Tai Tham digit five

It means five in Tai Tham’s Tham numeral set.

Tai Tham has two numeral sets: Tham for ecclesiastical, or religious, writing, and Hora for secular writing. In Laos, Tham writing was generally reserved for religious works. The value stays five; the form that fits depends on the text’s convention.

As of 2025, Tai Lue monasteries still teach Tai Tham, while younger Tai Lue speakers in Xishuangbanna learn New Tai Lue, a later script for their language. That places ᪕ in ongoing religious teaching and a heritage-script context; it does not replace ordinary 5 in every kind of writing.

Where did Tai Tham’s numeral tradition come from?

It grew from a regional manuscript tradition.

Tai Tham’s forms resemble Mon writing used in Haripuñjaya inscriptions from the 13th century. The oldest dated Tham document is a bilingual gold-leaf inscription from 1376; the oldest known dated Tham manuscript is from 1471. Tham had been adapted for local spoken languages by no later than the 15th century.

Tai Tham is used for Khuen, Northern Thai, and Tai Lue across northern Thailand, Laos, eastern Shan, and Yunnan. Monks and scribes wrote Pali, a language used in Buddhist texts, and local Tai languages on palm leaves and mulberry paper; the script also carried chronicles, legal, astrological, medicinal, and poetic works. In the 20th century, New Tai Lue, a simplified script for Tai Lue, developed from historic Lanna or Tai Tham and adapted its digits from the Hora set.

Why does ᪕ show as a box?

The font may not include Tai Tham characters. As of 2026, Payap Lanna reports that some complex Tai Tham sequences need the Graphite shaping engine. A broken surrounding word can be a shaping problem rather than a different digit.