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E
Example glyphs
Bengali–Assamese
Tibetan
Tamil
Thai	เ
Malayalam	എ
Sinhala	එ
Ashoka Brahmi
Devanagari
Properties
Phonemic representation	/eː/
IAST transliteration	e E
ISCII code point	AC (172)

E is a vowel of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, E is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter . As an Indic vowel, E comes in two normally distinct forms: 1) as an independent letter, and 2) as a vowel sign for modifying a base consonant. Bare consonants without a modifying vowel sign have the inherent "A" vowel.

Āryabhaṭa numeration

Aryabhata used Devanagari letters for numbers, very similar to the Greek numerals, even after the invention of Indian numerals. The े sign was used to modify a consonant's value ×10, but the vowel letter ए did not have an inherent value by itself.

Historic Ē

There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. E as found in standard Brahmi, was a simple geometric shape, and remained basically unchanged all the way through the generally more flowing Gupta as . Like all Brahmic scripts, Tocharian E has an accompanying vowel mark for modifying a base consonant. In Kharoṣṭhī, the only independent vowel letter is for the inherent A. All other independent vowels, including E are indicated with vowel marks added to the letter A.

Brahmi Ē

The Brahmi letter E , is probably derived from the Aramaic Ayin , and is thus related to the modern Latin O and Greek Omicron. Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi E can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period. 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 some vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.

Brahmi E historic forms

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

Tocharian Ē

The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi . Unlike some of the consonants, Tocharian vowels do not have a Fremdzeichen form.

Tocharian consonants with E vowel marks

Ke	Khe	Ge	Ghe	Ce	Che	Je	Jhe	Nye	Ṭe	Ṭhe	Ḍe	Ḍhe	Ṇe
Te	The	De	Dhe	Ne	Pe	Phe	Be	Bhe	Me	Ye	Re	Le	Ve
Śe	Ṣe	Se	He

Kharoṣṭhī E

The Kharoṣṭhī letter E is indicated with the vowel mark . As an independent vowel, E is indicated by adding the vowel mark to the independent vowel letter A .

Devanagari Ē

Ē (ए) is a vowel 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 એ, and the Modi letter 𑘊.

Devanagari Using Languages

The Devanagari script is used to write the Hindi language, Sanskrit and the majority of Indo-Aryan languages. In most of these languages, ए is pronounced as [e]. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel.

Bengali Ē

Ē (এ) is a vowel of the Bengali abugida. It is derived from the Siddhaṃ letter , and is marked by the lack of horizontal head line and less geometric shape than its Devanagari counterpart, ए.

Bengali Script Using Languages

The Bengali script is used to write several languages of eastern India, notably the Bengali language and Assamese. In most languages, এ is pronounced as [e]. Like all Indic scripts, Bengali vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ɔ/ vowel.

Gujarati Ē

Ē (એ) is a vowel of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Ē , and ultimately the Brahmi letter .

Gujarati-using Languages

The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, એ is pronounced as [e]. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel.

Gujarati Candra E

Candra E (ઍ short E) is a vowel of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Candra E, and ultimately the Brahmi letter .

Gujarati-using Languages

The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, ઍ is pronounced as [ɛ]. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel.

Javanese E

In the Javanese script, the subjunct letter of /e/ is also known as taling.

Telugu E

E (ఎ) is a vowel of the Telugu abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter . It is closely related to the Kannada letter ಎ. Like in other Indic scripts, Telugu vowels have two forms: and independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of Telugu consonant letters. Vowel signs in Telugu can interact with a base consonant in one of three ways: 1) the vowel sign touches or sits adjacent to the base consonant without modifying the shape of either 2) the vowel sign sits directly above the consonant, replacing its v-shaped headline, 3) the vowel sign and consonant interact, forming a ligature.

Telugu Ē

In addition, Telugu also contains a second E vowel, Ē (ఏ). It is also derived from the Brahmi letter . It is closely related to the Kannada letter ಏ. The long Ē vowel sign interacts with base consonants the same as the short E.

Malayalam E

E (എ) is a vowel of the Malayalam abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Grantha letter e. Like in other Indic scripts, Malayalam vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Malayalam usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound.

Malayalam Ē

Ē (ഏ, Long E) is a vowel of the Malayalam abugida. It is ultimately a derivation of a predecessor to Malayalam short "E" that arose after Grantha. Like other Malayalam vowels, Ē has two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Malayalam usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound.

Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Vowels

ᐁ, ᐃ, ᐅ and ᐊ are the bare vowel characters in the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics. ᐞ is derived from the vowel series, and has the value of a glottal stop. Unlike the bare-consonant forms of most Canadian syllabic letters that are a small version of the A-series letter, ᐞ is a small version of the I-series ᐃ. The base character ᐁ is derived from a handwritten form of the Devanagari letter ए. Unlike most writing systems without legacy computer encodings, complex Canadian syllabic letters are represented in Unicode with pre-composed characters, rather than with base characters and diacritical marks.

Odia E

E (ଏ) is a vowel of the Odia abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter e. Like in other Indic scripts, Odia vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Odia usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. No base consonants are altered in form when adding a vowel sign, and there are no consonant+vowel ligatures in Odia.

Kaithi E

E (𑂉) is a vowel of the Kaithi abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter E. Like in other Indic scripts, Kaithi vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Kaithi usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. No base consonants are altered in form when adding a vowel sign, and there are no consonant+vowel ligatures in Kaithi.

Comparison of E

The various Indic scripts are generally related to each other through adaptation and borrowing, and as such the glyphs for cognate letters, including E, are related as well.

