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Va or Wa is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Va is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter 
after having gone through the Gupta letter 
. It is generally romanized as "Va" in scripts for Indic languages, but as "Wa" in many scripts for other language families.
| Va | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Example glyphs | |
| Bengali–Assamese |  |
| Tibetan | ཝ |
| Tamil |  |
| Thai | ว |
| Malayalam | വ |
| Sinhala | ව |
| Ashoka Brahmi | |
| Devanagari |
|
| Cognates | |
| Hebrew | ו |
| Greek | Ϝ (Ϛ), Υ (Ȣ) |
| Latin | F, V, U, W, Y, Ⅎ |
| Cyrillic | Ѕ, У (Ꙋ), Ѵ, Ю |
| Properties | |
| Phonemic representation | /ʋ/ |
| IAST transliteration | v V |
| ISCII code point | D4 (212) |
Aryabhata used Devanagari letters for numbers, very similar to the Greek numerals, even after the invention of Indian numerals. The values of the different forms of व are:[1]
There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. Va as found in standard Brahmi, was a simple geometric shape, with variations toward more flowing forms by the Gupta . The Tocharian Va 
had an alternate Fremdzeichen form, 
. The third form of va, in Kharoshthi (._Письмо_кхароштхі._Kharoshthi_letter_VA.svg){kind=small}
) was probably derived from Aramaic separately from the Brahmi letter.
Brahmi Va
The Brahmi letter , Va, is probably derived from the Aramaic Waw 
, and is thus related to the modern Latin F, V, U, W, Y, and Greek Upsilon.[2] There are numerous distinguishable Brahmi Va writing styles, most of which are connected to a collection of inscriptions from an artifact or a variety of documents from a historical era.[3] As the earliest and most geometric style of Brahmi, the letters found on the Edicts of Ashoka and other records from around that time are normally the reference form for Brahmi letters, with vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.
| Ashoka (3rd-1st c. BCE) | Girnar (~150 BCE) | Kushana (~150-250 CE) | Gujarat (~250 CE) | Gupta (~350 CE) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|  |  |  | |
Tocharian Va
The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi , and has an alternate Fremdzeichen form used in conjuncts and as an alternate representation of Vä.
| Va | Vā | Vi | Vī | Vu | Vū | Vr | Vr̄ | Ve | Vai | Vo | Vau | Vä | Fremdzeichen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |
Kharoṣṭhī Va
The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the Aramaic Waw , and is thus related to F, V, U, W, Y, and Upsilon, in addition to the Brahmi Va.[2]
Va (व) is a consonant of the Devanagari abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , after having gone through the Gupta letter . Letters that derive from it are the Gujarati letter વ, and the Modi letter 𑘪.
Old Nepali Va
In old Nepali language texts, a specific nuqta like dot is added to this glyph in order to represent the [wʌ], while the glyph by itself would be used to represent the bilabial stop [b]. [4]
Devanagari-using Languages
In most languages, व is pronounced as [və] or [v] when appropriate, while in Nepali it is [wʌ], however combination of [w] and /e, i, o, ʌi̯, r, w, j/ is constrained in Nepali, thus the letter is always pronounced as a bilabial stop [b] in such cases, but only sometimes otherwise. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:
| Va | Vā | Vi | Vī | Vu | Vū | Vr | Vr̄ | Vl | Vl̄ | Ve | Vai | Vo | Vau | V |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| व | वा | वि | वी | वु | वू | वृ | वॄ | वॢ | वॣ | वे | वै | वो | वौ | व् |
Conjuncts with व
Devanagari exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts. In modern Devanagari texts, most conjuncts are formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". Some conjunct clusters are always represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters. Vertically stacked conjuncts are ubiquitous in older texts, while only a few are still used routinely in modern Devanagari texts. The use of ligatures and vertical conjuncts may vary across languages using the Devanagari script, with Marathi in particular preferring the use of half forms where texts in other languages would show ligatures and vertical stacks.[5]
Ligature conjuncts of व
True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Devanagari are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants include Na and the Repha and Rakar forms of Ra. Nepali and Marathi texts use the "eyelash" Ra half form 
for an initial "R" instead of repha.
- Repha र্ (r) + व (va) gives the ligature rva: note
- Eyelash र্ (r) + व (va) gives the ligature rva:
- व্ (v) + न (na) gives the ligature vna:
- व্ (v) + rakar र (ra) gives the ligature vra:
- द্ (d) + ध্ (dʱ) + व (va) gives the ligature ddʱva:
- द্ (d) + व (va) gives the ligature dva:
- द্ (d) + व্ (v) + य (ya) gives the ligature dvya:
- Repha र্ (r) + द্ (d) + व (va) gives the ligature rdva:
Stacked conjuncts of व
Vertically stacked ligatures are the most common conjunct forms found in Devanagari text. Although the constituent characters may need to be stretched and moved slightly in order to stack neatly, stacked conjuncts can be broken down into recognizable base letters, or a letter and an otherwise standard ligature.
