Hanifi Rohingya letter Ma

It represents the m consonant in Hanifi Rohingya words. A vowel sign written after it supplies the vowel; a mark called sakin shows that no vowel follows, including at a word end.

A proposal to add Hanifi Rohingya to Unicode, the shared standard for text characters, reproduces a steering-committee chart dated 19 February 1980 and places broader development by Mohammed Hanif and others in the 1980s. The alphabet was designed specifically for Rohingya.

Arabic influenced the script’s overall form and writing structure; Latin and Myanmar scripts influenced some letter shapes. It is not a direct descendant of any of them. Rohingya has also been written in Myanmar, Arabic, and Latin scripts, so 𐴔 identifies the Hanifi spelling of the same language. Hanifi primers (books for learning the script) and newspapers use it in ordinary words.

Why does 𐴔 show as a box?

The app’s font cannot draw Hanifi Rohingya. If 𐴔 appears as a square, the text is present but the font lacks coverage for this script. A font with Hanifi Rohingya support, such as Noto Sans Hanifi Rohingya, can display it.

Different fonts can draw different outlines. The proposal’s sample glyph came from a Rohingya typeface; Noto Sans Hanifi Rohingya is a separate font design.

How do I type 𐴔?

Use a Hanifi keyboard or virtual keyboard. RohingyaLanguage.org’s virtual keyboard provides the Hanifi letters.