Anusvara

Anusvara

अनुस्वार, anusvāra

In Sanskrit and a number of Indian languages, the diacritical mark ं denotes a nasal overtone at the end of a vowel or nasalization of a vowel. In Devanagari, it is denoted by a dot over a nasalized vowel: में, नहीं.

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, it is indicated by a dot under the corresponding sound: ṃ

When placed over consonants, anusvara means:

• The sound ṅ, if the consonant is followed by the letters of the velar series "क,ख,ग,घ" (गंगा = गङ्गा).

• The sound ñ, if the consonant is followed by the letters of the palatal series "च,छ,ज,झ" (कंजूस = कञजूस).

• The sound ṇ, if the consonant is followed by the letters of the retroflex series "ट,ठ,ड,ढ" (पंडित = पिण्डत).

• The sound n, if the consonant is followed by the letters of the dental row "त,थ,द,ध" (हिंदी = हिन्दी).

• The sound m, if the consonant is followed by labial letters "प,म,ब,भ" or if anusvara is at the end of a word borrowed from Sanskrit (लंबा = लम्बा, स्वयं = स्वयम्). 

• In other cases, anusvara denotes the sound n (कंस = कन्स).