- ब্ (b) + व (va) gives the ligature bva:
- छ্ (cʰ) + व (va) gives the ligature cʰva:
- च্ (c) + व (va) gives the ligature cva:
- ढ্ (ḍʱ) + व (va) gives the ligature ḍʱva:
- ड্ (ḍ) + व (va) gives the ligature ḍva:
- ह্ (h) + व (va) gives the ligature hva:
- झ্ (jʰ) + व (va) gives the ligature jʰva:
- ज্ (j) + ज্ (j) + व (va) gives the ligature jjva:
- ख্ (kʰ) + व (va) gives the ligature kʰva:
- क্ (k) + त্ (t) + व (va) gives the ligature ktva:
- क্ (k) + व (va) gives the ligature kva:
- ळ্ (ḷ) + व (va) gives the ligature ḷva:
- ल্ (l) + व (va) gives the ligature lva:
- ङ্ (ŋ) + व (va) gives the ligature ŋva:
- ञ্ (ñ) + व (va) gives the ligature ñva:
- फ্ (pʰ) + व (va) gives the ligature pʰva:
- Repha र্ (r) + स্ (s) + व (va) gives the ligature rsva:
- श্ (ʃ) + व (va) gives the ligature ʃva:
- ष্ (ṣ) + ट্ (ṭ) + व (va) gives the ligature ṣṭva:
- स্ (s) + व (va) gives the ligature sva:
- ठ্ (ṭʰ) + व (va) gives the ligature ṭʰva:
- ट্ (ṭ) + व (va) gives the ligature ṭva:
- त্ (t) + त্ (t) + व (va) gives the ligature ttva:
- त্ (t) + व (va) gives the ligature tva:
- व্ (v) + ब (ba) gives the ligature vba:
- व্ (v) + च (ca) gives the ligature vca:
- व্ (v) + छ (cʰa) gives the ligature vcʰa:
- व্ (v) + ड (ḍa) gives the ligature vḍa:
- व্ (v) + ग (ga) gives the ligature vga:
- व্ (v) + ज (ja) gives the ligature vja:
- व্ (v) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature vjña:
- व্ (v) + क (ka) gives the ligature vka:
- व্ (v) + ल (la) gives the ligature vla:
- व্ (v) + ङ (ŋa) gives the ligature vŋa:
- व্ (v) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature vña:
- व্ (v) + व (va) gives the ligature vva:
The Bengali script ব is derived from the Siddhaṃ 
, and is marked by a similar horizontal head line, but less geometric shape, than its Devanagari counterpart, व. Unlike many of its cognates in other Indic scripts, ব is primarily identified as the /b/ consonant, especially as an independent consonant. It tends to have no inherent pronunciation itself when in a non-head position of a conjuct conjunct, often serving as an indication of gemination (doubling) of the preceding consonant sound, although there are a few words where it retains its /b/ pronunciation.
Like all Indic consonants, ব can be modified by marks to indicate another (or no) vowel than its inherent "a".
| ba | bā | bi | bī | bu | bū | br | br̄ | be | bai | bo | bau | b |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ব | বা | বি | বী | বু | বূ | বৃ | বৄ | বে | বৈ | বো | বৌ | ব্ |
ব in Bengali-using languages
ব is used as a basic consonant character in all of the major Bengali script orthographies, including Bengali and Assamese.
Conjuncts with non-head ব
Bengali ব exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, with a tendency towards stacked ligatures. When used as the head (first) consonant in a conjunct, ব is normally pronounced as /b/.[6]
Bengali Va-phala
Like Ra and Ya, the Bengali Va is almost always realized in a reduced form called "Va phala" (vo pholo) when found as the final consonant of a conjunct. This reduced form is appended at the bottom of a vertical stem, or otherwise attached at the bottom of a preceding consonant or conjunct.
