Abstract. Let X be a complete, geometrically irreducible, singular, algebraic curve defined over a field of characteristic p big enough. Given a local ring OP,X at a rational singular point P of X, we attached a universal zeta function which is a rational function and admits a functional equation if OP,X is Gorenstein. This universal zeta function specializes to other known zeta functions and Poincaré series attached to singular points of algebraic curves. In particular, for the local ring attached to a complex analytic function in two variables, our universal zeta function specializes to the generalized Poincaré series introduced by Campillo, Delgado, and Gusein-Zade. §1. Introduction Let X be a complete, geometrically irreducible, singular, algebraic curve defined over a finite field F q . In [29], the second author introduced a zeta function Z(Ca(X), T ) associated to the effective Cartier divisors on X. Other types of zeta functions associated to singular curves over finite fields were introduced in [15], [16], [23], [24], and [30]. The zeta function Z(Ca(X), T ) admits an Euler product with nontrivial factors at the singular points of X. If P is a rational singular point of X, then the local factor Z Ca(X) (T, q, O P,X ) at P is a rational function of T depending on q and the completion O P,X of the local ring O P,X of X at P . If the residue field of O P,X is not too small, then Z Ca(X) (T, q, O P,X ) depends only on the semigroup of O P,X (see [29, Theorem 5.5]). Thus, if O P,X ∼ = F q Jx, yK/(f (x, y)),