Va
Example glyphs
Bengali–Assamese
Tibetan	ཝ
Tamil
Thai	ว
Malayalam	വ
Sinhala	ව
Ashoka Brahmi
Devanagari
Cognates
Hebrew	ו
Greek	Ϝ (Ϛ), Υ (Ȣ)
Latin	F, V, U, W, Y, Ⅎ
Cyrillic	Ѕ, У (Ꙋ), Ѵ, Ю
Properties
Phonemic representation	/ʋ/
IAST transliteration	v V
ISCII code point	D4 (212)

This article contains uncommonUnicode characters. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of the intended characters.

Va orWa is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Va is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through theGupta letter. It is generally romanized as "Va" in scripts forIndic languages, but as "Wa" in many scripts for other language families.

Aryabhata used Devanagari letters for numbers, very similar to theGreek numerals, even after the invention ofIndian numerals. The values of the different forms of व are:^[1]

• व[ʋə] = 60 (६०)
• वि[ʋɪ] = 6,000 (६ ०००)
• वु[ʋʊ] = 600,000 (६ ०० ०००)
• वृ[ʋri] = 60,000,000 (६ ०० ०० ०००)
• वॢ[ʋlə] = 6×10⁹ (६×१०^९)
• वे[ʋe] = 6×10¹¹ (६×१०^११)
• वै[ʋɛː] = 6×10¹³ (६×१०^१३)
• वो[ʋoː] = 6×10¹⁵ (६×१०^१५)
• वौ[ʋɔː] = 6×10¹⁷ (६×१०^१७)

There are three different general early historic scripts -Brahmi and its variants,Kharoṣṭhī, andTocharian, the so-calledslanting Brahmi. Va as found in standardBrahmi, was a simple geometric shape, with variations toward more flowing forms by the Gupta. The Tocharian Va had an alternateFremdzeichen form,. The third form of va, in Kharoshthi () was probably derived from Aramaic separately from the Brahmi letter.

The Brahmi letter, Va, isprobably derived from the AramaicWaw, and is thus related to the modern LatinF,V,U,W,Y, and GreekUpsilon.^[2] There are numerous distinguishable Brahmi Va writing styles, most of which are connected to a collection of inscriptions from an artifact or a variety of documents from a historical era.^[3] As the earliest and most geometric style of Brahmi, the letters found on theEdicts of Ashoka and other records from around that time are normally the reference form for Brahmi letters, with vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.

Brahmi Va historic forms

Ashoka (3rd-1st c. BCE)	Girnar (~150 BCE)	Kushana (~150-250 CE)	Gujarat (~250 CE)	Gupta (~350 CE)

The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi, and has an alternate Fremdzeichen form used in conjuncts and as an alternate representation of Vä.

Tocharian Va with vowel marks

Va	Vā	Vi	Vī	Vu	Vū	Vr	Vr̄	Ve	Vai	Vo	Vau	Vä	Fremdzeichen

The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the AramaicWaw, and is thus related toF,V,U,W,Y, andUpsilon, in addition to the Brahmi Va.^[2]

