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'''Devanagari''' is a script used to write some ]n languages, inclucing ], ] and ], as well as ]. '''Devanagari''' is a script used to write some ]n languages, inclucing ], ] and ], as well as ].


Revision as of 17:21, 20 July 2003


Devanagari is a script used to write some Indian languages, inclucing Hindi, Sanskrit and Marathi, as well as Nepali.

Indian languages written in scripts other than Devanagari include Gujarati, Tamil and Urdu.

Deva is the Sanskrit for "god", and Nagari is "a city"; together they mean, literally, "City of the Gods" (when the compound is read as a shashtitatpurusha). This refers to the legend that the script was one used in such a city. So the compound really functions as a bahuvrihi. An often-used transcription variant is "Devnagri".

Devanagari is written from left to right. Words are written together without spaces, so that the top bar is unbroken (there are some exceptions to this rule). The break of the top line primarily marks breath groups.

Devanagari is partly phonetic in the sense that a word written in it can only be pronounced in one way, but not all possible pronunciations can be written perfectly. Devanagari has 34 consonants (vyanjan), and 12 vowels (svar). A syllable (akshar) is formed by the combination of zero or one or more consonants, and one vowel.

Devanagari Vowels and Related Symbols
VowelTransliterationPronunciation/Note
अa'a' as in about
आaa'a' as in art
इi'i' as in pit
ईii'ee' as in wheel
उu'u' as in put
ऊuu'oo' as in soot
ऋRRi
ॠRRI
ऌLLi
ॡLLI
एe'a' as in rate
ऐai
ओo
औau
 ःaHvisarga
 ्halantsuppresses inherent vowel


Note: Unicode support is required to display these fonts, which may be found here.

When no vowel is written, 'a' is assumed. To specifically denote the absence of a vowel, a halant (also called virama) is used.

Devanagari Consonants
कk
खkh
गg
घgh
चch
छchh
जj
झjh
टT
ठTh
डD
ढDh
णN
तt
थth
दd
धdh
नn
पp
फph
बb
भbh
मm
यy
रr
लl
वv/w
शsh
shh
सs
हh
ळL
ksh
gy/dny

The letters above are pronounced as in English, with the exceptions of:

ConsonantPronunciation
णN
'n' with the tongue bent back
तt
'th' as in thin, but it's a stop
थth
aspirated version of 't'
दd
'th' as in the, but it's a stop
धdh
aspirated version of above
ळL
'l' with the tongue bent back

Among these, 'L' is not used in Hindi. The entire set is used in Marathi.

There is no distinction of case, i.e. no uppercase and lowercase letters.

Devanagari digits are written as follows:

Devanagari Digits
०0
१1
२2
३3
४4
५5
६6
७7
८8
९9


The ITRANS notation is a lossless transliteration scheme of Devanagari into English. The letters used to represent Devanagari alphabets in this notation have approximately the same pronunciation in English. It is widely used on Usenet. In ITRANS, the word Devanagari is written as "devanaagarii".

Note: "Devanagari" is the most common transliteration. Others are "Devnagri", "Devanagri", "Deonagri" (rare).