How many letters are in the Lao alphabet?

27 consonants, 33 vowels and 4 tone marks. On top of that come the ligatures and digraphs formed with a silent ຫ, such as ໜ, ໝ and ຫຼ.

How many tones does Lao have?

Six in the Vientiane dialect, which standard written Lao is based on. Northern Lao, spoken in Luang Prabang, uses five. ຂາ (leg), ຄາ (stuck), ຄ້າ (trade), ຂ່າ (galangal) and ຂ້າ (kill), all “kha”, plus ກາ (crow, “ka”), show all six on nearly one syllable.

Why is Lao written without spaces between words?

That is the traditional convention. A space ends a clause or sentence, doing the work of a comma or full stop. Words inside a phrase run together: ຂ້ອຍຮັກເຈົ້າ is “I love you”.

What are ໜ and ໝ?

Joined forms of ຫ + ນ and ຫ + ມ. The ຫ is silent and puts the n or m in the high tone class. On the Windows Lao layout ໜ is Shift+O and ໝ is Shift+comma. Examples: ໜູ (rat), ໝາ (dog).

Should I write ໝາ or ຫມາ?

ໝາ. Wiktionary lists ຫມາ, ຫນູ and ຫລາຍ as dated spellings of ໝາ, ໜູ and ຫຼາຍ. The two forms look alike but are different characters, so text in one form may not show up in a search for the other.

How do I type ຫຼ?

On the Windows Lao layout, Shift+] types ຫ and the small ຼ together in one keystroke. The ຼ sign alone is Shift+6. Spelling reforms removed the other clusters it was used in, so it now appears only in ຫຼ, as in ຫຼາຍ (many).

Where are the four Lao tone marks on the keyboard?

On the Windows Lao layout, ່ (mai ek) is J and ້ (mai tho) is H. ໊ (mai ti) is Shift+H and ໋ (mai catawa) is Shift+J. Type the consonant and its vowel sign first, then the tone mark.

Why do some Lao keys type a vowel and a tone mark at once?

Shift on A, Y, U, B, N and Q gives a vowel sign already joined with ້: ັ້, ິ້, ີ້, ຶ້, ື້ and ົ້. The vowel sign alone is on the same key without Shift. Shift+= gives ໍ with ່.

Why does Shift+7 type 5 on the Lao keyboard?

Because Shift+5 and Shift+6 hold ໌ and ຼ, so the Latin digits after 4 slide along: Shift+7 is 5, Shift+8 is 6, through Shift+- for 9, and Shift+W for 0. Lao digits ໐ to ໙ are on AltGr with the number row.

What does Shift+Space do on the Lao layout?

It types a zero-width space (U+200B). It shows nothing, but tells software where one word ends, so a long Lao line written without spaces can wrap at a word boundary.

What is the ໆ sign?

ໆ repeats the word before it. ຫຼາຍໆ is ຫຼາຍ said twice, as in ຂອບໃຈຫຼາຍໆ (thank you very much). On the Windows Lao layout it is Shift+M.

The Lao ellipsis, the name Unicode gives it, used where English would write three dots. On the Windows Lao layout it is Shift+C.

What happened to the letter ຣ?

It was dropped in a spelling reform because most speakers pronounce r as l, and some dictionaries left it out. It came back for foreign names such as countries and is now taught in schools. On the Windows Lao layout it is Shift+I.

Can modern Lao letters write Pali?

Not completely, because the reforms removed the letters Pali needs. Unicode 12.0 (March 2019) added 14 Pali and Sanskrit letters and a Pali virama to the Lao block. They are not on the standard keyboard.

Why do Lao words that start with a vowel begin with ອ?

A Lao vowel sign cannot stand alone, so the silent consonant ອ carries it, as in ອ້າຍ (older brother). ອ is on V. Lao textbooks show vowel signs on a small x instead of a consonant, and the Windows layout has a plain x on Shift+V.