- ভ্ (bʰ) + ব (va) gives the ligature bʰva:
- চ্ (c) + ছ্ (cʰ) + ব (va) gives the ligature ccʰva:
- চ্ (c) + ব (va) gives the ligature cva:
- ড্ (ḍ) + ব (va) gives the ligature ḍva:
- দ্ (d) + দ্ (d) + ব (va) gives the ligature ddva:
- দ্ (d) + ব (va) gives the ligature dva:
- গ্ (g) + ব (va) gives the ligature gva:
- জ্ (j) + জ্ (j) + ব (va) gives the ligature jjva:
- জ্ (j) + ব (va) gives the ligature jva:
- খ্ (kʰ) + ব (va) gives the ligature kʰva:
- ক্ (k) + ষ্ (ṣ) + ব (va) gives the ligature kṣva:
- ক্ (k) + ব (va) gives the ligature kva:
- ল্ (l) + ব (va) gives the ligature lva:
- ম্ (m) + ব (va) gives the ligature mva:
- ন্ (n) + দ্ (d) + ব (va) gives the ligature ndva:
- ন্ (n) + ত্ (t) + ব (va) gives the ligature ntva:
- ন্ (n) + ব (va) gives the ligature nva:
- র্ (r) + দ্ (d) + ব (va) gives the ligature rdva, with repha in addition to va phala:
- র্ (r) + শ্ (ʃ) + ব (va) gives the ligature rʃva, with repha in addition to va phala:
- শ্ (ʃ) + ব (va) gives the ligature ʃva:
- ষ্ (ṣ) + ব (va) gives the ligature ṣva:
- স্ (s) + ত্ (t) + ব (va) gives the ligature stva:
- স্ (s) + ব (va) gives the ligature sva:
- থ্ (tʰ) + ব (va) gives the ligature tʰva:
- ট্ (ṭ) + ব (va) gives the ligature ṭva:
- ত্ (t) + ত্ (t) + ব (va) gives the ligature ttva:
- ত্ (t) + ব (va) gives the ligature tva:
Other ব conjuncts
A few letters conjoin with ব by keeping it in its full form instead of the reduced Va-phala.
- ধ্ (dʱ) + ব (va) gives the ligature dʱva with full-form va:
- র্ (r) + ধ্ (dʱ) + ব (va) gives the ligature rdʱva, with repha:
- ম্ (m) + ব্ (v) + র (ra) gives the ligature mvra, with the ra phala suffix. Note that this is a different base conjunct than mva, above:
Va (વ) is the twenty-ninth consonant of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Va with the top bar (shiro rekha) removed, and ultimately the Brahmi letter .
Gujarati-using Languages
The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, વ is pronounced as [və] or [v] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:
| Va | Vā | Vi | Vī | Vu | Vū | Vr | Vl | Vr̄ | Vl̄ | Vĕ | Ve | Vai | Vŏ | Vo | Vau | V |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||||||||||
| Gujarati Va syllables, with vowel marks in red. | ||||||||||||||||
Conjuncts with વ
Gujarati વ exhibits conjunct ligatures, much like its parent Devanagari Script. Most Gujarati conjuncts can only be formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". A few conjunct clusters can be represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters, and vertically stacked conjuncts can also be found in Gujarati, although much less commonly than in Devanagari. True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Gujarati are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants include Na and the Repha and Rakar forms of Ra.
- ર્ (r) + વ (va) gives the ligature RVa:
- વ્ (v) + ર (ra) gives the ligature VRa:
- ટ્ (ʈ) + વ (va) gives the ligature ṬVa:
- ડ્ (ɖ) + વ (va) gives the ligature ḌVa:
- દ્ (d) + વ (va) gives the ligature DVa:
- વ્ (v) + ન (na) gives the ligature VNa:
- શ્ (ʃ) + વ (va) gives the ligature ŚVa:
- હ્ (h) + વ (va) gives the ligature HVa:
Telugu independent and subjoined Va.
Va (వ) is a consonant of the Telugu abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter . It is closely related to the Kannada letter ವ. Most Telugu consonants contain a v-shaped headstroke that is related to the horizontal headline found in other Indic scripts, although headstrokes do not connect adjacent letters in Telugu. The headstroke is normally lost when adding vowel matras.
Telugu conjuncts are created by reducing trailing letters to a subjoined form that appears below the initial consonant of the conjunct. Many subjoined forms are created by dropping their headline, with many extending the end of the stroke of the main letter body to form an extended tail reaching up to the right of the preceding consonant. This subjoining of trailing letters to create conjuncts is in contrast to the leading half forms of Devanagari and Bengali letters. Ligature conjuncts are not a feature in Telugu, with the only non-standard construction being an alternate subjoined form of Ṣa (borrowed from Kannada) in the KṢa conjunct.
Va (വ) is a consonant of the Malayalam abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Grantha letter 
Va. Like in other Indic scripts, Malayalam consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.
Conjuncts of വ
As is common in Indic scripts, Malayalam joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. There are several ways in which conjuncts are formed in Malayalam texts: using a post-base form of a trailing consonant placed under the initial consonant of a conjunct, a combined ligature of two or more consonants joined, a conjoining form that appears as a combining mark on the rest of the conjunct, the use of an explicit candrakkala mark to suppress the inherent "a" vowel, or a special consonant form called a "chillu" letter, representing a bare consonant without the inherent "a" vowel. Texts written with the modern reformed Malayalam orthography, put̪iya lipi, may favor more regular conjunct forms than older texts in paḻaya lipi, due to changes undertaken in the 1970s by the Government of Kerala.
