Malayalam Letter Vocalic L

ഌ is Malayalam’s letter for Sanskrit vocalic l, an “l” that forms its own syllable. In Sanskrit written with Malayalam letters it appears in classical spellings; as of 2026, it is obsolete or very rare in everyday Malayalam.

Text symbol

What ഌ means

It writes Sanskrit’s vocalic l: the l sound serving as a vowel of its own.

Vocalic l means “l” acts as a vowel and forms its own syllable. Its dependent sign is ൢ; ൡ is the long form.

Malayalam writing developed through Vatteluttu, an older South Indian script, and Grantha, which also supplied letters for Sanskrit. A Vazhappally copper plate from the 9th century CE uses Vatteluttu with some Grantha letters.

Sanskrit-facing and scholarly, not ordinary Malayalam spelling.

Part of the collection

മ

Malayalam Alphabets & Letters

Who writes ഌ

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Don't confuse it with

ഋ

Malayalam Letter Vocalic R

Is ഌ the same as ഋ? No. ഋ is Sanskrit’s vocalic r, an r forming a syllable; ഌ is vocalic l.

Questions people ask

Why does ഌ 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.