Symbols
75Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
Shan consonants
The 19 basic consonants of the Shan alphabet in the usual Shan order. Each carries a built-in a vowel, so ၵ alone reads ka. ဢ is the silent consonant that carries a vowel at the start of a syllable, as in ဢၼ်. Shan has its own shapes for many letters (ၵ ၶ ၸ ၺ ၼ ၽ ၾ ႁ ဢ) where Burmese has က ခ စ ည န ဖ ဟ အ, and ၾ writes an f sound Burmese does not have.
Letters for loanwords
Extra consonants for words from Pali, Burmese, English and other languages. ၷ ၻ ၿ write g, d and b, sounds native Shan words do not use; the rest spell Pali words in Buddhist texts and names. Several carry Khamti or plain Shan names in Unicode because they were encoded for Khamti Shan, a related Tai language, and are shared.
Vowel signs
Written after, above, below or before the consonant, but always typed after it. ႃ is Shan's own aa sign, used where Burmese writes ာ. ေ and ႄ stand before the consonant and ဵ and ႅ sit above it; the above forms come before a final consonant, as in ပဵၼ် (to be). ႆ writes the ai of တႆး (Tai).
Tone marks, medials and signs
Shan marks every tone in writing. Tone 1 has no mark; tones 2, 3, 5 and 6 have the Shan marks ႇ ႈ ႉ ႊ, and tone 4 borrows the Burmese visarga း. A tone mark comes last in its syllable: လိၵ်ႈ (letters) ends in ႈ, တႆး (Tai) in း. The asat ် silences the vowel of a final consonant.
Punctuation and Shan digits
Shan shares the section marks of Burmese: ၊ works like a comma and ။ like a full stop, and spaces separate phrases rather than words. ႟ is the Shan exclamation sign and ႞ a Shan symbol named SHAN ONE in Unicode. Shan has its own digits ႐ to ႙; Burmese digits and 0–9 are common too.
Where it's spoken, currency and symbols
Shan is spoken mainly in Shan State in Myanmar and by the Tai Yai of northern Thailand. The Myanmar kyat has no sign of its own and is written K or Ks; the Thai baht is ฿. 🙏 stands for the Theravada Buddhism of most Shan people and 🍜 for Shan noodles, known all over Myanmar.
On the map
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The Shan alphabet: a Tai language in a Burmese-family script
Shan is the language of the Shan people of Myanmar, who call themselves Tai (တႆး) and their script Lik Tai (လိၵ်ႈတႆး). In Thailand they are known as Tai Yai, the "great Tai". Shan is a Tai language, a close relative of Thai, Lao and Northern Thai, but it is written in a script of the Mon-Burmese family, so a Shan page looks like Burmese and reads like a cousin of Thai.
Like Burmese, the Shan script is an abugida: every consonant carries a built-in vowel, other vowels are signs written around it, and words run on without spaces. A space ends a phrase, ၊ works like a comma and ။ ends a sentence. What sets Shan apart is tone. Shan is a tonal language, and the modern script marks tones 2–5 and uses ႊ for a sixth tone in some northern words, so a word can be read aloud from its spelling alone.
That was not always so. Older Shan writing marked tones inconsistently and wrote some vowels alike, so readers often relied on context. The reformed script used today, standardised in the twentieth century, added the tone marks and the extra vowel signs, and it is the form taught in Shan schools and monasteries and used in print and online.
Shan consonants: 19 letters plus letters for loanwords
The Shan alphabet is learned as 19 basic consonants: ၵ ၶ င, ၸ သ ၺ, တ ထ ၼ, ပ ၽ ၾ မ, ယ ရ လ ဝ, ႁ ဢ. Many of them have shapes found only in Shan: ၵ, ၼ and ႁ (written က, န and ဟ in Burmese), and ဢ, the silent consonant that carries a vowel at the start of a syllable (Burmese အ). ၾ writes f, a sound Burmese lacks.
Native Shan words have no g, d or b, so the letters ၷ ၻ ၿ were added for them in loanwords from Burmese, English and other languages. A further set spells Pali, the language of Theravada Buddhist scripture: ꧠ ꧡ ꩡ ꧢ ꩦ ꩧ ꩨ ꩩ ꧣ ꩪ ꧤ and ꩮ. Some of these have Khamti in their Unicode names because they were first encoded for Khamti Shan, a related Tai language of northern Myanmar and India, and Shan shares them.
Shan vowels and five or six tones
The vowel signs are ႃ (aa), ိ ီ (i), ု ူ (u), ေ ႄ (e and open ɛ), ဵ ႅ (the same two vowels written above the letter before a final consonant, as in ပဵၼ်, to be), ႆ (ai, as in တႆး) and ၢ, a sign first encoded for Sgaw Karen that Shan also uses. ႃ is a Shan sign: Burmese writes its aa with ာ instead. However a sign looks, it is stored after its consonant, so ေ, drawn to the left, is still stored after the letter.
