Myanmar Letter Tha

Use the key assigned by your Burmese keyboard layout.

The Burmese letter often romanized “hta” sits on different keys by layout. The published myWin Unicode layout maps unshifted x to ထ; Windows and macOS layouts can differ, so check the map active on your device.

What sound does ထ make?

It is a t released with a puff of air.

For English speakers, the t at the start of “top” is a rough guide to the burst of air. In Burmese spelling, a consonant carries an unwritten vowel that vowel signs can change. Some signs are typed after the consonant but displayed before it. A mark called virama can link a following consonant, which may appear smaller below.

Where did the Myanmar script come from?

Its history follows South Asian writing traditions.

The standard account traces Myanmar script to a South Indian script related to Brahmi, an ancient Indian writing tradition, adapted to write Mon around the eighth century. The earliest Myanmar-script inscription dates to the eleventh century, and its alphabet closely resembles Mon inscriptions.

A 2005 history argues that Pyu, another early regional writing tradition, was an intermediary in the script’s route; historians disagree about that link. Myanmar script is used for Burmese, Mon, Karen, Kayah, Shan and Palaung, as well as Pali and Sanskrit; some languages use extra letters and marks.