- വ് (v) + വ (va) gives the ligature vva:
Odia independent and subjoined letter Wa.
Wa (ୱ) is a consonant of the Odia abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter Va.[citation needed] Like in other Indic scripts, Odia consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.
| Wa | Wā | Wi | Wī | Wu | Wū | Wr̥ | Wr̥̄ | Wl̥ | Wl̥̄ | We | Wai | Wo | Wau | W |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ୱ | ୱା | ୱି | ୱୀ | ୱୁ | ୱୂ | ୱୃ | ୱୄ | ୱୢ | ୱୣ | ୱେ | ୱୈ | ୱୋ | ୱୌ | ୱ୍ |
As is common in Indic scripts, Odia joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. The most common conjunct formation is achieved by using a small subjoined form of trailing consonants. Most consonants' subjoined forms are identical to the full form, just reduced in size, although a few drop the curved headline or have a subjoined form not directly related to the full form of the consonant. Wa shares its subjoined form with Ba, called "Ba Phala" or "Wa Phala" depending on its pronunciation in context. Ba is the character normally used for the /w/ and /v/ sounds of the letter Wa. ୱ generates conjuncts only by subjoining and does not form ligatures.
Kaithi consonant and half-form Va.
Va (𑂫) is a consonant of the Kaithi abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter Va. Like in other Indic scripts, Kaithi consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.
| Va | Vā | Vi | Vī | Vu | Vū | Ve | Vai | Vo | Vau | V |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 𑂫 | 𑂫𑂰 | 𑂫𑂱 | 𑂫𑂲 | 𑂫𑂳 | 𑂫𑂴 | 𑂫𑂵 | 𑂫𑂶 | 𑂫𑂷 | 𑂫𑂸 | 𑂫𑂹 |
Conjuncts of 𑂫
As is common in Indic scripts, Kaithi joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. The most common conjunct formation is achieved by using a half form of preceding consonants, although several consonants use an explicit virama. Most half forms are derived from the full form by removing the vertical stem. As is common in most Indic scripts, conjucts of ra are indicated with a repha or rakar mark attached to the rest of the consonant cluster. In addition, there are a few vertical conjuncts that can be found in Kaithi writing, but true ligatures are not used in the modern Kaithi script.
- 𑂫୍ (v) + 𑂩 (ra) gives the ligature vra:
| ||||||||||
Vo (វ) is a consonant of the Khmer abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Pallava letter 
Va. Like in other Indic scripts, Khmer consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel. Actually, the sounds of the vowels are modified by the consonant; see the article on the Khmer writing system for details.
| Va | Vā | Vi | Vī | Vu | Vū | Vr̥ | Vr̥̄ | Vl̥ | Vl̥̄ | Ve | Vai | Vo | Vau | Vẏ | Vȳ | Vua | Voe | Vẏa | Via | Vae | Và |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| វ | វា | វិ | វី | វុ | វូ | វ្ឫ | វ្ឬ | វ្ឭ | វ្ឮ | វេ | វៃ | វោ | វៅ | វឹ | វឺ | វួ | វើ | វឿ | វៀ | វែ | វៈ |
Note: The vowels (other than vocalic liquids) are shown using the ALA-LC scheme.[7]
Pali and Sanskrit are written as abugidas with the lack of a vowel between consonants notated as consonants indicated by vertically stacking the consonants without their touching. For phonetically final consonants, the lack of a vowel is marked by virama.
The Khmer language works the same, except that a different method is used for the last consonant of a word. The final consonant in a consonant stack is indicated as having no implicit vowel by applying tôndôkhéad to it. By default, a consonant surmounted by robat is silent and lacks an inherent vowel. The yŭkôlpĭntŭ positively indicates the presence of a final implicit vowel, plus its automatic glottal stop. Otherwise, there is no final vowel, unless the word is of Pali or Sanskrit origin, in which case the spelling is ambiguous. Up until the start of the 20th century, the lack of a final vowel could be indicating by subscripting the consonant, as then done in Lao and in other non-Indic languages using the Tai Tham script. As in the Thai, Lao and Tai Tham scripts, Va served as a mater lectionis representing the sound /ua/. In this rôle, it was subscripted. In Cambodian usage, a new form of subscript was developed for consonantal usage, and the two are now used contrastively.
Tai Tham independent, subjoined and superscript letter Wa.
