halant

Meaning

Noun

• A diacritic used in most writing systems of the Indian subcontinent to signify the lack of an inherent vowel.
• A sign which serves the same purpose in any writing system.
• A character which binds consonants into a conjunct or some other form of visual combination which is prototypically a visual indication that the first consonant does not have an implicit vowel

Related

Similar words

• virama

Origin

• Borrowed from Hindi हलंत. The computing sense arises from the diacritic sense through the use in w:ISCII of the same computer character to act, depending on context and font capabilities, as either a visual diacritic or as a control character modifying a pair of consonants.