Which letters does Assamese have that Bengali does not?

ৰ (ro, U+09F0) and ৱ (wo, U+09F1). Apart from these two, the standard Assamese alphabet is the same as the Bengali one. Unicode's own notes name them the Assamese letters ra and wa.

What goes wrong if I type the Bengali r instead of ৰ?

The word looks almost the same, but it is stored with a different character, so search engines, spell-checkers and dictionaries do not see it as the Assamese word. ৰাতি (night) typed with the Bengali letter will not match ৰাতি. This keyboard only types ৰ.

Where are ৰ and ৱ on the Assamese InScript keyboard?

On the J and B keys. On the Bengali InScript layout those same keys type the Bengali r and b, so check which layout your computer has selected before you type.

How do I type a ৰ under or over another letter, as in ব্ৰহ্মপুত্ৰ?

On Assamese InScript, Shift+3 gives ্ৰ (the ৰ sign under a letter) and Shift+4 gives ৰ্ (the ৰ that sits over the next letter). Shift+6 gives ত্ৰ and Shift+8 gives শ্ৰ in one stroke. Here you can also type ্ then ৰ.

How do I type ক্ষ?

On Assamese InScript it is Shift+7. You can also type ক, then ্, then ষ. Assamese treats ক্ষ as a letter of its own, called khyo and read khy, as in ক্ষমা (forgiveness).

How many letters are in the Assamese alphabet?

The standard tables list 11 vowels and 33 consonants, 44 in all. ক্ষ is also taught as a letter, and ড়, ঢ় and য় are typed with two keys: the letter plus the dot sign ়.

Why do শ, ষ and স sound the same in Assamese?

All three stand for the Assamese x sound, a throat sound like the ch in Scottish loch. Their names keep the old difference: taloibyo xo, murdhoinyo xo and dontyo xo. Assamese also reads চ and ছ as an s sound, so চাহ (tea) starts with s.

Does Assamese use the same digits as Bengali?

Yes. Assamese and Bengali share the same ten digits, ০ to ৯ (U+09E6 to U+09EF). Only the spoken names differ: xuinno, ek, dui, tini and so on. Number keys type them on Assamese InScript.

What does the apostrophe in ল’ৰা mean?

It marks that the vowel is read o: ল’ৰা (boy) is lo-ra and হ’ল is hol. The mark separates words that would otherwise be spelled the same. Type it with the apostrophe key.

The first etymological dictionary of Assamese, compiled by Hemchandra Barua and published in 1900 after his death, with about 22,346 words. The first Assamese dictionary of any kind was Miles Bronson's, in 1867. It spelled words after their Sanskrit roots and is still treated as the standard reference for Assamese spelling.

Who made the first Assamese dictionary?

Miles Bronson, an American Baptist missionary. His dictionary came out of the mission press in 1867, decades before Hemkosh, which was the second Assamese dictionary.

When did Assamese become the official language of Assam?

It was declared the official vernacular in 1873, and the Assam Official Language Act, 1960 made it the language for the state's official purposes. The Act kept Bengali for administration up to district level in Cachar.

Is Assamese a classical language?

Yes. In October 2024 the Government of India gave Classical Language status to Assamese, together with Marathi, Pali, Prakrit and Bengali, for the age of its texts and its literary tradition.

What was the first book printed in Assamese?

The New Testament, printed at Serampore in 1813; the complete Bible followed in 1833. Atmaram Sarma helped translate it. Assamese and Bengali share the Eastern Nagari script, which is why ৰ and ৱ are now the visible difference.

What were Garhgaya, Bamuniya and Kaitheli?

Three styles of the older Assamese script in the 17th and 18th centuries: Garhgaya for state officials, Bamuniya for Brahmins writing Sanskrit, and Kaitheli, the most popular, used by others. Readers of today's alphabet find that old script hard to read.

In what language did Sankardeva write his Borgeets?

The Borgeets are in Brajavali, a literary idiom mixing Assamese and Maithili that Sankardeva shaped for songs and plays; his other works are in Assamese and Sanskrit. He composed about 240 Borgeets, of which 34 survive, and created the Ankia Naat one-act plays.