Wa (ᩅ) is a consonant of the Tai Tham abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Pallava letter Va. Like in other Indic scripts, Tai Tham consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel.
| Syllable type | Va | Vā | Vi | Vī | Vư | Vư̄ | Vu | Vū | Vē | Vǣ | Vō |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Closed or open | ᩅ | ᩅᩤ | ᩅᩥ | ᩅᩦ | ᩅᩧ | ᩅᩨ | ᩅᩩ | ᩅᩪ | ᩅᩮ | ᩅᩯ | ᩅᩮᩤ |
| Vai | Vaư | Vau | Vō̹i | ||||||||
| Open | ᩅᩱ | ᩅᩲ | ᩅᩮᩢᩤ | ᩅᩮᩫᩢᩤ | ᩅᩮᩫᩤ | ᩅᩳ | ᩅᩭ | ||||
| Vo | Va | Vō | Vœ̄ | Vō̹ | Vo̹ | ||||||
| Open | ᩅᩰᩡ | ᩅᩡ | ᩅᩰ | ᩅᩮᩬᩥ | ᩅᩮᩦ | ᩅᩬᩴ | ᩅᩴ | ᩅᩬᩳ | ᩅᩳ | ᩅᩰᩬᩡ | ᩅᩰᩬ |
| Closed | ᩅᩫ | ᩅᩢ | ᩅᩰᩫ | ᩅᩮᩥ | ᩅᩮᩦ | ᩅᩬ | ᩅᩬᩢ | ||||
| Vūa | Vīa | Vư̄a | |||||||||
| Open | ᩅ᩠ᩅᩫ | ᩅ᩠ᨿᩮ | ᩅᩮᩢ᩠ᨿ | ᩅᩮᩬᩥᩋ | ᩅᩮᩬᩨᩋ | ᩅᩮᩬᩨ | |||||
| Closed | ᩅ᩠ᩅ | ᩅ᩠ᨿ | ᩅᩮᩬᩥ | ᩅᩮᩬᩨ | |||||||
Notes:
- The transliteration scheme is an amalgamation of the ALA-LC schemes of Khmer[7], Pali[8] and Lao[9].
- Many of the matras include subscript wa (
), subscript ya (
), subscript a (
) or even the letter a (
) itself. Anusvara (
) and visarga (
) are also used. - In the relevant Tai languages, a short vowel in an open syllable includes an underlyinɡ ɡlottal stop.
Additional short vowels not shown above may be synthesised from the corresponding long vowel by appending visarga for open syllables (as shown for Vo) or applying mai sat (
) for closed syllables (as shown for Vo̹). Unlike the other languages, Lao instead replaces an ī or ư̄ glyph by the corresponding short vowel.
The lack of a vowel between consonants notated as consonants is indicated by vertically stacking the consonants, generally without their touching. The Brahmi style of writing final consonants small and low developed, as vestigially seen in Khmer and Lao, into using subscripting to indicate that a consonant had no vowel of its own. In theory this leaves it ambiguous as to whether a consonant precedes or follows the vowel, but ambiguous cases are rare. Finally, if there is no room for the consonant below, it may be left as an 'independent' consonant or. in some cases, written superscript. Occasionally the visible virama (ra haam) is used, but this may signify that the consonant so marked is silent. The vowel /a/ will be made explicit if the final consonant is notated by a letter and is included in the same stack as the initial consonant or is written in a stack just consisting of that consonant.
Thus Wa may appear as the 'base' consonant with almost any other consonant. Northern Thai traditionally allows it to form an initial consonant cluster with almost any other consonant sound, it can act as a mater lectionis (as shown in the list of matras above for Vūa), and it can be a final consonant, as in the fairly common rime -iv, e.g. 
'to be hungry'. To accommodate a lack of space below the base consonants, there are several strategies:
- Subscript Wa can be written significantly smaller than usual, typically at the size of anusvara. Certain other consonants also exhibit vertically compressed subscript forms, most notably La and Nga.
- Subscript Wa can be nested within subscript Ma and Na, e.g. Northern Thai
<hmūaḍ> /muːat/ 'to twist'. - A sequence of subscript items can be written horizontally, rather than vertically. This sequence can continue beneath another base consonant. It can sometime be hard to see that the second subscript belongs with the first consonant rather than the second.
- For several letters, including Wa, if the space below the base letter is occupied, a final consonant can be written above instead. The result for Wa is frequently indistinguishable from anusvara, and is currently encoded the same, namely as TAI THAM SIGN MAI KANG. It occurs in the sequence <Ya, Wa>, as in the Tai Lue word ᨯ᩠ᨿᩴ '(just) one', where the subscripted letter Ya is used as a mater lectionis. This practice is extremely rare for Wa in Northern Thai.
