Lao Yamakkan

The Lao yamakkan is a Pali mark in Lao script that lets one consonant serve two neighboring syllables. It belongs to Lao Pali spelling, not everyday Lao; the consonant is shared across the boundary, not doubled.

Text symbol

What ໎ means

It signals that the boundary consonant serves both syllables. Pali is an older language used in Buddhist texts; this mark preserves its spelling in Lao script.

The earliest dated Lao reference is from 1935; later Pali and dictionary references are from 1939 and 1953. Together, they trace an evolving convention rather than a single invention.

Thai has a related yamakkan, ๎. As of 2022, it was rare in modern Thai, where phinthu, another mark, was more common.

Part of the collection

ກ

Lao Alphabet & Letters

Who writes ໎

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Don't confuse it with

๎

Thai Character Yamakkan

๎ is the Thai-script sign; ໎ is Lao. Similar shapes do not make them interchangeable.

Questions people ask

Why does ໎ show as a box on some devices?

It is recent: Unicode added it in version 15.0 (2022), and phones and computers whose fonts are older than that have nothing to draw it with. The character itself is still correct and copies correctly.