Indic Siyaq Number Nine

It means nine in the Indic Siyaq system.

The system is also called raqm or rakam; raqm is the Arabic word for “account.” This character comes from Arabic tisʿa, the word for “nine,” compressed into a number mark.

How did Siyaq develop?

Government-office scribes shaped it into shorthand. The wider Siyaq notation developed among Persian government-office scribes, who abbreviated Arabic number words into cursive marks. Its earliest surviving evidence is a Baghdad record of government revenue dated 918–919. Unlike abjad, an older method that used letters themselves as number signs, Siyaq had dedicated number marks.

In South Asia, the notation adapted local words for larger number orders. It was in common use under Mughal rule by the 17th century and remained in use into the middle of the 20th century.