Sunuwar Letter Ava

Ava marks a b-like sound with inward airflow. It represents /ɓ/: both lips close, the voice is on, and the air moves inward.

The modern Sunuwar script was developed in 1942 by Krishna Bahadur Jentich. Older Sunuwar writing was inscribed on animal skin; as it faded, it was copied and re-engraved in the 1940s. Elders met in 1943 to discuss developing the script, and Jentich collected and improved its letter order in the 1960s. Ava belonged to the original set.

In Nepal, the alphabetic spelling does not add a vowel automatically after a consonant. In the Sikkim Herald spelling used in Sikkim, a consonant may carry an inherent, short “uh” vowel unless a mark cancels it. This changes the written syllable, not Ava’s sound.

Why does 𑯕 show as a box?

The font may lack a Sunuwar glyph. Unicode can store the exact letter, but a font needs its own glyph to draw it. Without Sunuwar coverage, the display may be blank, a square, or a fallback character; choose a font that supports Sunuwar.

How do I type 𑯕?

Use a Unicode Sunuwar keyboard layout. Install and select a Sunuwar input layout in your device’s keyboard settings. Translation Commons released a desktop Sunuwar keyboard in 2022.

Older desktop fonts such as Kirat1, Kaatich, and Mukdum mapped Sunuwar shapes onto Latin-key text. A file made with one can store Latin characters rather than Unicode Sunuwar, so changing the font alone may not convert it.