Abugida

· from Ge'ez (Ethiopic)

What is an abugida?

An abugida is a script where each consonant letter has a built-in vowel, and other vowels are added as marks around it, as in Thai, Khmer and Devanagari.

The name comes from the first letters of the Ethiopic script. Most scripts descended from Indian Brahmi are abugidas, including Thai, Lao, Khmer, Balinese and Burmese, though Thai and Lao write some vowels as fuller letters. Vowel marks can sit before, after, above or below the consonant, which surprises learners.

Examples

Thai ก (k with inherent vowel), กา kaa, กิ ki, เก ke (vowel written before the consonant); Devanagari क ka, कि ki

Kungfucius says: A script where the vowel can appear before the consonant it follows. Time is a construct.