Devanāgarī
Abugida Brahmic scripts Inherent vowel
Languages Hindi Marathi Nepali Konkani Maithili Sindhi Bodo Pali Prakrit Sanskritand more
Transliteration IAST Hunterian NLK ISO 15919 Harvard-Kyoto ITRANS Velthuis SLP1 WX notation (ISCII)
Vowels and syllabic consonants अa ॲæ ऄ आ (का)ā इ (कि)i ई (की)ī उ (कु)u ऊ (कू)ū ॶ (कॖ) ॷ (कॗ) ऋ (कृ)r̥ ॠ (कॄ)r̥̄ ऌ (कॢ)l̥ ॡ (कॣ)l̥̄ ए (के)ē ऍ (कॅ)ê ऎ (कॆ)e ऐ (कै)ai (कॕ) (कॎ) ओ (को)ō ऑ (कॉ)ô ऒ (कॊ)o औ (कौ)au ॳ (कऺ) ॴ (कऻ) ॵ (कॏ) (Schwa deletion)
Consonants कk क़q खkh ख़k̲h̲ गg ग़ġ ॻgg घgh ङṅ चc छch जj ज़z ॼjj ॹž झjh झ़zh ञñ टṭ ठṭh डḍ ड़ṛ ॾḍḍ ॸḍ ढḍh ढ़ṛh णṇ तt थth दd धdh नn ऩṉ पp फph फ़f बb ॿbb भbh मm यy य़ẏ ॺ रr ऱṟ ळḷ ऴḻ लl वv शś षṣ सs हh ॽ (Conjuncts)
Diacritics,punctuation, symbols अंṁ अःḥ अँm̐ अऀ ऽ’ क़ क् ३3 ᳵẖ ᳶḫ अ॑` अ॒_ अ॓ अ॔ ॐaum̐ । ॥ ॰ ॱ ₹ INR and more (Devanagari (Unicode block) Devanagari Extended Devanagari Extended-A Vedic Extensions)
Numerals ० 0 १ 1 २ 2 ३ 3 ४ 4 ५ 5 ६ 6 ७ 7 ८ 8 ९ 9 Āryabhaṭa Akṣarapallī Bhūtasaṃkhyā Kaṭapayādi
v t e

Va (व) is a consonant of theDevanagariabugida. It ultimately arose from theBrahmi letter, after having gone through theGupta letter. Letters that derive from it are theGujarati letterવ, and theModi letter 𑘪.

In old Nepali language texts, a specific nuqta like dot is added to this glyph in order to represent the[wʌ], while the glyph by itself would be used to represent the bilabial stop [b].^[4]

In most languages, व is pronounced as[və] or[v] when appropriate, while in Nepali it is[wʌ], however combination of[w] and /e, i, o, ʌi̯, r, w, j/ is constrained in Nepali, thus the letter is always pronounced as a bilabial stop[b] in such cases, but only sometimes otherwise. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Devanagari exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts. In modern Devanagari texts, most conjuncts are formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". Some conjunct clusters are always represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters. Vertically stacked conjuncts are ubiquitous in older texts, while only a few are still used routinely in modern Devanagari texts. The use of ligatures and vertical conjuncts may vary across languages using the Devanagari script, withMarathi in particular preferring the use of half forms where texts in other languages would show ligatures and vertical stacks.^[5]

True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Devanagari are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants includeNa and theRepha andRakar forms of Ra.Nepali andMarathi texts use the "eyelash" Ra half form for an initial "R" instead of repha.

• Repha र্ (r) + व (va) gives the ligaturerva:^note

• Eyelash र্ (r) + व (va) gives the ligaturerva:

• व্ (v) + न (na) gives the ligaturevna:

• व্ (v) + rakar र (ra) gives the ligaturevra:

• द্ (d) + ध্ (dʱ) + व (va) gives the ligatureddʱva:

• द্ (d) + व (va) gives the ligaturedva:

• द্ (d) + व্ (v) + य (ya) gives the ligaturedvya:

• Repha र্ (r) + द্ (d) + व (va) gives the ligaturerdva:

Vertically stacked ligatures are the most common conjunct forms found in Devanagari text. Although the constituent characters may need to be stretched and moved slightly in order to stack neatly, stacked conjuncts can be broken down into recognizable base letters, or a letter and an otherwise standard ligature.

• ब্ (b) + व (va) gives the ligaturebva:

• छ্ (cʰ) + व (va) gives the ligaturecʰva:

• च্ (c) + व (va) gives the ligaturecva:

• ढ্ (ḍʱ) + व (va) gives the ligatureḍʱva:

• ड্ (ḍ) + व (va) gives the ligatureḍva:

• ह্ (h) + व (va) gives the ligaturehva:

• झ্ (jʰ) + व (va) gives the ligaturejʰva:

• ज্ (j) + ज্ (j) + व (va) gives the ligaturejjva:

• ख্ (kʰ) + व (va) gives the ligaturekʰva:

• क্ (k) + त্ (t) + व (va) gives the ligaturektva:

• क্ (k) + व (va) gives the ligaturekva:

• ळ্ (ḷ) + व (va) gives the ligatureḷva:

• ल্ (l) + व (va) gives the ligaturelva:

• ङ্ (ŋ) + व (va) gives the ligatureŋva:

• ञ্ (ñ) + व (va) gives the ligatureñva:

• फ্ (pʰ) + व (va) gives the ligaturepʰva:

• Repha र্ (r) + स্ (s) + व (va) gives the ligaturersva:

• श্ (ʃ) + व (va) gives the ligatureʃva:

• ष্ (ṣ) + ट্ (ṭ) + व (va) gives the ligatureṣṭva:

• स্ (s) + व (va) gives the ligaturesva:

• ठ্ (ṭʰ) + व (va) gives the ligatureṭʰva:

• ट্ (ṭ) + व (va) gives the ligatureṭva:

• त্ (t) + त্ (t) + व (va) gives the ligaturettva:

• त্ (t) + व (va) gives the ligaturetva:

• व্ (v) + ब (ba) gives the ligaturevba:

• व্ (v) + च (ca) gives the ligaturevca:

• व্ (v) + छ (cʰa) gives the ligaturevcʰa:

• व্ (v) + ड (ḍa) gives the ligaturevḍa:

• व্ (v) + ग (ga) gives the ligaturevga:

• व্ (v) + ज (ja) gives the ligaturevja:

• व্ (v) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligaturevjña:

• व্ (v) + क (ka) gives the ligaturevka:

• व্ (v) + ल (la) gives the ligaturevla:

• व্ (v) + ङ (ŋa) gives the ligaturevŋa:

• व্ (v) + ञ (ña) gives the ligaturevña:

• व্ (v) + व (va) gives the ligaturevva:

The Bengali script ব is derived from theSiddhaṃ, and is marked by a similar horizontal head line, but less geometric shape, than its Devanagari counterpart, व. Unlike many of its cognates in other Indic scripts, ব is primarily identified as the /b/ consonant, especially as an independent consonant. It tends to have no inherent pronunciation itself when in a non-head position of a conjuct conjunct, often serving as an indication of gemination (doubling) of the preceding consonant sound, although there are a few words where it retains its /b/ pronunciation.Like all Indic consonants, ব can be modified by marks to indicate another (or no) vowel than its inherent "a".

ব is used as a basic consonant character in all of the major Bengali script orthographies, includingBengali andAssamese.

Bengali ব exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, with a tendency towards stacked ligatures. When used as the head (first) consonant in a conjunct, ব is normally pronounced as /b/.^[6]

LikeRa andYa, the Bengali Va is almost always realized in a reduced form called "Va phala" (vo pholo) when found as the final consonant of a conjunct. This reduced form is appended at the bottom of a vertical stem, or otherwise attached at the bottom of a preceding consonant or conjunct.

• ভ্ (bʰ) + ব (va) gives the ligaturebʰva:

• চ্ (c) + ছ্ (cʰ) + ব (va) gives the ligatureccʰva:

• চ্ (c) + ব (va) gives the ligaturecva:

• ড্ (ḍ) + ব (va) gives the ligatureḍva:

• দ্ (d) + দ্ (d) + ব (va) gives the ligatureddva:

• দ্ (d) + ব (va) gives the ligaturedva:

• গ্ (g) + ব (va) gives the ligaturegva:

• জ্ (j) + জ্ (j) + ব (va) gives the ligaturejjva:

• জ্ (j) + ব (va) gives the ligaturejva:

• খ্ (kʰ) + ব (va) gives the ligaturekʰva:

• ক্ (k) + ষ্ (ṣ) + ব (va) gives the ligaturekṣva:

• ক্ (k) + ব (va) gives the ligaturekva:

• ল্ (l) + ব (va) gives the ligaturelva:

• ম্ (m) + ব (va) gives the ligaturemva:

• ন্ (n) + দ্ (d) + ব (va) gives the ligaturendva:

• ন্ (n) + ত্ (t) + ব (va) gives the ligaturentva:

• ন্ (n) + ব (va) gives the ligaturenva:

• র্ (r) + দ্ (d) + ব (va) gives the ligaturerdva, withrepha in addition to va phala:

• র্ (r) + শ্ (ʃ) + ব (va) gives the ligaturerʃva, with repha in addition to va phala:

• শ্ (ʃ) + ব (va) gives the ligatureʃva:

• ষ্ (ṣ) + ব (va) gives the ligatureṣva:

• স্ (s) + ত্ (t) + ব (va) gives the ligaturestva:

• স্ (s) + ব (va) gives the ligaturesva:

• থ্ (tʰ) + ব (va) gives the ligaturetʰva:

• ট্ (ṭ) + ব (va) gives the ligatureṭva:

• ত্ (t) + ত্ (t) + ব (va) gives the ligaturettva:

• ত্ (t) + ব (va) gives the ligaturetva:

A few letters conjoin with ব by keeping it in its full form instead of the reduced Va-phala.

• ধ্ (dʱ) + ব (va) gives the ligaturedʱva with full-form va:

• র্ (r) + ধ্ (dʱ) + ব (va) gives the ligaturerdʱva, with repha:

• ম্ (m) + ব্ (v) + র (ra) gives the ligaturemvra, with thera phala suffix. Note that this is a different base conjunct thanmva, above:

Va (વ) is the twenty-ninth consonant of theGujaratiabugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Va with the top bar (shiro rekha) removed, and ultimately theBrahmi letter.

The Gujarati script is used to write theGujarati andKutchi languages. In both languages, વ is pronounced as[və] or[v] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Va	Vā	Vi	Vī	Vu	Vū	Vr	Vl	Vr̄	Vl̄	Vĕ	Ve	Vai	Vŏ	Vo	Vau	V
Gujarati Va syllables, with vowel marks in red.

Gujarati વ exhibits conjunct ligatures, much like its parent Devanagari Script. Most Gujarati conjuncts can only be formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". A few conjunct clusters can be represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters, and vertically stacked conjuncts can also be found in Gujarati, although much less commonly than in Devanagari.True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Gujarati are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants includeNa and theRepha andRakar forms of Ra.

• ર્ (r) + વ (va) gives the ligatureRVa:

• વ્ (v) + ર (ra) gives the ligatureVRa:

• ટ્ (ʈ) + વ (va) gives the ligatureṬVa:

• ડ્ (ɖ) + વ (va) gives the ligatureḌVa:

• દ્ (d) + વ (va) gives the ligatureDVa:

• વ્ (v) + ન (na) gives the ligatureVNa:

• શ્ (ʃ) + વ (va) gives the ligatureŚVa:

• હ્ (h) + વ (va) gives the ligatureHVa:

Telugu independent and subjoined Va.

Va (వ) is a consonant of theTeluguabugida. It ultimately arose from theBrahmi letter. It is closely related to theKannada letterವ. Most Telugu consonants contain a v-shaped headstroke that is related to the horizontal headline found in other Indic scripts, although headstrokes do not connect adjacent letters in Telugu. The headstroke is normally lost when adding vowel matras.Telugu conjuncts are created by reducing trailing letters to a subjoined form that appears below the initial consonant of the conjunct. Many subjoined forms are created by dropping their headline, with many extending the end of the stroke of the main letter body to form an extended tail reaching up to the right of the preceding consonant. This subjoining of trailing letters to create conjuncts is in contrast to the leading half forms of Devanagari and Bengali letters. Ligature conjuncts are not a feature in Telugu, with the only non-standard construction being an alternate subjoined form ofṢa (borrowed fromKannada) in the KṢa conjunct.

Va (വ) is a consonant of theMalayalamabugida. It ultimately arose from theBrahmi letter, via theGrantha letterVa. Like in other Indic scripts, Malayalam consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.

