ᩋ

ᩋ (a)

1. The first letter of the Tai Tham Pali alphabet. In Pali it represents the syllable-initial short vowel /a/.
   • Pali ᩋᨶᩣᩈᩅ (anāsava, “passionless”)
   • Northern Thai ᨠ‌ᩋᩯ᩠ᨶ (gà ɛɛn, “fingerroot”)
   • Northern Thai ᩋᩪ᩶ (ʼuu, “to speak”)

In the modern vernaculars, the syllable-initial letter has been re-interpreted as a consonant representing the glottal stop /ʔ/. It is also used as a generally subscript mater lectionis. On its own, it signifies a vowel of the general form /ɔː/, though the vowel length is not universally significant. In combination, it generally marks the vowel as back unrounded, with idiosyncratic details. When written subscript and used as a vowel, it should be encoded as U+1A6C TAI THAM VOWEL SIGN OA BELOW ᩬ, but there is much on-line text in which it has been encoded <U+1A60, U+1A4B>.

• ᩬ

• Lü: ᦀ (˙ʼ)
• Lü: ᦁ (ʼ)

• ᩋᩣ (next letter of the Pali alphabet)1A4B
• ᨠ (first consonant of the Pali alphabet)