O
Example glyphs
Bengali-Assamese
Tibetan
Tamil
Thai	โ
Malayalam	ഒ
Sinhala	ඕ
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	/oː/
IAST transliteration	o O
ISCII code point	B0 (176)

O is a vowel of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, O is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter . As an Indic vowel, O comes in two normally distinct forms: 1) as an independent letter, and 2) as a vowel sign for modifying a base consonant. Bare consonants without a modifying vowel sign have the inherent "A" vowel.

Āryabhaṭa numeration

Aryabhata used Devanagari letters for numbers, very similar to the Greek numerals, even after the invention of Indian numerals. The ो sign was used to modify a consonant's value ×10¹⁴, but the vowel letter ओ did not have an inherent value by itself.^[1]

Historic O

There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. O as found in standard Brahmi, was a simple geometric shape, with variations toward more flowing forms by the Gupta . Like all Brahmic scripts, Tocharian O has an accompanying vowel mark for modifying a base consonant. In Kharoṣṭhī, the only independent vowel letter is for the inherent A. All other independent vowels, including O are indicated with vowel marks added to the letter A.

Brahmi O

The Brahmi letter O , is probably derived from the altered Aramaic Waw , and is thus related to the modern Latin F, V, U, W, Y and Greek Upsilon.^[2] Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi O can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period.^[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 some vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.

Brahmi O historic forms

Ashoka (3rd-1st c. BCE)	Girnar (~150 BCE)	Kushana (~150-250 CE)	Gujarat (~250 CE)	Gupta (~350 CE)

Tocharian O

The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi . Unlike some of the consonants, Tocharian vowels do not have a Fremdzeichen form.

Tocharian consonants with O vowel marks

Ko	Kho	Go	Gho	Co	Cho	Jo	Jho	Nyo	Ṭo	Ṭho	Ḍo	Ḍho	Ṇo
To	Tho	Do	Dho	No	Po	Pho	Bo	Bho	Mo	Yo	Ro	Lo	Vo
Śo	Ṣo	So	Ho

Devanagari Ō

Devanagari independent Ō and Ō vowel sign.

Ō (ओ) is a vowel 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 ઓ, and the Modi letter 𑘌.

Bengali Ō

Bengali independent Ō and Ō vowel sign.

Ō (ও) is a vowel of the Bengali abugida. It is derived from the Siddhaṃ letter , and is marked by the lack of horizontal head line and less geometric shape than its Devanagari counterpart, ओ.

Gujarati Ō

Gujarati independent O and O vowel sign.

Ō (ઓ) is a vowel of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Ō , and ultimately the Brahmi letter .

Gujarati Candra O

Gujarati independent short O and short O vowel sign.

Candra O (ઑ, short O) is a vowel of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Candra O, and ultimately the Brahmi letter .

Gujarati-using Languages

The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, ઑ is pronounced as [o]. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel.

Javanese O

Telugu O

Telugu independent vowel and vowel sign O.

O (ఒ) is a vowel of the Telugu abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter . It is closely related to the Kannada letter ಒ. Like in other Indic scripts, Telugu vowels have two forms: and independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of Telugu consonant letters. Vowel signs in Telugu can interact with a base consonant in one of three ways: 1) the vowel sign touches or sits adjacent to the base consonant without modifying the shape of either 2) the vowel sign sits directly above the consonant, replacing its v-shaped headline, 3) the vowel sign and consonant interact, forming a ligature. Unlike other vowels, the O vowel sign has an alternate form in some typefaces that is used for the Gho, Jho, Mo and Yo syllables.

Telugu Gho and Ghō, showing the alternate forms of the vowel marks.

Telugu O vowel sign on క, ఖ, గ, ఘ & ఙ: Ko, Kho, Go, Gho and Ngo. Note that how the vowel sign interacts with the base consonant is dependent on the location of the headline, the absence of a headline, and the presence of a tail to attach to.

Telugu Ō

Telugu independent vowel and vowel sign Ō.

In addition, Telugu also contains a second O vowel, Ō (ఓ). It is also descended from the Brahmi letter . It is closely related to the Kannada letter ಓ. The long Ō vowel sign generally interacts with a base consonant the same as short O, with an alternate vowel sign form in some typefaces for Ghō, Jhō, Mō and Yō.

Telugu Ō vowel sign on క, ఖ, గ, ఘ & ఙ: Kō, Khō, Gō, Ghō and Ngō. Note that how the vowel sign interacts with the base consonant is dependent on the location of the headline, the absence of a headline, and the presence of a tail to attach to.

Malayalam O

Malayalam independent vowel and vowel sign O.

O (ഒ) is a vowel of the Malayalam abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Grantha letter o. Like in other Indic scripts, Malayalam vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Malayalam usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound.

Malayalam independent vowel and vowel sign Ō.

Odia O

Odia independent and vowel sign O

O (ଓ) is a vowel of the Odia abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter o. Like in other Indic scripts, Odia vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Odia usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. No base consonants are altered in form when adding a vowel sign, and there are no consonant+vowel ligatures in Odia.

Kaithi O

Kaithi independent vowel and vowel sign O.

O (𑂋) is a vowel of the Kaithi abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter O. Like in other Indic scripts, Kaithi vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Kaithi usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. No base consonants are altered in form when adding a vowel sign, and there are no consonant+vowel ligatures in Kaithi.

Comparison of O

The various Indic scripts are generally related to each other through adaptation and borrowing, and as such the glyphs for cognate letters, including O, are related as well.