Is ຳ the same as ໍ followed by າ?

It looks the same but is a different character. ຳ is one code point and is on E on the Windows Lao layout, as in ນ້ຳ (water). Text typed as ໍ + າ can be missed by a search for the single-character form.

How do I type the kip sign ₭?

₭ is the sign of the kip, the currency of Laos. On the Windows Lao layout it is Shift+Z, and on this page it is in the Special popup.

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The Lao alphabet descends from the Old Khmer script of Angkor, by way of the Sukhothai script, which had reached the Mekong basin by the late 15th century. In the 16th century Lao scribes adopted a simplified, cursive form now called Tai Noi; an inscription in it records the building of Wat Si Saket in Vientiane, completed in 1824. On the Thai side of the Mekong the script was banned by royal decree in 1871, and Isan, the Lao of northeast Thailand, is written in Thai letters today. In the 1930s the scholar Maha Sila Viravong added letters for Pali and Sanskrit, but they never spread. The 1975 spelling reform went the other way: silent letters and special letters for Indian loanwords were removed, every vowel was written out, and even ຣ (r) was dropped from official texts. Modern Lao has 27 consonants, 33 vowels and 4 tone marks. Lao was encoded in the first version of Unicode, 1.0, in October 1991; two letters for the Khmu language followed in Unicode 6.1 in 2012, and Unicode 12.0, released on 5 March 2019, added 15 more characters: 14 Pali and Sanskrit letters and a Pali virama.

Standard Vientiane Lao has six tones, and the spelling shows which one: the consonant's class (high, middle or low), the vowel length and one of four tone marks combine to give it. Nearly one syllable makes six words: ຂາ (leg), ຄາ (stuck), ຄ້າ (trade), ຂ່າ (galangal) and ຂ້າ (kill) are all “kha”, and ກາ (crow) is its unaspirated partner “ka”. Northern Lao, the speech of Luang Prabang, uses five. Lao is also written without spaces between words. A space marks the end of a clause or sentence, doing the work that a comma or a full stop does in English, so the reader finds the word breaks inside each phrase.

Facebook is where most typed Lao lives. DataReportal counted 4.97 million internet users in Laos at the start of 2025, and Meta’s ad tools reached 4.25 million people on Facebook and 2.80 million on Messenger. Getting Lao onto those screens took a standard: in July 2007 the Lao government approved the Unicode font Phetsarath OT as the official standard for communication and exchange of information. The physical layout has its own logic. On the Windows Lao keyboard the number row holds letters (ຢ on 1, ຟ on 2, ໂ on 3, ຖ on 4), Shift on that row gives Latin digits in a shifted order, so Shift+7 types 5, and the Lao digits ໐ to ໙ are on AltGr. Shift+Space types a zero-width space, an invisible word break that lets long Lao lines wrap without showing a gap. Search is the other trap: ໝາ and its dated spelling ຫມາ look alike but are different characters, and the same is true of ຳ against ໍ followed by າ. This keyboard shows all 27 consonants, ໜ and ໝ, the vowels that are written before the consonant, every vowel sign and tone mark in one popup, and the kip sign ₭.

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One Silent Letter, One Joined Glyph

ໜ ໝ ຫຼ — ຫ fused with the next letter

It moves a letter to the high class

ໝາ or ຫມາ?

ຼ survives only in ຫຼ

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Lao Keyboard Onlineແປ້ນພິມລາວ

One click to insert — or copy straight to clipboard

How To Use

Type

Copy

Paste

Lao Keyboard for Any App

Snapchat

WhatsApp

Instagram

TikTok

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

One Silent Letter, One Joined Glyph

ໜ ໝ ຫຼ — ຫ fused with the next letter

It moves a letter to the high class

ໝາ or ຫມາ?

ຼ survives only in ຫຼ

Frequently AskedQuestions

Free Keyboards, All Online

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

Frequently Asked
Questions