Bengali Letter Dha

With Avro active, type dh; uppercase Dh produces ঢ.

For the consonant combination ধ্ব, enter ধ, the hasant ্, then ব. The hasant removes the vowel between the consonants and lets them join into a combined shape.

How is ধ pronounced in Bengali?

In Bengali, it is a dental d with breathy release. Place your tongue at your upper teeth, rather than curling it back as for ঢ. A historical description records a different East Bengali realization; pronunciation varies by region and language.

A consonant written without a vowel sign normally includes a vowel, conventionally transliterated “a” and pronounced closer to /ɔ/ or /o/ in Bengali. Vowel signs replace it; ধ্ removes it.

Where did Bengali ধ come from?

It developed from Brahmi through eastern Indian writing traditions.

Brahmi was an ancient Indian script. Bengal’s Mahasthan inscription preserves an early stage of that tradition, rather than modern ধ. A fuller, more rounded dha appears in Kutila writing in the 7th century, followed by Proto-Bangla in the 9th–10th centuries and recognizable Bangla forms in the 11th–12th centuries.

The line of development passes through Gaudi, an earlier eastern script. These writing traditions served inscriptions, copper-plate documents, manuscripts and books in Prakrit, Sanskrit and later regional literary and religious languages.