Ahom Letter Sa

It makes an s sound and normally carries an “a.” Each basic Ahom consonant has an inherent “a.” A vowel mark after 𑜏 changes that vowel; a visible vowel-killer mark suppresses it, leaving s at the end of the syllable. By itself, 𑜏 is a letter example, not a complete word.

Ahom writing recorded the Tai Ahom language in inscriptions, coins, brass plates, chronicles, religious texts, and other manuscripts. The earliest surviving Ahom text is the Snake Pillar inscription, dated 1497–1539.

Ahom writing is linked to Old Mon and Old Burmese script traditions and likely reached the Brahmaputra Valley with Ahom migrants in the early thirteenth century. Tai Ahom use declined in the late 17th century, but priests kept the script in religious practice through the 19th century. Modern printed use is conventionally dated to 1920; old forms can signal Ahom identity in modern revival writing.

How do I type Ahom sa?

Use Unicode hex input or an HTML character reference. In a Unicode hex-input method, enter 1170F and use that method’s conversion command. In HTML, use 𑜏 or 𑜏.

For a syllable, put 𑜏 before its vowel sign. The sign follows the consonant in encoded order but may display above, below, or beside it; font coverage and shaping determine whether the marks appear correctly. A box usually means the font does not cover Ahom.

As of 2026, learner material writes this consonant as Latin s, while Eastern Shan-oriented material also uses hs. These are two spellings for the same Ahom letter, so Latin transliteration can vary while the glyph stays 𑜏.