Myanmar Letter Ma

It marks an initial m; surrounding signs shape its reading. Vowel and tone marks change the syllable; medial consonant signs modify the base, and the asat mark can suppress its inherent vowel, the default vowel carried by a consonant. By itself, မ is a letter, not a word with a reliable translation.

The Myanmar script grew from a South Indian script descended from Brahmi, an ancient Indian writing system, brought from South India to write Mon about the eighth century and later adapted for Burmese. The earliest Myanmar-script inscriptions date to the eleventh century; early Burmese inscriptions included dedications for religious buildings and Buddhist acts of merit. Khmer uses a separate script from the same Brahmi family, with related structural features. Myanmar script also serves Mon, Karen, Shan, Pali, and other traditions, so identify the language before assigning this letter a reading.