Myanmar letter ddha

It is a rare Myanmar consonant, usually pronounced like d in Burmese.

Burmese keeps it in inherited spellings from Indic languages, especially Pali, an old Indian language used in Buddhist texts. Pali transliteration writes it as ḍh to distinguish it from ḍ, d, and dh: the dot under ḍ marks a tongue-curled consonant, and h marks an extra breath. Burmese usually merges these Indic d distinctions in speech, while preserving some in spelling.

The Myanmar script developed from a Brahmi-related South Indian script borrowed to write Mon in the 8th century. Its first recorded inscription dates to the 11th century; the 1113 Myazedi inscription uses Mon–Burmese script for Old Burmese, Pali, and Old Mon. These dates trace the script around ဎ, not this letter's own first appearance.

Why is ဎ rare in Burmese?

Its spelling role survived after the sound contrast faded.

A 2016 Fifty Viss report says ဎ moved from kindergarten teaching to first grade and describes the letter as rarely encountered. Its sample of the official spelling dictionary had no words beginning with ဎ. That is a teaching and dictionary snapshot, not a measure of all Burmese writing.

Language matters too: in the Mon language, which also uses Myanmar script, the same glyph has a different reading. A Mon dictionary gives a breathy t, an eh-like vowel, and a brief catch in the throat at the end.