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The alphabet is classified into two categories: swarams (or vowels) and vyanjanams (or consonants).
If you don't have a font that has Malayalam characters and Unicode support, the Malayalam characters in the following tables may not appear correctly.
| Letter | Vowel sign | Vowel with [p] | Unicode name | IPA | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| അ | പ | (pa) | A | a | short 'a' | |
| ആ | ാ | പാ | (pā) | AA | aː | long 'a' |
| ഇ | ി | പി | (pi) | I | i | short 'i' |
| ഈ | ീ | പീ | (pi) | II | iː | long 'i' |
| ഉ | ു | പു | (pu) | U | u | short 'u' |
| ഊ | ൂ | പൂ | (pu) | UU | uː | long 'u' |
| ഋ | ൃ | പൃ | (pr̥) | VOCALIC R | rɨ | |
| ഌ | VOCALIC L | obsolete/rarely used | ||||
| എ | െ | പെ | (pe) | E | e | short 'e' |
| ഏ | േ | പേ | (pe) | E | eː | long 'e' |
| ഐ | ൈ | പൈ | (pai) | AI | ai | |
| ഒ | ൊ | പൊ | (po) | O | o | short 'o' |
| ഓ | ോ | പോ | (po) | OO | oː | long 'o' |
| ഔ | ൌ | പൌ | (pau) | AU | au |
| Malayalam | Unicode Name | Transliteration | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|
| ക | KA | k | k |
| ഖ | KHA | kh | kh |
| ഗ | GA | g | g |
| ഘ | GHA | gh | gɦ |
| ങ | NGA | n̄ or ng | n |
| ച | CA | c | tʃ |
| ഛ | CHA | ch | tʃh |
| ജ | JA | j | dʒ |
| ഝ | JHA | jh | dʒɦ |
| ഞ | NYA | ñ or ny | ɲ |
| ട | TTA | ṭ or tt | ʈ |
| ഠ | TTHA | ṭh or tth | ʈh |
| ഡ | DDA | ḍ or dd | ɖ |
| ഢ | DDHA | ḍh or ddh | ɖɦ |
| ഞ | NNA | ṇ or nn | ɳ |
| ത | TA | t | t̪ |
| ഥ | THA | th | t̪h |
| ദ | DA | d | d̪ |
| ധ | DHA | d | d̪ɦ |
| ന | NA | n | n̪ |
| പ | PA | p | p |
| ഫ | PHA | ph | ph |
| ബ | BA | b | b |
| ഭ | BHA | bh | bɦ |
| മ | MA | m | m |
| യ | YA | y | j |
| ര | RA | r | r̪ |
| റ | RRA | ṟ or rr | r |
| ല | LA | l | l |
| ള | LLA | ḷ or ll | ɭ |
| ഴ | LLLA | ḻ or lll | ɹ |
| വ | VA | v | ʋ |
| ശ | SHA | s or sh | ɕ |
| ഷ | SSA | ṣ or ss | ʃ |
| സ | SA | s | s |
| ഹ | HA | h | ɦ |
There is no distinction of case, i.e. no uppercase and lowercase letters. Diacritics, or vowel signs, are used to associate a vowel to a consonant. When no diacritic is used, the vowel sound 'a' is assumed. To specifically denote the
absence of a vowel, a chandrakkala ് (also called virama) is used.
| Symbol | Name | Function |
|---|---|---|
| ് | virama or chandrakkala | denotes the absence of a vowel |
| ം | anusvaaram | nasalizes the preceding vowel |
| ഃ | visargam | adds voiceless breath after vowel (like h) |
In addition to these symbols, there are many more symbols to indicate ligatures
of the various consonants with each other.
Malayalam digits are written as follows:
| Malayalam | Arabic |
|---|---|
| ൦ | 0 |
| ൧ | 1 |
| ൨ | 2 |
| ൩ | 3 |
| ൪ | 4 |
| ൫ | 5 |
| ൬ | 6 |
| ൭ | 7 |
| ൮ | 8 |
| ൯ | 9 |