Kannada Letter Au

ಔ spells Kannada’s au vowel, said in one syllable with a glide from «a» toward «u». In Kannada spelling, ೌ is used when that vowel follows a consonant.

Text symbol

What ಔ means

It writes the Kannada au vowel. The full letter begins a syllable; the sign ೌ attaches after a consonant.

Unicode marks the sequence Kannada o-letter ಒ sign ೌ as an incorrect substitute for standalone ಔ.

where did the Kannada au letter come from?

Its roots are in the southern Brahmi script tradition. The Kannada script developed through southern forms descended from Brahmi, an early Indian script, with the Kadamba script among its historical stages.

Early Telugu-Kannada records date to the 4th–7th centuries; Kannada inscriptions appear around the 5th century. Kannada and Telugu are related languages; Kannada script also writes Tulu.

Part of the collection

ಕ

Kannada Alphabets & Letters

Who writes ಔ

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Don't confuse it with

ೌ

Kannada Vowel Sign Au

ಔ vs ೌ: ಔ is the full vowel letter; ೌ is a vowel sign attached to a preceding consonant.

Questions people ask

Why does ಔ 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.