What ଵ means
It preserves Sanskrit v in Odia spelling. The Odia va is a marked spelling choice: ordinary Odia usually writes Sanskrit-origin words represented with v in Latin transliteration using ବ. The Sanskrit word वन (“forest”), for example, appears in ordinary Odia as ବନ; specialist spelling can use ଵ at the start.
Older examples show more than one form. A 2002 Unicode proposal compares nineteenth-century sources with later reference forms that modify BA using dots, rings, or other marks.
A 2019 analysis says letterpress printing, which uses fixed metal type, made the BA/VA distinction difficult to maintain, so printers substituted ordinary ବ. It describes digital text as making a distinct VA easier to keep again.
ଵ vs ବ vs ୱ: which letter is this?
ଵ is the marked VA; ବ is BA, and ୱ is WA. Odia uses ଵ to preserve Sanskrit v; ୱ was devised for initial w in borrowed words from Perso-Arabic or English. In Odia consonant clusters, a following consonant can appear in a reduced attached form, and medial VA and WA can look alike. Some fonts also blur BA, VA, and WA; use the word's spelling and context when the outline is unclear.
Marked and specialist: it signals that the writer is preserving Sanskrit v in Odia spelling.
It is not a drop-in substitute for ବ in everyday Odia words.
Drift: As of 2025, a Unicode identifier review found no documented common use for ଵ in printed books, magazines, or mass communication.
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Who writes ଵ
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Don't confuse it with
2
More like this
11
How to type or find ଵ
- Search it as
- va · v · ba vs va · Odia wa · ଵ · ବ · ୱ
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
ଵ\0B35Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.