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ഷ

malayalam letter ssa

Malayalam Letter Ssa

ഷ is the Malayalam ssa (ṣa), a retroflex hiss used especially in Sanskrit loans. Its tongue tip turns back, unlike the forward “sh” sound of ശ.

Text symbol

What ഷ means

Malayalam ssa curls the tongue tip back for its hiss. ശ is formed farther forward, at the roof of the mouth; English “sh” approximates both sounds, but Malayalam keeps them distinct.

The modern Malayalam script descends from Grantha, a South Indian script used for Sanskrit; this letter carries one of its retroflex sounds. Older Malayalam used rounded Vatteluttu for inherited Dravidian words. From the 1500s, writers combined both traditions to spell Sanskrit loans. The Vāḻapaḷḷi plates (882–3 CE) are among the oldest surviving Malayalam writings, in Vatteluttu.

Part of the collection

മ

Malayalam Alphabets & Letters

Who writes ഷ

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Don't confuse it with

ശ

Malayalam Letter Sha

The forward “sh”; this letter curls the tongue tip back.

Questions people ask

Why does ഷ 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 or find ഷ

Also called: ṣa
Search it as: malayalam ssa · retroflex sha · Sanskrit loanwords · malayalam keyboard ssa
Shows up in: Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws

Windows (Word)

⎇Alt+XType 0D37, then AltX to get ഷ.

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 “malayalam letter ssa”.

Linux

⎈Ctrl+⇧Shift+UType 0d37, then Enter or Space.

HTML

ഷ

CSS

\0D37

Branah

In Branah’s Malayalam transliteration mode, type ssa for ഷ and sha for ശ (as of 2026).

Codes and encoding1 code points

HTML decimal

ഷ

HTML hex

ഷ

CSS content

content: "\0D37";

Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.

URL encoded

%E0%B4%B7

On screen

Code points

JS .length

UTF-8 bytes

A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.

Families this belongs to

Indian scripts3,440 symbols

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