم مكتوب على ثوب أخضر ومغلف بجلد أزرق

Armenian

; Չին ֆիզիկոսը օճառաջուր ցողելով բժշկում է հայ գնդապետի փքված ձախ թևը։

Belarusian

; У Іўі худы жвавы чорт у зялёнай камізэльцы пабег пад'есці фаршу з юшкай
; Я жорстка заб'ю проста ў сэрца гэты расквечаны профіль, што ходзіць ля маёй хаты

Bulgarian

; Под южно дърво, цъфтящо в синьо, бягаше малко пухкаво зайче
; За миг бях в чужд, скърцащ плюшен фотьойл
; Ах, чудна българска земьо, полюшвай цъфтящи жита!
; Я, пазачът Вальо уж бди, а скришом хапва кюфтенца зад щайгите!

Burmese

; သီဟိုဠ်မှ ဉာဏ်ကြီးရှင်သည် အာယုဝဍ္ဎနဆေးညွှန်းစာကို ဇလွန်ဈေးဘေးဗာဒံပင်ထက် အဓိဋ္ဌာန်လျက် ဂဃနဏဖတ်ခဲ့သည်။

Georgian

; გვიპყრობდა კვამლი, ჩიტებს გაჰქონდათ ჟღურტული ზეცაში, ძილს უფრთხობს ჭიქების ჯახუნი მიწებში

Hebrew

; קזחסטן ארץ מעלפת, גדושה בכי
; שפן אכל קצת גזר בטעם חסה, ודי
; איש עם זקן טס לצרפת ודג בחכה
; כך התרסק נפץ על גוזל קטן שדחף את צבי למים
; דג סקרן שט בים, מאוכזב ולפתע מצא חברה
There is also a version with every niqqud included except the Sin dot:
; עֲטַלֵּף אָבָק נָס דֶּרֶךְ מַזְגָן שֶׁהִתְפּוֹצֵץ כִּי חַם

Punjabi (Shahmukhi)

ڈِٹھے پار پہاڑ حضوری دے، طلسمی ژالہ باری ظلمت دی ۔
فیر جاکے ٹِبے غار حراء دے، خبر دِتتِی چاراں پاسے۔
اک ذہین زور آور نے فقیری دی۔
ہس کے نالے گج وج کے
ذمے داری نال دسیا ثمر صبر دا، حاصل عشق دا،
جیہڑا ہے کل پیغام

Russian

; Съешь ещё этих мягких французских булок, да выпей же чаю
; В чащах юга жил бы цитрус? Да, но фальшивый экземпляр!

Thai

; นายสังฆภัณฑ์ เฮงพิทักษ์ฝั่ง ผู้เฒ่าซึ่งมีอาชีพเป็นฅนขายฃวด ถูกตำรวจปฏิบัติการจับฟ้องศาล ฐานลักนาฬิกาคุณหญิงฉัตรชฎา ฌานสมาธิ

Ukrainian

; Єхидна, ґава, їжак ще й шиплячі плазуни бігцем форсують Янцзи

Urdu

;
نہ ژالہ باری نہ دھوپ پڑتی نہ ٹمٹماتی ہے چاندنی اب
نہ کوئی ساغر نہ آگ برکھا،عجیب طرز فنا چلی اب
جدا حلاوت ، خفا ظرافت،ضعیف ہر شوق، ڈر نہ صدمہ
ثمر جو ذکر حبیب کا ہے یہ تجھہ کو عرفی ملا سبھی اب

Non-alphabetic scripts

Logographic scripts, or writing systems such as Chinese that do not use an alphabet but are composed principally of logograms, cannot produce pangrams in a literal sense. The total number of signs is large and imprecisely defined, so producing a text with every possible sign is practically impossible. However, various analogies to pangrams are feasible, including traditional pangrams in a romanization.
In Japanese, although typical orthography uses kanji, pangrams can be made using every kana, or syllabic character. The Iroha is a classic example of a perfect pangram in non-Latin script.
In Chinese, the Thousand Character Classic is a 1000-character poem in which each character is used exactly once; however, it does not include all Chinese characters. The single character wikt:永 incorporates all the basic strokes used to write Chinese characters, using each stroke exactly once, as described in the Eight Principles of Yong.
Among abugida scripts, an example of a perfect pangram is the Hanacaraka of the Javanese script, which is used to write the Javanese language in Indonesia.