For example, Northern Thai <hlūaṅ> 'big' can be written as:
- two stacks of (1) ha, la, wa all stacked vertically and (2) ṅa;
- two stacks: (1) a bent stack of ha, la below ha, wa to the right of la and (2) the single character ṅa. Visually, this is only subtly different from the meaningless two stacks of (1) ha, la and (2) ṅa, wa - 
;
- two stacks of (1) ha, la and (2) wa, ṅa;
The first two alternatives have the same encoding in Unicode; the font and its configuration determine the rendering.
The various Indic scripts are generally related to each other through adaptation and borrowing, and as such the glyphs for cognate letters, including Va, are related as well.
Most Indic scripts are encoded in the Unicode Standard, and as such the letter Va in those scripts can be represented in plain text with unique codepoint. Va from several modern-use scripts can also be found in legacy encodings, such as ISCII.
| Preview | | | | వ | ଵ | ವ | വ | વ | ਵ | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | DEVANAGARI LETTER VA | BENGALI LETTER BA | TAMIL LETTER VA | TELUGU LETTER VA | ORIYA LETTER VA | KANNADA LETTER VA | MALAYALAM LETTER VA | GUJARATI LETTER VA | GURMUKHI LETTER VA | |||||||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 2357 | U+0935 | 2476 | U+09AC | 2997 | U+0BB5 | 3125 | U+0C35 | 2869 | U+0B35 | 3253 | U+0CB5 | 3381 | U+0D35 | 2741 | U+0AB5 | 2613 | U+0A35 |
| UTF-8 | 224 164 181 | E0 A4 B5 | 224 166 172 | E0 A6 AC | 224 174 181 | E0 AE B5 | 224 176 181 | E0 B0 B5 | 224 172 181 | E0 AC B5 | 224 178 181 | E0 B2 B5 | 224 180 181 | E0 B4 B5 | 224 170 181 | E0 AA B5 | 224 168 181 | E0 A8 B5 |
| Numeric character reference | व | व | ব | ব | வ | வ | వ | వ | ଵ | ଵ | ವ | ವ | വ | വ | વ | વ | ਵ | ਵ |
| ISCII | 212 | D4 | 212 | D4 | 212 | D4 | 212 | D4 | 212 | D4 | 212 | D4 | 212 | D4 | 212 | D4 | 212 | D4 |
| Preview | Ashoka Kushana Gupta | 𐨬 | | 𑌵 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | BRAHMI LETTER VA | KHAROSHTHI LETTER VA | SIDDHAM LETTER VA | GRANTHA LETTER VA | ||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 69679 | U+1102F | 68140 | U+10A2C | 71082 | U+115AA | 70453 | U+11335 |
| UTF-8 | 240 145 128 175 | F0 91 80 AF | 240 144 168 172 | F0 90 A8 AC | 240 145 150 170 | F0 91 96 AA | 240 145 140 181 | F0 91 8C B5 |
| UTF-16 | 55300 56367 | D804 DC2F | 55298 56876 | D802 DE2C | 55301 56746 | D805 DDAA | 55300 57141 | D804 DF35 |
| Numeric character reference | 𑀯 | 𑀯 | 𐨬 | 𐨬 | 𑖪 | 𑖪 | 𑌵 | 𑌵 |
| Preview | ཝ | ྭ | ꡓ | 𑨭 | 𑐰 | 𑰪 | 𑆮 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | TIBETAN LETTER WA | TIBETAN SUBJOINED LETTER WA | PHAGS-PA LETTER WA | ZANABAZAR SQUARE LETTER VA | NEWA LETTER WA | BHAIKSUKI LETTER VA | SHARADA LETTER VA | |||||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 3933 | U+0F5D | 4013 | U+0FAD | 43091 | U+A853 | 72237 | U+11A2D | 70704 | U+11430 | 72746 | U+11C2A | 70062 | U+111AE |
| UTF-8 | 224 189 157 | E0 BD 9D | 224 190 173 | E0 BE AD | 234 161 147 | EA A1 93 | 240 145 168 173 | F0 91 A8 AD | 240 145 144 176 | F0 91 90 B0 | 240 145 176 170 | F0 91 B0 AA | 240 145 134 174 | F0 91 86 AE |
