Tibetan Letter Cha

In standard lessons, ཆ adds a puff of air that ཅ lacks. Wylie spells their row ca–cha–ja; ཇ marks lower pitch. Speech has not preserved the contrast uniformly across Tibetan periods and varieties. When consonants stack in a syllable, ཆ takes a separate lower form.

Tibetan writing took shape in the seventh century

By the seventh century, Tibetan writing had adapted Indian systems based on Brahmi, an early Indian script. Tibetan tradition credits Thönmi Sambhota with creating it. In the imperial period, writing served official, Buddhist, and administrative needs. Eighth-century stone inscriptions from Lhasa are among the earliest surviving examples. Tick-marked ཚ appears in Tibetan transcriptions of Indian sounds.