Myanmar Letter Bha

Use a Unicode Myanmar keyboard; its layout sets the key.

Unicode does not prescribe one keyboard layout. Choose a Burmese or Myanmar IME (keyboard app); one published layout puts ဘ on B, but another may assign it elsewhere.

Type the consonant before its marks in the order your IME expects. Some vowels appear to the left even though they follow the consonant in stored text.

What does ဘ mean inside Burmese text?

It names a consonant; the syllable supplies its reading.

ဘ is not a standalone Burmese word and has no single English translation. Read it with the rest of its syllable and vowel marks. Why does ဘ appear in Pali? Myanmar script’s consonant inventory is also used to write Pali and Sanskrit; their transliteration writes ဗ as ba and ဘ as bha. Burmese, Old Burmese, and Mon share this inherited inventory.

Myanmar writing descends from a South Indian script related to Brahmi; around the eighth century, it was adapted to write Mon. The earliest inscription in Myanmar script dates to the eleventh century. The Kubyaukgyi/Myazedi stone inscription, c. 1112 CE, presents the same text in four languages: Old Burmese, Old Mon, Pali, and Pyu.