As is common in Indic scripts, Malayalam joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. There are several ways in which conjuncts are formed in Malayalam texts: using a post-base form of a trailing consonant placed under the initial consonant of a conjunct, a combined ligature of two or more consonants joined, a conjoining form that appears as a combining mark on the rest of the conjunct, the use of an explicitcandrakkala mark to suppress the inherent "a" vowel, or a special consonant form called a "chillu" letter, representing a bare consonant without the inherent "a" vowel. Texts written with the modern reformed Malayalam orthography,put̪iya lipi, may favor more regular conjunct forms than older texts inpaḻaya lipi, due tochanges undertaken in the 1970s by theGovernment of Kerala.

• വ് (v) + വ (va) gives the ligaturevva:

Odia independent and subjoined letter Wa.

Wa (ୱ) is a consonant of theOdiaabugida. It ultimately arose from theBrahmi letter, via theSiddhaṃ letterVa.^{[citation needed]} Like in other Indic scripts, Odia consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.

As is common in Indic scripts, Odia joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. The most common conjunct formation is achieved by using a small subjoined form of trailing consonants. Most consonants' subjoined forms are identical to the full form, just reduced in size, although a few drop the curved headline or have a subjoined form not directly related to the full form of the consonant. Wa shares its subjoined form withBa, called "Ba Phala" or "Wa Phala" depending on its pronunciation in context. Ba is the character normally used for the /w/ and /v/ sounds of the letter Wa. ୱ generates conjuncts only by subjoining and does not form ligatures.

Kaithi consonant and half-form Va.

Va (𑂫) is a consonant of theKaithiabugida. It ultimately arose from theBrahmi letter, via theSiddhaṃ letterVa. Like in other Indic scripts, Kaithi consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.

As is common in Indic scripts, Kaithi joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. The most common conjunct formation is achieved by using ahalf form of preceding consonants, although several consonants use an explicitvirama. Most half forms are derived from the full form by removing the vertical stem. As is common in most Indic scripts, conjucts ofra are indicated with arepha orrakar mark attached to the rest of the consonant cluster. In addition, there are a few vertical conjuncts that can be found in Kaithi writing, but true ligatures are not used in the modern Kaithi script.

• 𑂫୍ (v) + 𑂩 (ra) gives the ligature vra:

Va (𑒫) is a consonant of theTirhutaabugida. It ultimately arose from theBrahmi letter, via theSiddhaṃ letterVa. Like in other Indic scripts, Tirhuta consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent sylables with another vowel or no vowel at all.

As is common in Indic scripts, Tirhuta joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. The most common conjunct formation is achieved by using an explicitvirama. As is common in most Indic scripts, conjucts ofra are indicated with arepha orrakar mark attached to the rest of the consonant cluster. In addition, other consonants take unique combining forms when in conjunct with other letters, and there are a several vertical conjuncts and true ligatures that can be found in Tirhuta writing.

• 𑒦୍ (bʰ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature bʰva:

• 𑒥୍ (b) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature bva:

• 𑒕୍ (cʰ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature cʰva:

• 𑒔୍ (c) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature cva:

• 𑒜୍ (ḍʱ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature ḍʱva:

• 𑒛୍ (ḍ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature ḍva:

• 𑒡୍ (dʱ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature dʱva:

• 𑒠୍ (d) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature dva:

• 𑒒୍ (ɡʱ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature ɡʱva:

• 𑒑୍ (g) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature gva:

• 𑒯୍ (h) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature hva:

• 𑒗୍ (jʰ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature jʰva:

• 𑒖୍ (j) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature jva:

• 𑒐୍ (kʰ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature kʰva:

• 𑒏୍ (k) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature kva:

• 𑒪୍ (l) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature lva:

• 𑒧୍ (m) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature mva:

• 𑒓୍ (ŋ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature ŋva:

• 𑒝୍ (ṇ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature ṇva:

• 𑒢୍ (n) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature nva:

• 𑒘୍ (ñ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature ñva:

• 𑒤୍ (pʰ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature pʰva:

• 𑒣୍ (p) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature pva:

• 𑒩୍ (r) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature rva:

• 𑒬୍ (ʃ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature ʃva:

• 𑒭୍ (ṣ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature ṣva:

• 𑒮୍ (s) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature sva:

