What ໕ means
It means five. Lao manuscripts used numerals for dates and folio numbers—the numbered leaves or pages; Arabic numerals sometimes appeared beside them.
The script's history is regional. Evidence from present-day Laos reflects influence from Lan Na, a neighboring Tai kingdom, from the later fifteenth century. Under Lan Xang, the historic Lao kingdom, Lao writing developed secular and religious forms.
Neutral in numerical text; its shape varies with the Lao-capable font.
Don't confuse it with
1Questions people ask
1Why does ໕ 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.
How to type ໕
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 0ED5, then Alt+X to get ໕.
Windows
Win+Rrun charmap for the full table, or use the emoji picker's Ω symbols tab (Win + .).
macOS
Control+Command+SpaceOpen the character viewer and search “lao digit five”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 0ed5, then Enter or Space.
HTML
໕CSS
\0ED5How to type ໕
In LaoKey10, Caps Lock maps the top-row 5 key to ໕; this is layout-specific.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
໕
HTML hex
໕
CSS content
content: "\0ED5";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E0%BB%95
1
On screen
1
Code points
1
JS .length
3
UTF-8 bytes
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.