What 𑑄 means
Enter the base vowel first, then 𑑄. It is a nonspacing combining mark: you store it after the letter it nasalizes, and a font with Newa support draws it in place above or beside the syllable.
For an exact character, copy it from the palette. Do not type a free-standing dot or substitute a familiar Indic anusvara.
What does 𑑄 mean in Newa?
It marks a long nasalized vowel in Newa spelling. The companion 𑑃 marks a short nasalized vowel. The historical Newar encoding proposal calls 𑑄 the “long” nasal, sinhaputī. It changes pronunciation through the nose; punctuation uses separate Newa marks.
Where did this sign come from?
It evolved within the Newa writing tradition. Newa descends from Brahmi through northern Gupta, relates to Bengali, Oriya, and Tirhuta, and was influenced by Devanagari. A distinct Newa script emerged in the 10th century; a 908 CE Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra manuscript is its earliest recorded use.
The script served inscriptions, coins, manuscripts, and Nepal Bhasa and Sanskrit texts, and also carried Maithili, Bengali, and Hindi historically. As of 2026, the sources checked here do not identify 𑑄’s first attestation.
Technical and orthographic: use it in Newa text, not as an unexplained decorative symbol.
A lone 𑑄 is not a generic nasal mark; the host vowel determines the reading.
Part of the collection
Who writes 𑑄
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Don't confuse it with
3
Questions people ask
1Why does 𑑄 look different in different fonts?
It can. As of 2026, font support controls the placement of this combining mark; keep it after its base and use a font with Newa support.
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How to type or find 𑑄
- Also called
- sinhaputī · sinhaputi · Newa anusvāra
- Search it as
- anusvāra · long nasal · nasalization · nasalisation · nasal mark · newari · nepalbhasa · prachalit
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
𑑄\11444Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.