Bengali letter ai

ঐ writes the Bengali vowel glide from o toward i, usually romanized oi; its English Unicode label says ai. The full letter stands alone; after a consonant the vowel uses ৈ. Alone as a word, ঐ can mean “that over there.”

Text symbol

What ঐ means

It is Bangla’s independent spelling for the oi vowel. The Bengali name is oikar; “ai” is Unicode’s English label. After a consonant, ৈ marks the same vowel.

The Bangla script descends from Brahmi, an ancient South Asian script. Objects bearing Brahmi writing from Bengal date to the 2nd–3rd century BCE; early-medieval copper plates show Proto-Bangla writing. The Bangla script took shape in the 11th–12th centuries; it is historically related to Devanagari and also writes Assamese.

Part of the collection

অ

Bangla Alphabet & Letters

Who writes ঐ

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Don't confuse it with

𑒌

Tirhuta Letter Ai

Tirhuta letter ai, from a different script used for Maithili. UTS #39 lists it as a look-alike, and it can slip into copied text.

Alphabet

Bangla alphabet48 letters

অআইঈউঊঋৠঌৡএঐওঔকখগঘঙচছজঝঞটঠডঢণতৎথদধনপফবভমযরলশষসহঽ

Questions people ask

Why does ঐ show as a box on some devices?

Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.