| UTF-16 | 3933 | 0F5D | 4013 | 0FAD | 43091 | A853 | 55302 56877 | D806 DE2D | 55301 56368 | D805 DC30 | 55303 56362 | D807 DC2A | 55300 56750 | D804 DDAE |
| Numeric character reference | ཝ | ཝ | ྭ | ྭ | ꡓ | ꡓ | 𑨭 | 𑨭 | 𑐰 | 𑐰 | 𑰪 | 𑰪 | 𑆮 | 𑆮 |
| Preview | ဝ | ᩅ | ᩴ | ᦞ | ᦛ | ᧁ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | MYANMAR LETTER WA | TAI THAM LETTER WA | TAI THAM SIGN MAI KANG | NEW TAI LUE LETTER LOW VA | NEW TAI LUE LETTER HIGH VA | NEW TAI LUE LETTER FINAL V | ||||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 4125 | U+101D | 6725 | U+1A45 | 6772 | U+1A74 | 6558 | U+199E | 6555 | U+199B | 6593 | U+19C1 |
| UTF-8 | 225 128 157 | E1 80 9D | 225 169 133 | E1 A9 85 | 225 169 180 | E1 A9 B4 | 225 166 158 | E1 A6 9E | 225 166 155 | E1 A6 9B | 225 167 129 | E1 A7 81 |
| Numeric character reference | ဝ | ဝ | ᩅ | ᩅ | ᩴ | ᩴ | ᦞ | ᦞ | ᦛ | ᦛ | ᧁ | ᧁ |
| Preview | វ | ួ | ວ | ว | ꪫ | ꪪ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | KHMER LETTER VO | KHMER VOWEL SIGN UA | LAO LETTER WO | THAI CHARACTER WO WAEN | TAI VIET LETTER HIGH VO | TAI VIET LETTER LOW VO | ||||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 6044 | U+179C | 6077 | U+17BD | 3751 | U+0EA7 | 3623 | U+0E27 | 43691 | U+AAAB | 43690 | U+AAAA |
| UTF-8 | 225 158 156 | E1 9E 9C | 225 158 189 | E1 9E BD | 224 186 167 | E0 BA A7 | 224 184 167 | E0 B8 A7 | 234 170 171 | EA AA AB | 234 170 170 | EA AA AA |
| Numeric character reference | វ | វ | ួ | ួ | ວ | ວ | ว | ว | ꪫ | ꪫ | ꪪ | ꪪ |
| Preview | ව | ꤠ | 𑄤 | ᥝ | 𑤩 | ꢮ | ꨥ | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | SINHALA LETTER VAYANNA | KAYAH LI LETTER VA | CHAKMA LETTER WAA | TAI LE LETTER VA | DIVES AKURU LETTER VA | SAURASHTRA LETTER VA | CHAM LETTER VA | |||||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 3520 | U+0DC0 | 43296 | U+A920 | 69924 | U+11124 | 6493 | U+195D | 71977 | U+11929 | 43182 | U+A8AE | 43557 | U+AA25 |
| UTF-8 | 224 183 128 | E0 B7 80 | 234 164 160 | EA A4 A0 | 240 145 132 164 | F0 91 84 A4 | 225 165 157 | E1 A5 9D | 240 145 164 169 | F0 91 A4 A9 | 234 162 174 | EA A2 AE | 234 168 165 | EA A8 A5 |
| UTF-16 | 3520 | 0DC0 | 43296 | A920 | 55300 56612 | D804 DD24 | 6493 | 195D | 55302 56617 | D806 DD29 | 43182 | A8AE | 43557 | AA25 |
| Numeric character reference | ව | ව | ꤠ | ꤠ | 𑄤 | 𑄤 | ᥝ | ᥝ | 𑤩 | 𑤩 | ꢮ | ꢮ | ꨥ | ꨥ |
| Preview | 𑘪 | 𑧊 | 𑩾 | ꠛ | 𑵭 | | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | MODI LETTER VA | NANDINAGARI LETTER VA | SOYOMBO LETTER VA | SYLOTI NAGRI LETTER BO | GUNJALA GONDI LETTER VA | KAITHI LETTER VA | ||||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 71210 | U+1162A | 72138 | U+119CA | 72318 | U+11A7E | 43035 | U+A81B | 73069 | U+11D6D | 69803 | U+110AB |
| UTF-8 | 240 145 152 170 | F0 91 98 AA | 240 145 167 138 | F0 91 A7 8A | 240 145 169 190 | F0 91 A9 BE | 234 160 155 | EA A0 9B | 240 145 181 173 | F0 91 B5 AD | 240 145 130 171 | F0 91 82 AB |
| UTF-16 | 55301 56874 | D805 DE2A | 55302 56778 | D806 DDCA | 55302 56958 | D806 DE7E | 43035 | A81B | 55303 56685 | D807 DD6D | 55300 56491 | D804 DCAB |
