Baybayin or Alibata (known in Unicode as the Tagalog script) is a pre-Hispanic Alibata Philippine writing system that originated from the Javanese script Old Kawi. The writing system is a member of the Brahmic family (and an offshoot of the Vatteluttu alphabet) and is believed to be in use as early as the 14th century. It continued to be in use during the Spanish colonization of the Alibata Philippines up until the late 19th Century. The term baybayin literally means spelling Alibata . Closely related scripts are Hanunóo, Buhid, and Tagbanwa Alibata.