Odia Letter Da

It writes Odia’s voiced d sound. Also called Oriya da, ଦ is made with the tongue against the upper teeth; ଡ is made farther back with the tongue curled. Odia consonants carry an unwritten vowel by default; a vowel sign changes it, while a virama—a mark that removes the vowel—leaves the consonant bare.

The Odia script developed from Brahmi, an ancient Indian script, through Kalinga, an earlier regional script. The earliest known Odia-language inscription is dated 1051. Scribes cut letters into palm leaves with a stylus; straight cuts could split a leaf, favoring rounded strokes. A font may change the outline, but it is still the same letter.

How do I type Odia da?

Use an Odia keyboard or phonetic input method. A phonetic input method turns Latin-letter typing into Odia suggestions; InScript assigns characters to fixed keys. Latin spelling can use the same d for dental ଦ and retroflex ଡ, so check the Odia suggestion.

The script is also used to write Sanskrit and Munda languages such as Santali, Kui, and Ho. The surrounding language can vary, while this letter's role remains the same: it records a speech sound.