Cha (Indic)

Cha
Cha
Example glyphs
Bengali
Tibetan
Thai	ฉ
Malayalam	ഛ
Sinhala	ඡ
Ashoka Brahmi
Devanagari
Cognates
Hebrew	ק
Greek	Ϙ (Ϟ), Φ
Latin	Q
Cyrillic	Ҁ, Ф
Properties
Phonemic representation	/t͡ʃʰ/
IAST transliteration	cha Cha
ISCII code point	B9 (185)

This article contains uncommon Unicode characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of the intended characters.

Cha is the seventh consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, cha is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter , which is probably derived from the Aramaic letter ("Q") after having gone through the Gupta letter .

Āryabhaṭa numeration[]

Aryabhata used Devanagari letters for numbers, very similar to the Greek numerals, even after the invention of Indian numerals. The values of the different forms of छ are:^[1]

छ [t͡ʃʰə] = 7 (७)
छि [t͡ʃʰɪ] = 700 (७००)
छु [t͡ʃʰʊ] = 70,000 (७० ०००)
छृ [t͡ʃʰri] = 7,000,000 (७० ०० ०००)
छॢ [t͡ʃʰlə] = 7×10⁸ (७०^८)
छे [t͡ʃʰe] = 7×10¹⁰ (७०^१०)
छै [t͡ʃʰɛː] = 7×10¹² (७०^१२)
छो [t͡ʃʰoː] = 7×10¹⁴ (७०^१४)
छौ [t͡ʃʰɔː] = 7×10¹⁶ (७०^१६)

Historic Cha[]

There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. Cha as found in standard Brahmi, was a simple geometric shape, with variations toward more flowing forms by the Gupta . The Tocharian Cha did not have an alterante Fremdzeichen form. The third form of cha, in Kharoshthi () was probably derived from Aramaic separately from the Brahmi letter.

Brahmi Cha[]

The Brahmi letter , Cha, is probably derived from the altered Aramaic Tsade , and is thus related to the Greek San (letter). Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Cha can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period.^[2] As the earliest and most geometric style of Brahmi, the letters found on the Edicts of Ashoka and other records from around that time are normally the reference form for Brahmi letters, with vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.

Brahmi Cha historic forms
Ashoka (3rd-1st c. BCE)	Girnar (~150 BCE)	Kushana (~150-250 CE)	Gujarat (~250 CE)	Gupta (~350 CE)

Tocharian Cha[]

The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi , but does not have an alternate Fremdzeichen form.

Tocharian Cha with vowel marks
Cha	Chā	Chi	Chī	Chu	Chū	Chr	Chr̄	Che	Chai	Cho	Chau	Chä

Kharoṣṭhī Cha[]

The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the altered Aramaic Tsade , and is thus related to the Greek San (letter), in addition to the Brahmi Cha.

Devanagari script[]

Cha (छ) is the seventh consonant of the Devanagari abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , after having gone through the Gupta letter . Letters that derive from it are the Gujarati letter છ and the Modi letter

[1]

[2]