• 𑒟୍ (tʰ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature tʰva:

• 𑒚୍ (ṭʰ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature ṭʰva:

• 𑒙୍ (ṭ) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature ṭva:

• 𑒞୍ (t) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature tva:

• 𑒫୍ (v) + 𑒩 (ra) gives the ligature vra:

• 𑒫୍ (v) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature vva:

• 𑒨୍ (y) + 𑒫 (va) gives the ligature yva:

Vo (វ) is a consonant of theKhmerabugida. It ultimately arose from theBrahmi letter, via thePallava letterVa. Like in other Indic scripts, Khmer consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel. Actually, the sounds of the vowels are modified by the consonant; see the article on theKhmer writing system for details.

Note: The vowels (other than vocalic liquids) are shown using the ALA-LC scheme.^[7]

Pali and Sanskrit are written as abugidas with the lack of a vowel between consonants notated as consonants indicated by vertically stacking the consonants without their touching. For phonetically final consonants, the lack of a vowel is marked by virama.

The Khmer language works the same, except that a different method is used for the last consonant of a word. The final consonant in a consonant stack is indicated as having no implicit vowel by applying tôndôkhéad to it. By default, a consonant surmounted by robat is silent and lacks an inherent vowel. The yŭkôlpĭntŭ positively indicates the presence of a final implicit vowel, plus its automatic glottal stop. Otherwise, there is no final vowel, unless the word is of Pali or Sanskrit origin, in which case the spelling is ambiguous. Up until the start of the 20th century, the lack of a final vowel could be indicating by subscripting the consonant, as then done in Lao and in other non-Indic languages using the Tai Tham script.

As in the Thai, Lao and Tai Tham scripts, Va served as amater lectionis representing the sound /ua/. In this rôle, it was subscripted. In Cambodian usage, a new form of subscript was developed for consonantal usage, and the two are now used contrastively.

Tai Tham independent, subjoined and superscript letter Wa.

Wa (ᩅ) is a consonant of theTai Thamabugida. It ultimately arose from theBrahmi letter, via thePallava letterVa. Like in other Indic scripts, Tai Tham consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel.

Notes:

1. The transliteration scheme is an amalgamation of the ALA-LC schemes of Khmer^[7], Pali^[8] and Lao^[9].
2. Many of the matras include subscript wa (), subscript ya (), subscript a () or even the letter a () itself. Anusvara () and visarga () are also used.
3. In the relevant Tai languages, a short vowel in an open syllable includes an underlyinɡ ɡlottal stop.

Additional short vowels not shown above may be synthesised from the corresponding long vowel by appending visarga for open syllables (as shown for Vo) or applying mai sat () for closed syllables (as shown for Vo̹). Unlike the other languages,Lao instead replaces an ī or ư̄ glyph by the corresponding short vowel.

The lack of a vowel between consonants notated as consonants is indicated by vertically stacking the consonants, generally without their touching. The Brahmi style of writing final consonants small and low developed, as vestigially seen in Khmer and Lao, into using subscripting to indicate that a consonant had no vowel of its own. In theory this leaves it ambiguous as to whether a consonant precedes or follows the vowel, but ambiguous cases are rare. Finally, if there is no room for the consonant below, it may be left as an 'independent' consonant or. in some cases, written superscript. Occasionally the visible virama (ra haam) is used, but this may signify that the consonant so marked is silent. The vowel /a/ will be made explicit if the final consonant is notated by a letter and is included in the same stack as the initial consonant or is written in a stack just consisting of that consonant.

