Tagalog Letter Ba

It writes ba: a b consonant with its built-in a vowel.

An above kudlit—a small vowel mark—changes the built-in a to e or i; below changes it to o or u. A virama cancels the vowel. Font support varies: supported fonts can draw the strokes differently, while a font without the letter may show an empty box.

Is the Laguna Copperplate Baybayin?

No; its writing is Kawi-like, not Baybayin.

Baybayin belongs to Philippine scripts in a wider family of writing traditions derived from Brahmi, an ancient South Asian script. One proposed route passes through Kawi, an older script used in Java, between 10th and 14th centuries; the exact route remains uncertain. The Laguna Copperplate Inscription, a metal document from 900 CE, uses Early Kawi-like writing, not Baybayin. Direct written accounts of the Tagalog script begin in the mid-1500s.

Baybayin was used for personal communication, and Spanish missionaries also used it for Christian teaching. The 1593 Doctrina Christiana, a printed book of Christian instruction from Manila, includes Baybayin. By the mid-1700s it was no longer in ordinary use. Hanunóo, Buhid, and Tagbanwa are related Philippine scripts, though their exact paths of descent are uncertain. A National Museum exhibition in 2022 described a revival among young people in the Philippines and abroad; a Philippine Consulate exhibit in 2024 framed Baybayin tattoos as links to Filipino roots.