Shan has five common tones in its spelling, with a sixth used in some northern varieties. The first has no mark; tones 2, 3 and 5 use ႇ ႈ ႉ, tone 4 uses း, the visarga borrowed from Burmese, and the northern sixth tone uses ႊ. The mark goes at the end of the syllable, after the asat ် that silences a final consonant: မႂ်ႇ (new) carries tone 2, လိၵ်ႈ (letters) tone 3, တႆး (Tai) tone 4, and သုင် in the greeting မႂ်ႇသုင် has no mark at all. ႂ, a medial w found only in Shan, appears in that greeting too.
How to type Shan: Unicode, fonts and keyboards
Every character on this page is standard Unicode. Many Shan-specific characters were added to the Myanmar block in Unicode 5.1 in 2008, the Khamti letters followed in Myanmar Extended-A in 2009, and the Pali letters ꧠ ꧣ ꧤ and the sign ꧥ came in Myanmar Extended-B with Unicode 7.0 in 2014. Fonts that cover all three blocks, such as Noto Sans Myanmar and SIL's Padauk, show every letter here; a font made only for Burmese shows the Shan letters as empty boxes.
Free Shan Unicode keyboards exist for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS. Type in the order the syllable is said: the consonant, any medial, the vowel sign, the asat, then the tone mark last, and the font arranges them. In Microsoft Word you can type a code and press AltX: 1075 gives ၵ, 1087 gives ႇ, 1088 gives ႈ. On the web, the HTML entity ၵ writes ၵ. Or copy the letters from the grid above. Some older Shan text was typed in fonts that put letters at non-standard codes; it only looks right in its own font, so copy from a Unicode source like this page.
Where the Shan language is spoken
CLDR estimates about 3.7 million Shan speakers, almost all of them in Myanmar, in Shan State, the country's largest state by area, with its capital Taunggyi and towns such as Lashio, Hsipaw and Kengtung, and in Shan communities in Kachin State and Mandalay and Yangon. CLDR counts about 67,000 more in Thailand, where Tai Yai villages lie around Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai; many Shan in Thailand also speak Thai.
Most Shan are Theravada Buddhists, and Shan New Year, ပီမႂ်ႇတႆး (Pi Mai Tai), and the novice ordinations of boys are among the year's great gatherings; goes with greetings for both. Shan noodles are eaten all over Myanmar. For the languages and scripts around Shan, see our Burmese, Mon, Thai, Lao and Northern Thai collections, and the Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand pages.
How to use them
5 situationsClick to copyShan Alphabet & Letters combos
10Worth knowing
- Shan is a Tai language, closer to Thai and Lao than to Burmese, yet it is written with a script from the Mon-Burmese family, so Shan and Burmese pages look alike while the languages are unrelated.
- "Shan" is the Burmese name; the Shan call themselves Tai, and the words Shan and Siam, the old name of Thailand, are thought to share a root.
- Modern Shan leaves tone 1 unmarked, marks tones 2–5, and uses ႊ for a sixth tone in some northern words; older Shan writing marked tones inconsistently.
- Shan has its own set of digits, ႐ to ႙, separate from the Burmese digits ၀ to ၉, and both sets sit in the same Unicode block.
Questions people ask
7How many letters are in the Shan alphabet?
The Shan alphabet has 19 basic consonants, from ၵ to ဢ. On top come ၷ ၻ ၿ for g, d and b in loanwords, a set of Pali letters, about a dozen vowel signs, four medials and the tone marks ႇ ႈ း ႉ ႊ.
What is the difference between Shan and Burmese script?
Shan grew from the same Mon-Burmese script family, but it has its own letter shapes (ၵ for က, ၼ for န, ႁ for ဟ, ဢ for အ), its own aa sign ႃ, the letter ၾ for f, and tone marks ႇ ႈ ႉ ႊ that Burmese does not use. The languages are unrelated: Shan is a Tai language, Burmese is Sino-Tibetan.
Is Shan language similar to Thai?
Yes. Shan is a Tai language like Thai and Lao, and many everyday words are close, but the scripts differ: Shan is written with a script of the Burmese family, Thai with its own.
How do I type Shan on my phone or computer?
Install a Shan Unicode keyboard; free ones exist for Android, iOS, Windows and Mac. Type the consonant, then any medial and vowel sign, then the asat ် and the tone mark last. In Word, a code plus AltX also works (1075 AltX ၵ).
Which font supports Shan Unicode?
Fonts that cover the whole Myanmar block and its two extensions, such as Noto Sans Myanmar and Padauk. Fonts made only for Burmese show Shan letters such as ꧠ ꧤ and tone marks such as ႊ as empty boxes.
What are the Shan tone marks?
Shan has five main tones, with a sixth used in some northern varieties. Tone 1 has no mark; tones 2, 3 and 5 use ႇ, ႈ and ႉ respectively, tone 4 uses း, and the northern sixth tone uses ႊ. The mark comes at the end of the syllable, as in လိၵ်ႈ (tone 3) and တႆး (tone 4).
Where is the Shan language spoken?
Mainly in Shan State in Myanmar, where CLDR estimates about 3.7 million speakers, and among the Tai Yai of northern Thailand, about 67,000 by CLDR's estimate.
