Appendix 2: Glossary of key terms
अक्षर akṣar: a single letter or character of the alphabet
अंक aṅk: numeral, digit, number
अघोष aghōṣ: voiceless consonant
अनुस्वार anusvār: dot written above the top line and between two consonants showing a “half” nasal consonant appending to the second consonant
अयोगवाह ayōgavāh: helper or auxiliary symbol, such as अनुस्वार anusvār or विसर्ग visarg
अल्पप्राण alpaprāṇ: unaspirated consonant
उच्चारण uccāraṇ: pronunciation
कंठ्य kaṇṭhya: velar
घोष ghōṣ: voiced consonant
चंद्रबिन्दु candrabindu: symbol of a horizontal crescent moon shape with a dot on top, used to indicate a nasalized vowel (moon shape can be omitted if the vowel matra is already in that space)
तालव्य tālavya: palatal
दन्त्य dantya: dental
द्वयोष्ठ्य dvayoṣṭhya: bilabial
नासिक्य nāsikya: nasal
महाप्राण mahāprāṇ: aspirated consonant
मात्रा mātrā: dependent vowel or diacritic, a marker that appends to a consonant to form a syllable
मूर्धन्य mūrdhanya: retroflex
युक्ताक्षर yuktākṣar: conjunct (combined) consonant
राकर rākar: a shortened form of र taking the form of a short diagonal stroke, used in conjunct consonants where र is the last sound of the conjunct
रेफ reph: a shortened form of र taking the form of a small curve shape at the top of the letter it precedes, used in conjunct consonants where र is the first sound of the conjunct
वर्णमाला varṇmālā: the Devanāgarī alphabet, literally the “garland of letters”
विराम virām: long vertical line equivalent to a period or full stop at the end of a sentence
विराम चिन्ह virām cinha: general term for punctuation
विसर्ग visarg: indicates a puff of air after a syllable, somewhat like adding a “huh” sound
व्यंजन vyañjan: consonant
स्वर svar: vowel
शिरोरेखा śirōrēkhā: the horizontal line at the top of a letter or word, always written after the entire word is complete rather than letter by letter
हलंत halant: indicates suppression of vowel