Unicode 9.0 Formally Ratified

It is now official.  Unicode 9.0 has been ratified and is now available for companies like Google to start baking into their platforms.  We already know that Android N will support the standard out-of-the-box but it is possible that Marshmallow could see it in a future update as well.  In all there are 7,500 characters added to the standard along with 72 new emoji.

The additional 7,500 characters brings the total characters in the Unicode standard to 128,172 and with this update, there are a lot of new languages added in the standard.

New emoji in Unicode 9.0

New emoji in Unicode 9.0

The new scripts and characters in Version 9.0 add support for lesser-used languages worldwide, including:

  • Osage, a Native American language

  • Nepal Bhasa, a language of Nepal

  • Fulani and other African languages

  • The Bravanese dialect of Swahili, used in Somalia

  • The Warsh orthography for Arabic, used in North and West Africa

  • Tangut, a major historic script of China

Of course, many people will be interested in this new update for the emoji.  There are 72 new ones that range from a face palm to an avocado to bacon.  Yes, bacon!  You can see all of the new ones in the graphic from emojipedia site above.  There are a lot of fun ones in the release and it will be great to see it get supported through various apps and platforms in the near future.

Believe it or not, work has already begun on the Unicode 10 standard!

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