What 𑑖 means
It writes six in Newa numerals. Also called khu, it appears in Kathmandu Valley inscriptions, coins, manuscripts, and religious texts.
Newa developed from Brahmi, an older South Asian script, through northern Gupta forms; it is related to Devanagari, Bengali, and Tirhuta. Newar manuscripts also used letters as numerals beside regular digits. A manuscript from 908 CE is a witness to Newa writing, not proof of this digit's first appearance.
Use declined from the late 18th century; after a 1905 ban, revival groups promoted the script. A 2020 study in Pokhara described older participants retaining traditional Newar calculation practices, while younger literate participants mainly used Hindu-Arabic numerals.
A literal numeral in Newa writing; outside it, the script may be unfamiliar.
Don't confuse it with
4Questions people ask
1Why does 𑑖 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.
How to type 𑑖
𑑖\11456Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.