Comparison of O in different scripts

Aramaic Kharoṣṭhī 𐨆 Ashoka Brahmi Kushana Brahmi[lower-alpha 1] Tocharian[lower-alpha 2] - Gupta Brahmi Pallava Kadamba - Bhaiksuki 𑰌 Siddhaṃ Grantha 𑌓 Cham ꨅ Sinhala ඕ Pyu / Old Mon[lower-alpha 3] - Tibetan Newa 𑐌 Ahom 𑜨 Malayalam ഓ Telugu ఒ Burmese ဩ Lepcha ᰨ Ranjana Saurashtra ꢐ Dives Akuru 𑤉 Kannada ಓ Kayah Li ꤪ Limbu ᤨ Soyombo[lower-alpha 4] 𑩕 Khmer ឱ / ោ Tamil Chakma 𑄮 Tai Tham ᩒ / ᩰ Meitei Mayek ꫡ Gaudi - Thai โ Lao ໂ Tai Le ᥩ Marchen 𑲴 Tirhuta 𑒍 New Tai Lue ᦷ Tai Viet ꪶ Aksara Kawi - 'Phags-pa ꡡ Odia ଓ Sharada 𑆏 Rejang ꥋ Batak ᯬ Buginese ᨚ Zanabazar Square 𑨆 Bengali-Assamese Takri 𑚈 Javanese ꦎ Balinese ᬑ Makasar 𑻶 Hangul[lower-alpha 5] - Northern Nagari - Dogri 𑠈 Laṇḍā - Sundanese ᮇ Baybayin - Modi 𑘌 Gujarati ઓ Khojki 𑈆 Khudabadi 𑊸 Mahajani 𑅔 Tagbanwa - Devanagari Nandinagari 𑦬 Kaithi Gurmukhi ਓ Multani - Buhid - Canadian Syllabics[lower-alpha 6] - Soyombo[lower-alpha 7] 𑩕 Sylheti Nagari ꠅ Gunjala Gondi - Masaram Gondi[lower-alpha 8] 𑴉 Hanuno'o - Notes ↑ The middle "Kushana" form of Brahmi is a later style that emerged as Brahmi scripts were beginning to proliferate. Gupta Brahmi was definitely a stylistic descendant from Kushana, but other Brahmi-derived scripts may have descended from earlier forms. ↑ Tocharian is probably derived from the middle period "Kushana" form of Brahmi, although artifacts from that time are not plentiful enough to establish a definite succession. ↑ Pyu and Old Mon are probably the precursors of the Burmese script, and may be derived from either the Pallava or Kadamba script ↑ May also be derived from Devangari (see bottom left of table) ↑ The Origin of Hangul from 'Phags-pa is one of limited influence, inspiring at most a few basic letter shapes. Hangul does not function as an Indic abugida. ↑ Although the basic letter forms of the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics were derived from handwritten Devanagari letters, this abugida indicates vowel sounds by rotations of the letter form, rather than the use of vowel diacritics as is standard in Indic abugidas. ↑ May also be derived from Ranjana (see above) ↑ Masaram Gondi acts as an Indic abugida, but its letterforms were not derived from any single precursor script.

Character encodings of O

Most Indic scripts are encoded in the Unicode Standard, and as such the letter O in those scripts can be represented in plain text with unique codepoint. O from several modern-use scripts can also be found in legacy encodings, such as ISCII.

Character information

Preview							ఓ		ଓ		ಓ		ഓ		ઓ		ਓ
Unicode name	DEVANAGARI LETTER O		BENGALI LETTER O		TAMIL LETTER OO		TELUGU LETTER OO		ORIYA LETTER O		KANNADA LETTER OO		MALAYALAM LETTER OO		GUJARATI LETTER O		GURMUKHI LETTER OO
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	2323	U+0913	2451	U+0993	2963	U+0B93	3091	U+0C13	2835	U+0B13	3219	U+0C93	3347	U+0D13	2707	U+0A93	2579	U+0A13
UTF-8	224 164 147	E0 A4 93	224 166 147	E0 A6 93	224 174 147	E0 AE 93	224 176 147	E0 B0 93	224 172 147	E0 AC 93	224 178 147	E0 B2 93	224 180 147	E0 B4 93	224 170 147	E0 AA 93	224 168 147	E0 A8 93
Numeric character reference	ओ	ओ	ও	ও	ஓ	ஓ	ఓ	ఓ	ଓ	ଓ	ಓ	ಓ	ഓ	ഓ	ઓ	ઓ	ਓ	ਓ
ISCII	176	B0	176	B0	176	B0	176	B0	176	B0	176	B0	176	B0	176	B0	176	B0

Character information

Preview	Ashoka Kushana Gupta				𑌓
Unicode name	BRAHMI LETTER O		SIDDHAM LETTER O		GRANTHA LETTER OO
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	69649	U+11011	71052	U+1158C	70419	U+11313
UTF-8	240 145 128 145	F0 91 80 91	240 145 150 140	F0 91 96 8C	240 145 140 147	F0 91 8C 93
UTF-16	55300 56337	D804 DC11	55301 56716	D805 DD8C	55300 57107	D804 DF13
Numeric character reference	𑀑	𑀑	𑖌	𑖌	𑌓	𑌓

Character information

Preview	𑘌		𑦬		ꠅ
Unicode name	MODI LETTER O		NANDINAGARI LETTER O		SYLOTI NAGRI LETTER O		KAITHI LETTER O
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	71180	U+1160C	72108	U+119AC	43013	U+A805	69771	U+1108B
UTF-8	240 145 152 140	F0 91 98 8C	240 145 166 172	F0 91 A6 AC	234 160 133	EA A0 85	240 145 130 139	F0 91 82 8B
UTF-16	55301 56844	D805 DE0C	55302 56748	D806 DDAC	43013	A805	55300 56459	D804 DC8B
Numeric character reference	𑘌	𑘌	𑦬	𑦬	ꠅ	ꠅ	𑂋	𑂋

References