ৰ / ৱ

The Letters ৰ and ৱ

FoundationsSounds Like ra ārau ra

ৰ sounds like r, as in ৰাতি “night”, and ৱ sounds like w, as in দেৱালী “Diwali”.

How It Works

Assamese writes these two letters in its own way. Bengali no longer uses them.

LetterSounds likeExamples
ৰr in “red”ৰাতি “night”, ঘৰ “house”
ৱw in “water”ছোৱালী “girl”, দেৱালী “Diwali”

The letter ৱ sits most often in the middle of a word, after a vowel. The letter ব sounds like b, so it cannot replace ৱ. In a joined letter such as ত্ৰ in ছাত্ৰ “student”, the ৰ is written as a small sign under the first letter.

A keyboard set for Bengali types the Bengali letter instead of ৰ. Choose the Assamese keyboard so that ঘৰ, মোৰ and ৰাতি come out right.

Examples (5)

  1. ৰাতি

    Night.

    ৰ at the start of a word sounds like r.

  2. ঘৰ

    House.

    ৰ at the end of a word still sounds like r.

  3. ছোৱালী

    Girl.

    ৱ sits in the middle and sounds like w.

  4. দেৱালী

    Diwali.

    ৱ comes after the vowel sign ে.

  5. ৰ’দ

    Sunshine.

    ৰ also begins words that have the apostrophe.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the Bengali look-alike of ৰ.

    ঘর
    ঘৰ

    The first spelling uses the Bengali letter. Assamese writes ৰ.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

ৰ / ৱFoundationsThe Letters ৰ and ৱ

Learn This First

ৰ and ৱ are two special letters of the script, so the script comes first.