Devanagari Vowel Sign Ai

It changes a consonant’s vowel to ai.

A matra is a vowel mark attached to a consonant. This ai ki matra gives कै, written kai in Latin letters. It also works with a consonant cluster—a group of consonants joined together—as in त्रै, written trai.

Pronunciation depends on the language. A Hindi teaching guide compares this vowel to English “hey” without a strong final y sound; a Nepali course compares it to “eye,” which slides between vowel sounds. These are approximations, not one pronunciation for every Devanagari word.

The writing system grew out of Brahmi

Devanagari developed from Brahmi, an ancient Indian writing system, and was a major script for Sanskrit by the eleventh century. Its vowel marks let writers change a consonant’s built-in vowel without writing a separate vowel letter. Nandinagari is a related script with the same basic consonant-and-vowel design.

How do I type ै?

Enter the consonant first, then the ai matra.

Finish any consonant cluster before adding the sign. The text stores that order; your font places the mark above the letters. Do not try to build it by typing े twice.