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Encyclopedia > Malayalam alphabet

The Malayalam script is an abugida of the Brahmic family, used to write the Malayalam language. Both the language and its writing system are closely related to Tamil, although Malayalam has a larger phoneme inventory.


The alphabet is classified into two categories: swarams (or vowels) and vyanjanams (or consonants).


If you don't have a font that has Malayalam characters and Unicode support, the Malayalam characters in the following tables may not appear correctly.

Malayalam vowels
Letter Vowel sign Vowel with [p] Unicode name IPA Note
അ   പ (pa) A a short 'a'
ആ ാ പാ (pā) AA aː long 'a'
ഇ ി പി (pi) I i short 'i'
ഈ ീ പീ (pī) II iː long 'i'
ഉ ു പു (pu) U u short 'u'
ഊ ൂ പൂ (pu) UU uː long 'u'
ഋ ൃ പൃ (pr̥) VOCALIC R rɨ  
ഌ       VOCALIC L   obsolete/rarely used
എ െ പെ (pe) E e short 'e'
ഏ േ പേ (pē) E eː long 'e'
ഐ ൈ പൈ (pai) AI ai  
ഒ ൊ പൊ (po) O o short 'o'
ഓ ോ പോ (pō) OO oː long 'o'
ഔ ൌ പൌ (pau) AU au  
Malayalam consonants
Malayalam Unicode Name Transliteration IPA
ക KA k k
ഖ KHA kh kh
ഗ GA g g
ഘ GHA gh gɦ
ങ NGA n̄ or ng ŋ
ച CA c tʃ
ഛ CHA ch tʃh
ജ JA j dʒ
ഝ JHA jh dʒɦ
ഞ NYA ñ or ny ɲ
ട TTA ṭ or tt ʈ
ഠ TTHA ṭh or tth ʈh
ഡ DDA ḍ or dd ɖ
ഢ DDHA ḍh or ddh ɖɦ
ണ NNA ṇ or nn ɳ
ത TA t t̪
ഥ THA th t̪h
ദ DA d d̪
ധ DHA d d̪ɦ
ന NA n n̪
പ PA p p
ഫ PHA ph ph
ബ BA b b
ഭ BHA bh bɦ
മ MA m m
യ YA y j
ര RA r r̪
ല LA l l
വ VA v ʋ
ശ SHA ś or sh ɕ
ഷ SSA ṣ or ss ʃ
സ SA s s
ഹ HA h ɦ
ള LLA ḷ or ll ɭ
ഴ LLLA ḻ or lll ɹ
റ RRA ṟ or rr r

There is no distinction of case, i.e. no uppercase and lowercase letters. Diacritics, or vowel signs, are used to associate a vowel to a consonant. When no diacritic is used, the vowel sound 'a' is assumed. To specifically denote the


absence of a vowel, a chandrakkala ് (also called virama) is used.

Other Malayalam symbols
Symbol Name Function
് virama or chandrakkala denotes the absence of a vowel
ം anusvaaram nasalizes the preceding vowel
ഃ visargam adds voiceless breath after vowel (like h)


In addition to these symbols, there are many more symbols to indicate ligatures of the various consonants with each other.


Malayalam digits are written as follows:

Malayalam numerals
Malayalam Arabic
൦ 0
൧ 1
൨ 2
൩ 3
൪ 4
൫ 5
൬ 6
൭ 7
൮ 8
൯ 9

Malayalam in Unicode

The Unicode range for Malayalam is U+0D00 ... U+0D7F.

    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
D00   ഀ ഁ ം ഃ ഄ അ ആ ഇ ഈ ഉ ഊ ഋ ഌ ഍ എ ഏ
D10   ഐ ഑ ഒ ഓ ഔ ക ഖ ഗ ഘ ങ ച ഛ ജ ഝ ഞ ട
D20   ഠ ഡ ഢ ണ ത ഥ ദ ധ ന ഩ പ ഫ ബ ഭ മ യ
D30   ര റ ല ള ഴ വ ശ ഷ സ ഹ ഺ ഻ ഼ ഽ ാ ി
D40   ീ ു ൂ ൃ ൄ ൅ െ േ ൈ ൉ ൊ ോ ൌ ് ൎ ൏
D50   ൐ ൑ ൒ ൓ ൔ ൕ ൖ ൗ ൘ ൙ ൚ ൛ ൜ ൝ ൞ ൟ
D60   ൠ ൡ ൢ ൣ ൤ ൥ ൦ ൧ ൨ ൩ ൪ ൫ ൬ ൭ ൮ ൯
D70   ൰ ൱ ൲ ൳ ൴ ൵ ൶ ൷ ൸ ൹ ൺ ൻ ർ ൽ ൾ ൿ

See also

External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
Kerala Literature, Malayalam Literature, Learn Malayalam Free, Free Malayalam Learning, Malayalam Literature, ... (1171 words)
Malayalam, the mother tongue of nearly thirty million Malayalis, ninety per cent of whom live in Kerala State in the south-west corner of India, belongs to the Dravidian family of languages.
Malayalam is the principal language of the South Indian state of Kerala and also of the Lakshadweep Islands of the west coast of India.
Until the end of the eighteenth century, Malayalam Literature was closely allied with Kathakali, a complex operatic dance form dependent on the literary quality of the text.
Alphabet (1024 words)
An alphabet is a complete standardized set of letters--basic written symbols--each of which roughly represents or represented historically a phoneme of a spoken language.
The word alphabet itself is derived from alpha and beta, the first two symbols of the Greek alphabet.
Alphabetic material was uncovered at Serabit el-Khadem in Sinai in 1905 and at Ugarit in Syria in 1929.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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