Devanagari Sign Virama Letter
The Devanagari Sign Virama (्, U+094D) suppresses the inherent vowel of a consonant.
U+094D
The Devanagari Sign Virama (्) is a small mark used with consonants in Hindi and related scripts. It tells the renderer that the consonant should not carry its default vowel sound. This page helps you copy the character reliably in text, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Devanagari Sign Virama Letter Meaning
The Devanagari Sign Virama (्, U+094D) is used to “kill” (suppress) the inherent vowel that normally follows a consonant in Devanagari. When you place this sign after a consonant letter, the result represents a consonant with no default trailing vowel, enabling consonant-only forms and consonant clusters. In typical Devanagari spelling, sequences with virama are often used to form “half forms” or combined consonant renderings. In plain text and digital editing, the virama is the key character that distinguishes a consonant from its default vowel-bearing form, making it important for transliteration, fonts, and accurate display.
Common uses
- •Writing consonant clusters by combining consonants without an implied vowel
- •Representing consonant-only forms in transliteration or phonetic text
- •Creating “half” forms in environments where rendering depends on the virama character
- •Correcting and normalizing Devanagari text in search, indexing, or text-cleaning pipelines
- •Testing font and shaping behavior for Devanagari stacks in web and UI previews
Examples
् Devanagari Sign Virama (Halant)
- ्क्
- ्प्
- ्त्
- ्स्
- ्क्त
Variations
Technical codes
| Unicode | U+094D | |
| HTML Entity | ् | |
| HTML Code | ् | |
| CSS | \094D |
FAQ
What does the Devanagari Sign Virama (्) do?
It suppresses the inherent vowel that normally appears with a Devanagari consonant, producing a consonant-only or stacked-cluster behavior.
How do I copy the symbol reliably in HTML?
Use the HTML entity ् (or copy the literal character: ्).
Why doesn’t the virama always look the same everywhere?
Its appearance depends on font and text shaping. Many systems render it as a consonant without the default vowel (often visually as a half/stacked form).
What Unicode code point is this symbol?
The Devanagari Sign Virama is U+094D.