Zanabazar Square Letter Sha

It is a consonant letter, conventionally transliterated ś, in Zanabazar Square.

Here, śa is a scholarly transliteration: the consonant is roughly like the “sh” in English “ship.” Zanabazar Square is an abugida, a writing system in which consonant letters carry a default vowel. The language and attached marks determine the full syllable.

The script was used to write Mongolian, Sanskrit, and Tibetan in Buddhist literary works. A study of a biography manuscript places its use around 1686. Zanabazar Square draws on Tibetan writing and is historically related to the separate Phags-pa square script; Soyombo is a companion script, not another name for this letter.

Why do marks change the reading?

Attached marks can change the vowel or stack the consonant.

Zanabazar Square consonants carry an inherent vowel, like the open “a” in “father.” A vowel sign changes it. In Mongolian, a final-consonant mark suppresses that vowel at a syllable boundary. In Sanskrit or Tibetan, a virama—a mark that removes the vowel—can leave the consonant bare; a subjoined form places another consonant below it to make a vertical stack.

Read the whole written syllable and its language. The transliteration śa is a label for the letter, not a universal spoken pronunciation.

How do I enter 𑨮 in text?

Use an HTML character reference and a font that supports the script.

For HTML input of the Zanabazar Square sha, enter 𑨮 in the source. If the result is a box, the selected font may lack the glyph. If the letter appears but its attached marks stay unjoined or misplaced, the text shaper may not support Zanabazar Square.

A compatibility note from February 2018 reported incomplete shaping in Windows 10's Microsoft rendering and Mozilla Firefox. It is a historical compatibility report, not a guide to current software.