Comparison of E in different scripts

Aramaic Kharoṣṭhī 𐨅 Ashoka Brahmi Kushana Brahmi Tocharian - Gupta Brahmi Pallava Kadamba - Bhaiksuki 𑰊 Siddhaṃ Grantha 𑌏 Cham ꨃ Sinhala එ Pyu / Old Mon - Tibetan Newa 𑐊 Ahom 𑜦 Malayalam ഏ Telugu ఏ Burmese ဧ Lepcha ᰬ Ranjana Saurashtra ꢌ Dives Akuru 𑤆 Kannada ಏ Kayah Li ꤧ Limbu ᤧ Soyombo 𑩔 Khmer ឯ / េ Tamil Chakma 𑄆 Tai Tham ᩮ Meitei Mayek ꫠ Gaudi - Thai เ Lao ເ Tai Le ᥫ Marchen 𑲳 Tirhuta 𑒋 New Tai Lue ᦵ Tai Viet ꪵ Aksara Kawi - 'Phags-pa ꡠ Odia ଏ Sharada 𑆍 Rejang ꥉ Batak ᯧ Buginese ᨙ Zanabazar Square 𑨄 Bengali-Assamese Takri 𑚆 Javanese ꦌ Balinese ᬏ Makasar 𑻵 Hangul - Northern Nagari - Dogri 𑠆 Laṇḍā - Sundanese ᮈ Baybayin - Modi 𑘊 Gujarati એ Khojki 𑈄 Khudabadi 𑊶 Mahajani 𑅓 Tagbanwa - Devanagari Nandinagari 𑦪 Kaithi Gurmukhi ਏ Multani 𑊃 Buhid - Canadian Syllabics ᐁ Soyombo 𑩔 Sylheti Nagari ꠄ Gunjala Gondi - Masaram Gondi 𑴆 Hanuno'o - Notes The middle "Kushana" form of Brahmi is a later style that emerged as Brahmi scripts were beginning to proliferate. Gupta Brahmi was definitely a stylistic descendant from Kushana, but other Brahmi-derived scripts may have descended from earlier forms. Tocharian is probably derived from the middle period "Kushana" form of Brahmi, although artifacts from that time are not plentiful enough to establish a definite succession. Pyu and Old Mon are probably the precursors of the Burmese script, and may be derived from either the Pallava or Kadamba script May also be derived from Devangari (see bottom left of table) The Origin of Hangul from 'Phags-pa is one of limited influence, inspiring at most a few basic letter shapes. Hangul does not function as an Indic abugida. Although the basic letter forms of the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics were derived from handwritten Devanagari letters, this abugida indicates vowel sounds by rotations of the letter form, rather than the use of vowel diacritics as is standard in Indic abugidas. May also be derived from Ranjana (see above) Masaram Gondi acts as an Indic abugida, but its letterforms were not derived from any single precursor script.

Character encodings of E

Most Indic scripts are encoded in the Unicode Standard, and as such the letter E in those scripts can be represented in plain text with unique codepoint. E from several modern-use scripts can also be found in legacy encodings, such as ISCII.

Character information

Preview							ఏ		ଏ		ಏ		ഏ		એ		ਏ
Unicode name	DEVANAGARI LETTER E		BENGALI LETTER E		TAMIL LETTER EE		TELUGU LETTER EE		ORIYA LETTER E		KANNADA LETTER EE		MALAYALAM LETTER EE		GUJARATI LETTER E		GURMUKHI LETTER EE
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	2319	U+090F	2447	U+098F	2959	U+0B8F	3087	U+0C0F	2831	U+0B0F	3215	U+0C8F	3343	U+0D0F	2703	U+0A8F	2575	U+0A0F
UTF-8	224 164 143	E0 A4 8F	224 166 143	E0 A6 8F	224 174 143	E0 AE 8F	224 176 143	E0 B0 8F	224 172 143	E0 AC 8F	224 178 143	E0 B2 8F	224 180 143	E0 B4 8F	224 170 143	E0 AA 8F	224 168 143	E0 A8 8F
Numeric character reference	ए	ए	এ	এ	ஏ	ஏ	ఏ	ఏ	ଏ	ଏ	ಏ	ಏ	ഏ	ഏ	એ	એ	ਏ	ਏ
ISCII	172	AC	172	AC	172	AC	172	AC	172	AC	172	AC	172	AC	172	AC	172	AC

Character information

Preview	AshokaKushanaGupta				𑌏
Unicode name	BRAHMI LETTER E		SIDDHAM LETTER E		GRANTHA LETTER EE
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	69647	U+1100F	71050	U+1158A	70415	U+1130F
UTF-8	240 145 128 143	F0 91 80 8F	240 145 150 138	F0 91 96 8A	240 145 140 143	F0 91 8C 8F
UTF-16	55300 56335	D804 DC0F	55301 56714	D805 DD8A	55300 57103	D804 DF0F
Numeric character reference	𑀏	𑀏	𑖊	𑖊	𑌏	𑌏

• The full range of E Canadian syllabic characters can be found at the codepoint ranges 1401-141B, 141E, 142B-142E, 18B0-18B3, 18DC-18DD.

References

1. Ifrah, Georges (2000). The Universal History of Numbers. From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer. New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 447–450. ISBN 0-471-39340-1.
2. Bühler, Georg (1898). "On the Origin of the Indian Brahmi Alphabet". archive.org. Karl J. Trübner. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
3. Evolutionary chart, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 7, 1838
4. Andrew Dalby (2004:139) Dictionary of Languages
5. Some General Aspects of the Syllabics Orthography, Chris Harvey 2003

• Indic letters