Brahmi Number Eighty

On the Brahmi Mac layout documented in 2026, use Shift+Alt+8.

𑁢 is the Brahmi sign for eighty: one written value, unlike the modern digits 8 and 0. On other keyboards, a Unicode-aware input method can enter it; available shortcuts depend on the installed layout.

Where do Brahmi numerals come from?

Their numeral tradition is recorded in early Indian inscriptions. Recognizable Brahmi numerals are attested around the middle of the third century BCE; later examples on cave inscriptions and coins continue through the fourth century CE.

Brahmi inscriptions record official messages, donations and ownership marks; coins also carried dates. Coins of the Western Kshatrapas, a dynasty of rulers in western India, put Brahmi dates behind the ruler's head, so numeral signs helped date coins as well as record amounts.

Kharosthi was another script used in the northwest, with its own numerals whose values could be combined. It was historically separate from Brahmi. Brahmi numerals later influenced Gupta and Nagari number forms, while the Brahmi script spread into scripts across South and Southeast Asia. Positional digits, whose place determines value and zero marks an empty place, eventually replaced the older separate-sign approach.