Cham letter ka

ꨆ is Cham’s consonant letter ka, read as part of a word. Cham uses an abugida: each consonant has a built-in vowel, which other marks can change. By itself, ꨆ is one letter, not a complete Cham word.

If someone sends it alone, the glyph provides no complete word to decode. Read it as a single Cham letter unless they provide the surrounding text.

Where did Cham script come from?

Cham script belongs to a South Asian-derived writing tradition. The Cham script and Pallava writing are historically linked through scripts adapted in Champa; Pallava was a script from southern India. The earliest known Cham inscription dates to the early 4th century and comes from Đông Yên Châu near Trà Kiệu. A stele from the same period records a royal donation, showing writing in public and religious-political life.

Cham inscriptions and manuscripts carried Sanskrit, a classical South Asian language, and Old Cham, an earlier form of the Cham language, in rituals, histories, poems, and songs. Eastern and Western Cham developed as distinct regional traditions shaped by geography, language contact, and migration. Digital Cham font projects support teaching, research, archiving, and communication.