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Language & Locale Codes

Searchable ISO 639 / BCP-47 language and region code reference for hreflang.

CodeLanguage
afAfrikaans
arArabic
ar-EGArabic
ar-SAArabic
bgBulgarian
bnBengali
bsBosnian
caCatalan
csCzech
cyWelsh
daDanish
deGerman
de-ATGerman
de-CHGerman
elGreek
enEnglish
en-AUEnglish
en-CAEnglish
en-GBEnglish
en-INEnglish
en-USEnglish
esSpanish
es-ARSpanish
es-ESSpanish
es-MXSpanish
etEstonian
euBasque
faPersian
fiFinnish
filFilipino
frFrench
fr-BEFrench
fr-CAFrench
fr-CHFrench
gaIrish
glGalician
heHebrew
hiHindi
hrCroatian
huHungarian
idIndonesian
isIcelandic
itItalian
jaJapanese
kaGeorgian
kkKazakh
koKorean
ltLithuanian
lvLatvian
mkMacedonian
msMalay
mtMaltese
nbNorwegian Bokmål
nlDutch
nl-BEDutch
noNorwegian
plPolish
ptPortuguese
pt-BRPortuguese
pt-PTPortuguese
roRomanian
ruRussian
skSlovak
slSlovenian
sqAlbanian
srSerbian
svSwedish
swSwahili
taTamil
thThai
trTurkish
ukUkrainian
urUrdu
viVietnamese
x-defaultFallback (x-default)
zhChinese
zh-HansChinese
zh-HantChinese

Showing 78 of 78 common codes. The format is ISO 639-1 language, optionally a hyphen and ISO 3166-1 region.

What these codes are

Language tags follow BCP-47: an ISO 639-1 language code (like de for German), optionally followed by a hyphen and an ISO 3166-1 region (like de-AT for Austrian German). You use them in hreflang attributes, the lang attribute on <html>, and sitemaps.

Language vs. language-region

Use a bare language code (es) when the content suits all speakers of that language. Add a region (es-MX, es-AR) only when you genuinely have different content per market — otherwise you create needless duplication. When in doubt, start with the language-only code.

Common mistakes

  • Inventing regions: the UK is en-GB, not en-UK.
  • Using a country code as a language: en-US is language en, region US — not us.
  • Chinese script vs region: prefer zh-Hans / zh-Hant (script) over country codes for simplified/traditional.
  • Forgetting x-default: add x-default for users who match none of your versions.

Put them to work

Grab the right code above, then build your tags with the hreflang generator and confirm a live page with the hreflang checker. Or let Gloty handle all of it automatically.

Gloty supports 125+ locales and emits the correct hreflang code for every one automatically — no lookups required.

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