Devanagari letter short o

Use a Devanagari input method or picker that offers ऒ.

In 2026, Keyman’s Heidelberg Input Solution maps Latin o to ओ and .o to ऑ; neither shortcut yields ऒ. Layouts vary by tool, so check the entered letter.

ऒ stands on its own when a word or syllable begins with a vowel; ॊ attaches to a consonant before its vowel. Unicode encodes ऒ as one letter. अ plus ॊ or आ plus ॆ is different text.

Why does this letter exist?

It keeps a short-o distinction available across spelling systems.

Some Devanagari vowel sets used in Bihari languages include ऒ. ISO 15919, a scheme for writing Indian-language forms in Latin letters, also uses ऒ by itself and ॊ after consonants to preserve the short-o versus long-o distinction in Dravidian-language transliteration; Dravidian is a South Asian language family. In one case it is an orthographic letter; in the other it records a source-language distinction.

Devanagari’s lineage reaches Brahmi, the writing system used in inscriptions of the Indian ruler Ashoka in the third-century BCE. Recognizably Nagari forms appear in Sanskrit inscriptions from the first-century CE, and the modern Devanagari form was in use by about 1000 CE. Nandinagari and Siddham are connected traditions in this broader Nagari/Brahmi lineage.

What is the difference between ऒ and ओ?

ऒ is the short-o letter; ओ is a separate Devanagari vowel.

Use ऒ when the spelling or transliteration convention calls for short o. The dependent sign ॊ marks that vowel after a consonant. Replacing ऒ with ओ can change a spelling or remove a distinction the source language preserves.