Thus Wa may appear as the 'base' consonant with almost any other consonant. Northern Thai traditionally allows it to form an initial consonant cluster with almost any other consonant sound, it can act as a mater lectionis (as shown in the list of matras above for Vūa), and it can be a final consonant, as in the fairly common rime -iv, e.g. 'to be hungry'. To accommodate a lack of space below the base consonants, there are several strategies:

1. Subscript Wa can be written significantly smaller than usual, typically at the size of anusvara. Certain other consonants also exhibit vertically compressed subscript forms, most notably La and Nga.
2. Subscript Wa can be nested within subscript Ma and Na, e.g. Northern Thai <hmūaḍ> /muːat/ 'to twist'.
3. A sequence of subscript items can be written horizontally, rather than vertically. This sequence can continue beneath another base consonant. It can sometime be hard to see that the second subscript belongs with the first consonant rather than the second.
4. For several letters, including Wa, if the space below the base letter is occupied, a final consonant can be written above instead. The result for Wa is frequently indistinguishable fromanusvara, and is currently encoded the same, namely as TAI THAM SIGN MAI KANG. It occurs in the sequence <Ya, Wa>, as in theTai Lue wordᨯ᩠ᨿᩴ '(just) one', where the subscripted letterYa is used as amater lectionis. This practice is extremely rare for Wa in Northern Thai.

For example, Northern Thai <hlūaṅ> 'big' can be written as:

1. - two stacks of (1) ha, la, wa all stacked vertically and (2) ṅa;
2. - two stacks: (1) a bent stack of ha, la below ha, wa to the right of la and (2) the single character ṅa. Visually, this is only subtly different from the meaningless two stacks of (1) ha, la and (2) ṅa, wa -;
3. - two stacks of (1) ha, la and (2) wa, ṅa;

The first two alternatives have the same encoding in Unicode; the font and its configuration determine the rendering.

The various Indic scripts are generally related to each other through adaptation and borrowing, and as such the glyphs for cognate letters, including Va, are related as well.

Comparison of Va in different scripts

Aramaic Kharoṣṭhī 𐨬 Ashoka Brahmi Kushana Brahmi[a] Tocharian[b]  /  Gupta Brahmi Pallava Kadamba - Bhaiksuki 𑰪 Siddhaṃ Grantha 𑌵 Cham ꨥ Sinhala ව Pyu / Old Mon[c] - Tibetan ཝ Newa 𑐰 Ahom - Malayalam വ Telugu వ Burmese ဝ Lepcha ᰟ Ranjana Saurashtra ꢮ Dives Akuru 𑤩 Kannada ವ Kayah Li ꤠ Limbu ᤘ Soyombo[d] 𑩾 Khmer វ Tamil Chakma 𑄤 Tai Tham ᩅ Meitei Mayek ꯋ Gaudi - Thai ว Lao ວ Tai Le ᥝ Marchen 𑲅 Tirhuta 𑒫 New Tai Lue ᦞ / ᦛ Tai Viet ꪫ / ꪪ Aksara Kawi 'Phags-pa ꡓ Odia ଵ Sharada 𑆮 Rejang ꥀ Batak ᯋ / ᯍ Buginese ᨓ Zanabazar Square 𑨭 Bengali-Assamese Takri 𑚦 Javanese ꦮ Balinese ᬯ Makasar 𑻯 Hangul[e] - Northern Nagari - Dogri 𑠦 Laṇḍā - Sundanese ᮝ Baybayin ᜏ Modi 𑘪 Gujarati વ Khojki 𑈨 Khudabadi 𑋛 Mahajani 𑅯 Tagbanwa ᝯ Devanagari Nandinagari 𑧊 Kaithi Gurmukhi ਵ Multani 𑊤 Buhid ᝏ Canadian Syllabics[f] - Soyombo[g] 𑩾 Sylheti Nagari ꠛ Gunjala Gondi 𑵭 Masaram Gondi[h] 𑴨 Hanuno'o ᜯ Notes ^The middle "Kushana" form of Brahmi is a later style that emerged as Brahmi scripts were beginning to proliferate. Gupta Brahmi was definitely a stylistic descendant from Kushana, but other Brahmi-derived scripts may have descended from earlier forms. ^Tocharian is probably derived from the middle period "Kushana" form of Brahmi, although artifacts from that time are not plentiful enough to establish a definite succession. ^Pyu and Old Mon are probably the precursors of the Burmese script, and may be derived from either the Pallava or Kadamba script ^May also be derived from Devangari (see bottom left of table) ^TheOrigin of Hangul from 'Phags-pa is one of limited influence, inspiring at most a few basic letter shapes. Hangul does not function as an Indic abugida. ^Although the basic letter forms of the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics were derived from handwritten Devanagari letters, this abugida indicates vowel sounds by rotations of the letter form, rather than the use of vowel diacritics as is standard in Indic abugidas. ^May also be derived from Ranjana (see above) ^Masaram Gondi acts as an Indic abugida, but its letterforms were not derived from any single precursor script.

