Gurmukhi Letters

Gurmukhi Vowel Letters

Gurmukhi vowels, also called Sur (ਸੁਰ), can be classified into dependent and independent vowels.

There are 10 independent vowels and are constructed using three vowel bases. They are Ura (ੳ), Aira (ਅ) and Iri (ੲ).

Dependent vowels, on the other hand, are represented by accents and are added either in the front, or after, on the base or on the top of base characters to form different vowel sounds and diphthongs.

Gurmukhi Consonant Letters

Consonant in Gurmukhi are also called Akhar (ਆਖ਼ਰ). Together with 3 vowel base (also called vowel holders), there are in total 35 consonants. Each consonant character represents a phonetic sound and are combined with either dependent or independent vowel to make a final sound.

Additional Consonants in Gurmukhi

In Gurmukhi, there are six consonants created by placing a dot (also bindi) at the foot of the consonant. These dot symbol at the bottom of the consonants represent borrowed sound.

Gurmukhi Numeral Letters

Gurmukhi script uses its own numerals system, which was used extensively in older texts to denote numerical values and doing mathematical calculation. Now-a-days these traditional characters have been replaced either by Latin or Hindi numerals.

Halant

Although not used when writing Punjabi in Gurmukhi, Halant character is used in Sanskritised text to represent the suppression of the inherent vowel. For e.g. when halant is added to ਕ (Ka) it will be transformed into ਕ੍ (K).

Ek Onkar

Ek Onkar is the most important symbol used in Sikh literature which means `one God`.

Visarg

Visarg is used either to represent an abbreviation in English or like a Visarg in Sanskrit where a voiceless `h` sound is pronounced after the vowel letter.

Gurmukhi Special Character Letters

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)