Javanese Letter Dda

ꦝ is a Javanese consonant, distinct from da. Its built-in a can be changed by vowel signs or canceled by the pangkon mark.

Text symbol

What ꦝ means

It is the Javanese letter conventionally written dha. Latin Javanese spelling uses dha; Unicode labels it Dda.

Old Javanese, an earlier form of the language, appears in stone inscriptions dated 743 CE and 787 CE; they use Kawi-era writing, not this modern glyph. Kawi was an older script that developed into Javanese during the 14th–15th centuries. Javanese writing also appears in manuscripts and has been used for Sanskrit and Sundanese.

A study published in 2023 of Line and WhatsApp group chats found writers sometimes typed Latin dh as d. That can blur padhang (“bright”) and padang (“chef”); the Latin spelling changes, not ꦝ.

Part of the collection

ꦗ

Javanese Alphabet & Script

Who writes ꦝ

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Don't confuse it with

ꦢ

Javanese Letter Da

For dha vs da: ꦢ is da; ꦝ is dha. Switching them can change a Javanese word.

Questions people ask

Why does ꦝ show as a box on some devices?

Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.