What are the main Assamese dialects?

Linguists group them as Eastern, Central, Kamrupi and Goalpariya, with the Dehan dialect also recognised. The written standard follows the spelling recorded in Hemkosh.

How many people speak Assamese?

The 2011 census counted 15,311,351 Assamese speakers in India, the 12th largest of the 22 scheduled languages, and 48.38% of the population of Assam. Counting second-language speakers, the total is about 24 million.

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All 44 Assamese letters with ৰ and ৱ on their own keys, ক্ষ in one tap and the digits ০–৯, on the Assamese InScript layout.

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Assamese is written in the Bengali-Assamese script, yet its alphabet has letters of its own. The script grew out of the Gupta-era writing of 5th-century rock inscriptions in Assam, and by the 17th and 18th centuries scribes used three styles: Garhgaya for state officials, Bamuniya for Sanskrit texts, and Kaitheli, the most popular. The first printed book in Assamese was the New Testament, printed at Serampore in 1813 and translated with the help of Atmaram Sarma; the complete Bible followed in 1833. The two alphabets look alike because both come from the same Eastern Nagari script. Assamese became the official vernacular of the province in 1873. Hemchandra Barua's etymological dictionary Hemkosh, published in 1900 after his death with about 22,346 words, is still the standard reference for Assamese spelling; it was the second Assamese dictionary, after the one compiled by the American missionary Miles Bronson. The Assam Official Language Act, 1960 made Assamese the language for the official purposes of the state, and in October 2024 the Government of India gave Assamese Classical Language status. The modern alphabet has 11 vowels and 33 consonants.

Two letters set Assamese apart from Bengali: ৰ and ৱ. ৰ (ro) is the Assamese r, with a stroke through the middle, as in ৰাতি (night) and ঘৰ (home). ৱ (wo) is a w sound, as in পুৱা (morning) and গুৱাহাটী (Guwahati). Unicode stores them as separate characters, U+09F0 and U+09F1, so the same word typed with the Bengali r looks almost identical on screen but is a different string to a computer. Assamese also treats ক্ষ as a letter of its own, khyo, and has a throat sound, x, written with শ, ষ or স.

Assamese typing tools were often built for Bengali first. In 2011 Assamese Wikipedia editors reported that the input scheme on Wikimedia sites had been designed for Bengali: typing “ra” gave the Bengali letter instead of ৰ, and there was no keystroke at all for ৱ. The same trap sits on the standard Windows layouts. On Assamese InScript the J key gives ৰ and the B key gives ৱ; on Bengali InScript the same keys give the Bengali r and b. Text typed on the wrong layout looks right but does not match Assamese words in search. Digital Assamese also started late: a 2012 paper from Tezpur University noted that newspaper offices used non-Unicode software such as Ramdhenu with custom fonts, and that most Assamese news websites published their pages as images, which no one could search. Today the audience is large: the 2011 census counted 15,311,351 Assamese speakers in India, 48.38% of the people of Assam. This keyboard types ৰ and ৱ on their own keys and never swaps in the Bengali letters.

Assamese Keyboard Onlineঅসমীয়া কীবৰ্ড

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Free Assamese Keyboard Online.
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Two Letters Only Assamese Uses

ৰ and ৱ

J types ৰ, B types ৱ

ক্ষ is khyo

শ ষ স all say x

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Assamese Keyboard Onlineঅসমীয়া কীবৰ্ড

One click to insert — or copy straight to clipboard

How To Use

Type

Copy

Paste

Assamese Keyboard for Any App

Snapchat

WhatsApp

Instagram

TikTok

Free Assamese Keyboard Online.Type from any device — no download, no install.

Two Letters Only Assamese Uses

ৰ and ৱ

J types ৰ, B types ৱ

ক্ষ is khyo

শ ষ স all say x

Frequently AskedQuestions

Free Keyboards, All Online

Free Assamese Keyboard Online.
Type from any device — no download, no install.

Frequently Asked
Questions