Umê (, ; variant spellings include
ume,
u-me) is a cursive form of the
Tibetan alphabet. The name means "headless," and is a style of the script used for both calligraphy and shorthand. A distinctive feature of
umê compared to
uchen is the absence of the horizontal guide line across the top of the letters. Between syllables, the
tseg mark (་) often appears as a vertical stroke. There are two main kinds of
umê writing:
- Zhuza , used for writing documents.
- Bêcug , used for writing scriptures.