| Numeric character reference | 𑘪 | 𑘪 | 𑧊 | 𑧊 | 𑩾 | 𑩾 | ꠛ | ꠛ | 𑵭 | 𑵭 | 𑂫 | 𑂫 |
| Preview | 𑒫 | ᰟ | ᤘ | ꯋ | 𑲅 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | TIRHUTA LETTER VA | LEPCHA LETTER VA | LIMBU LETTER WA | MEETEI MAYEK LETTER WAI | MARCHEN LETTER WA | |||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 70827 | U+114AB | 7199 | U+1C1F | 6424 | U+1918 | 43979 | U+ABCB | 72837 | U+11C85 |
| UTF-8 | 240 145 146 171 | F0 91 92 AB | 225 176 159 | E1 B0 9F | 225 164 152 | E1 A4 98 | 234 175 139 | EA AF 8B | 240 145 178 133 | F0 91 B2 85 |
| UTF-16 | 55301 56491 | D805 DCAB | 7199 | 1C1F | 6424 | 1918 | 43979 | ABCB | 55303 56453 | D807 DC85 |
| Numeric character reference | 𑒫 | 𑒫 | ᰟ | ᰟ | ᤘ | ᤘ | ꯋ | ꯋ | 𑲅 | 𑲅 |
| Preview | 𑚦 | 𑠦 | 𑈨 | 𑋛 | 𑅯 | 𑊤 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | TAKRI LETTER VA | DOGRA LETTER VA | KHOJKI LETTER VA | KHUDAWADI LETTER VA | MAHAJANI LETTER VA | MULTANI LETTER VA | ||||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 71334 | U+116A6 | 71718 | U+11826 | 70184 | U+11228 | 70363 | U+112DB | 69999 | U+1116F | 70308 | U+112A4 |
| UTF-8 | 240 145 154 166 | F0 91 9A A6 | 240 145 160 166 | F0 91 A0 A6 | 240 145 136 168 | F0 91 88 A8 | 240 145 139 155 | F0 91 8B 9B | 240 145 133 175 | F0 91 85 AF | 240 145 138 164 | F0 91 8A A4 |
| UTF-16 | 55301 56998 | D805 DEA6 | 55302 56358 | D806 DC26 | 55300 56872 | D804 DE28 | 55300 57051 | D804 DEDB | 55300 56687 | D804 DD6F | 55300 56996 | D804 DEA4 |
| Numeric character reference | 𑚦 | 𑚦 | 𑠦 | 𑠦 | 𑈨 | 𑈨 | 𑋛 | 𑋛 | 𑅯 | 𑅯 | 𑊤 | 𑊤 |
| Preview | ᬯ | ᯋ | ᨓ | ꦮ | 𑻯 | ꥀ | ᮝ | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | BALINESE LETTER WA | BATAK LETTER WA | BUGINESE LETTER VA | JAVANESE LETTER WA | MAKASAR LETTER VA | REJANG LETTER WA | SUNDANESE LETTER WA | |||||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 6959 | U+1B2F | 7115 | U+1BCB | 6675 | U+1A13 | 43438 | U+A9AE | 73455 | U+11EEF | 43328 | U+A940 | 7069 | U+1B9D |
| UTF-8 | 225 172 175 | E1 AC AF | 225 175 139 | E1 AF 8B | 225 168 147 | E1 A8 93 | 234 166 174 | EA A6 AE | 240 145 187 175 | F0 91 BB AF | 234 165 128 | EA A5 80 | 225 174 157 | E1 AE 9D |
| UTF-16 | 6959 | 1B2F | 7115 | 1BCB | 6675 | 1A13 | 43438 | A9AE | 55303 57071 | D807 DEEF | 43328 | A940 | 7069 | 1B9D |
| Numeric character reference | ᬯ | ᬯ | ᯋ | ᯋ | ᨓ | ᨓ | ꦮ | ꦮ | 𑻯 | 𑻯 | ꥀ | ꥀ | ᮝ | ᮝ |
| Preview | ᜏ | ᝯ | ᝏ | ᜯ | 𑴨 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | TAGALOG LETTER WA | TAGBANWA LETTER WA | BUHID LETTER WA | HANUNOO LETTER WA | MASARAM GONDI LETTER VA | |||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 5903 | U+170F | 5999 | U+176F | 5967 | U+174F | 5935 | U+172F | 73000 | U+11D28 |
| UTF-8 | 225 156 143 | E1 9C 8F | 225 157 175 | E1 9D AF | 225 157 143 | E1 9D 8F | 225 156 175 | E1 9C AF | 240 145 180 168 | F0 91 B4 A8 |
| UTF-16 | 5903 | 170F | 5999 | 176F | 5967 | 174F | 5935 | 172F | 55303 56616 | D807 DD28 |
| Numeric character reference | ᜏ | ᜏ | ᝯ | ᝯ | ᝏ | ᝏ | ᜯ | ᜯ | 𑴨 | 𑴨 |
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