Limbu Vowel Sign E

It replaces a consonant’s built-in vowel with e. The Limbu script is used to write the Limbu language. This dependent vowel sign joins a consonant; for a syllable beginning with a vowel, it joins ᤀ, a carrier letter that provides a base. Alone, it is not a complete syllable.

Why does ᤧ appear around the letter?

Its stored order differs from its visible placement. Limbu writes ᤧ after the first consonant and any intervening letter, while the font positions its visible pieces around the first consonant. The mark can look split across the syllable; this surrounding layout is called a circumgraph. If it seems misplaced, check the character order first.

When was the Limbu script revived?

The modern script was revived in Kalimpong in 1925. The oldest known Limbu writings were collected in the 1850s. Limbu tradition credits Sirijanga with the script; a modern form was developed there to revive writing that had fallen out of use.

Limbu writing is used in Nepal and Sikkim. Some bilingual editions pair it with Nepali written in Devanagari. Readers more comfortable with Limbu or Nepali may therefore encounter the same material in different scripts. Printed editions of mundhum, a Limbu oral tradition, expanded after 1990.

The Limbu script descends from Brahmi, an older writing system, and its digital shaping follows a model also used for Tibetan. Limbu and Lepcha are separate, distantly related languages.