Devanagari

Devanagari is an abugida used to write Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit, and other languages. Its letters represent consonants with an inherent vowel that other signs can modify or suppress.

Abugida: A writing system in which consonant symbols carry an inherent vowel that other signs can modify or suppress. Devanagari follows this system, distinguishing it from alphabets where vowels are independent letters.
Devanagari orthography: The conventions governing spelling and written forms in Devanagari. Orthographic rules determine when inherent vowels, vowel signs, and conjuncts appear.
Hindi: An Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in northern and central India and commonly written in Devanagari. Modern Hindi is the script’s most widely encountered use.
Brahmi script: An ancient Indian script from which most modern South and Southeast Asian scripts developed. Brahmi is the distant script ancestor in Devanagari’s historical lineage.
Bengali–Assamese script: An Eastern Indic script used for Bengali and Assamese, descended from the Brahmic script tradition. It shares historical roots with Devanagari but has distinct letter shapes and conventions.
Devanagari script: A script whose consonant letters normally include an inherent vowel, altered by vowel signs or removed by a virama. Its basic consonant-vowel units provide the script’s organizing principle.
Inherent vowel: A vowel understood as part of a consonant symbol when no other vowel is marked. It supplies the default vowel associated with Devanagari consonants.
Marathi: An Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in Maharashtra and commonly written in Devanagari. Marathi uses Devanagari with conventions and characters shaped by its own language.
Gupta script: A script used in the Gupta Empire, descended from Brahmi and ancestral to later North Indian scripts. Its letter forms belong to the development that led toward Devanagari.
Gujarati script: An Indic abugida used chiefly for Gujarati, closely related to Devanagari but generally lacking its headline. Its relationship highlights the visual significance of Devanagari’s continuous headline.

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