Devanagari letter jha

It marks a voiced j-like consonant with an extra breath. Hindi commonly has a sound like the j in English “jam,” followed by a puff of air. Marathi and Nepali may sound closer to “dz” with breath; Nepali also has a z-like variation.

On its own, झ includes a short “a” after the consonant. A vowel sign changes that vowel; a halant (also called virama) removes it when no vowel follows.

Where did झ come from?

The Devanagari letter झ has an ancestor in Brahmi, an early Indian script. Ashoka’s publicly carved Brahmi edicts from the mid-third century BCE are the earliest secure public evidence for this script line. In northern India, the letter’s forms developed through the Gupta, Siddhamatrika/Kutila, and Nagari scripts. Devanagari emerged in the seventh century CE and matured around the thirteenth century CE.