Most Indic scripts are encoded in theUnicode Standard, and as such the letter Va in those scripts can be represented in plain text with unique codepoint. Va from several modern-use scripts can also be found in legacy encodings, such asISCII.

Character information

Preview							వ		ଵ		ವ		വ		વ		ਵ
Unicode name	DEVANAGARI LETTER VA		BENGALI LETTER BA		TAMIL LETTER VA		TELUGU LETTER VA		ORIYA LETTER VA		KANNADA LETTER VA		MALAYALAM LETTER VA		GUJARATI LETTER VA		GURMUKHI LETTER VA
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	2357	U+0935	2476	U+09AC	2997	U+0BB5	3125	U+0C35	2869	U+0B35	3253	U+0CB5	3381	U+0D35	2741	U+0AB5	2613	U+0A35
UTF-8	224 164 181	E0 A4 B5	224 166 172	E0 A6 AC	224 174 181	E0 AE B5	224 176 181	E0 B0 B5	224 172 181	E0 AC B5	224 178 181	E0 B2 B5	224 180 181	E0 B4 B5	224 170 181	E0 AA B5	224 168 181	E0 A8 B5
Numeric character reference	व	व	ব	ব	வ	வ	వ	వ	ଵ	ଵ	ವ	ವ	വ	വ	વ	વ	ਵ	ਵ
ISCII	212	D4	212	D4	212	D4	212	D4	212	D4	212	D4	212	D4	212	D4	212	D4

Character information

Preview	Ashoka Kushana Gupta		𐨬				𑌵
Unicode name	BRAHMI LETTER VA		KHAROSHTHI LETTER VA		SIDDHAM LETTER VA		GRANTHA LETTER VA
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	69679	U+1102F	68140	U+10A2C	71082	U+115AA	70453	U+11335
UTF-8	240 145 128 175	F0 91 80 AF	240 144 168 172	F0 90 A8 AC	240 145 150 170	F0 91 96 AA	240 145 140 181	F0 91 8C B5
UTF-16	55300 56367	D804 DC2F	55298 56876	D802 DE2C	55301 56746	D805 DDAA	55300 57141	D804 DF35
Numeric character reference	𑀯	𑀯	𐨬	𐨬	𑖪	𑖪	𑌵	𑌵

Character information

Preview	𑘪		𑧊		𑩾		ꠛ		𑵭
Unicode name	MODI LETTER VA		NANDINAGARI LETTER VA		SOYOMBO LETTER VA		SYLOTI NAGRI LETTER BO		GUNJALA GONDI LETTER VA		KAITHI LETTER VA
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	71210	U+1162A	72138	U+119CA	72318	U+11A7E	43035	U+A81B	73069	U+11D6D	69803	U+110AB
UTF-8	240 145 152 170	F0 91 98 AA	240 145 167 138	F0 91 A7 8A	240 145 169 190	F0 91 A9 BE	234 160 155	EA A0 9B	240 145 181 173	F0 91 B5 AD	240 145 130 171	F0 91 82 AB
UTF-16	55301 56874	D805 DE2A	55302 56778	D806 DDCA	55302 56958	D806 DE7E	43035	A81B	55303 56685	D807 DD6D	55300 56491	D804 DCAB
Numeric character reference	𑘪	𑘪	𑧊	𑧊	𑩾	𑩾	ꠛ	ꠛ	𑵭	𑵭	𑂫	𑂫

^note Conjuncts are identified byIAST transliteration, except aspirated consonants are indicated with a superscript "h" to distinguish from an unaspirated cononant +Ha, and the use of the IPA "ŋ" and "ʃ" instead of the less dinstinctive "ṅ" and "ś".

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