Cham letter Gha

It is Eastern Cham’s voiced “g” with a puff of air. “Gha” is its transliteration label, and ꨉ is not a word by itself. Cham writing builds syllables around consonants: a consonant has a default vowel unless a following combining vowel sign changes it. Consonants do not stack into conjuncts.

Cham script developed from the Pallava script of southern India as Indian religions spread across Southeast Asia. Its earliest surviving inscriptions date to around the 5th century; the script was used for Sanskrit and Cham before manuscript traditions diverged.

From the 15th century, Middle Cham handwriting grew more cursive than forms carved in stone. From the 19th century, modern Cham writing coexisted with scholarly forms written in the Latin alphabet. In Cambodia, a Cham-script Islamic manuscript tradition shifted toward Jawi, an Arabic-based script, from the mid-19th century; the Imam San, a Cambodian Cham Muslim community, kept Cham-script writing alive.

Why does ꨉ show as a box?

The font cannot draw the Cham character. ꨉ is text, so its appearance depends on a font with Cham coverage. A box signals missing font support, not a different character.