in calligraphy, earliest extant Islāmic style of handwritten alphabet that was used by early Muslims to record the Qurʾān. This angular, slow-moving, dignified script was also used on tombstones and coins as well as for inscriptions on buildings. Some experts distinguish Kūfi proper from Meccan and Medinese scripts, which were also used to copy the Qurʾān.

The script was called Kūfi because it was thought to have been developed at Kūfah in Iraq—an early Islāmic centre of culture. Simple Kūfi was developed early in the Islāmic era; the earliest surviving copies of the Qurʾān—from the 8th to the 10th century—were copied in it. Later a floral Kūfi flourished, and several other varieties of the script developed, including foliated Kūfi, plaited or interlaced Kūfi, bordered Kūfi, and squared Kūfi. It went out of general use about the 12th century, although it continued to be used as a decorative element to contrast with the scripts that superseded it.