Sundanese letter E

It is the independent Sundanese vowel for a short, neutral schwa sound.

Use ᮈ when the vowel starts a syllable or stands alone. After a consonant, Sundanese uses the dependent vowel sign ᮨ, called pamepet, for that same sound.

Sundanese distinguishes it from ᮆ, an open e sound (phonetic notation /ɛ/, commonly written é), and ᮉ, a different vowel made toward the back of the mouth with unrounded lips (phonetic notation /ɤ/, commonly written eu). A plain Latin e does not show which vowel is intended.

Sundanese writing has deep West Javanese roots

Sundanese belongs to the Brahmic script family, whose roots go back to ancient Brahmi. West Java used the Pallawa or Pra-Nagari script for Sanskrit inscriptions from the fifth to the eighth centuries. Old Sundanese script developed from Pallawa and served the Sunda Kingdom from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The earliest identified example is the Kawali stone inscription.

Kawali was a former capital. Its inscriptions on standing stones are linked with local religious practice alongside Hinduism and Buddhism. Later, palm leaves carried sacred and scholarly manuscripts.

From the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, Sundanese was also written in Javanese and Arabic scripts; Latin became widely used during the twentieth century. The modern standard, derived from Old Sundanese, became official in 1996. As of 2026, it is taught in schools and used on road signs.

How do I type ᮈ without the wrong vowel?

Choose ᮈ for a standalone vowel; use ᮨ after a consonant.

Use a Sundanese-capable keyboard layout or a Unicode symbol picker to enter the letter. The two forms carry the same vowel in different positions.

In Windows, a box can appear when the selected font or app fallback lacks Sundanese coverage; the text can still contain ᮈ.