Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari ("Nāgarī", ), is a left-to-right abugida (alphasyllabary), based on the ancient "Brāhmī" script, used in the Indian subcontinent. It was developed in ancient India from the 1st to the 4th century CE and was in regular use by the 7th century CE. The Devanagari script, composed of 47 primary characters including 14 vowels and 33 consonants, is the fourth most widely adopted writing system in the world, being used for over 120 languages.