Gujarati letter ḍha

It is voiced, with a curled-back tongue and a breathy release. The tongue tip curls back from the teeth while the vocal cords vibrate, then a puff of air follows. The spellings ddha, ḍha, and Gujarati dha are romanizations of this one letter; h marks the extra breath, not a second Gujarati character.

Gujarati writing developed gradually from Nagari, rather than being invented at one stroke. Its earliest known Old Gujarati document is a handwritten text called Adi Parva, dated 1591–1592; that date marks a surviving document, not the origin of this letter.

Until the mid-19th century, Gujarati writing served especially for correspondence and bookkeeping, while Devanagari had more literary and academic use. Printing widened Gujarati into schools, books, newspapers, offices, and public signs; ઢ kept its consonant role as the script's setting expanded.

How do I type ઢ?

Use Gujarati Phonetic for suggestions or Gujarati INSCRIPT for fixed keys. Microsoft's Windows guidance, checked in September 2026, describes them as separate input paths: Gujarati Phonetic turns Latin transliteration into Gujarati suggestions, while Gujarati INSCRIPT uses its own fixed layout. The key therefore depends on the active layout.

Gujarati consonants normally carry an unwritten vowel; the virama (્) suppresses it so consonants can join. In ઢ્ર, the order is ઢ + virama + ર. A font may place ર below ઢ, and cursor movement may treat the cluster as one unit.

Is ઢ the same as ડ or ધ?

No. Their tongue position and breath are different.

ડ is made with the tongue curled back like ઢ, but without the extra puff of breath. For ધ, the tongue meets the teeth and the extra breath remains. The romanized spellings vary, but these Gujarati letters have distinct spellings and sounds.