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I
Example glyphs
Bengali–Assamese
Tibetan
Tamil
Thai	ิ
Malayalam	ഇ
Sinhala	ඉ
Ashoka Brahmi
Devanagari
Cognates
Hebrew	ע
Greek	Ο, Ω
Latin	O
Cyrillic	О, Ѡ, Ѿ, Ꙋ, Ю
Properties
Phonemic representation	/i/ /ɪ/
IAST transliteration	i I
ISCII code point	A6 (166)

I is a vowel of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, I is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter . As an Indic vowel, "I" 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 "I" sign was used to modify a consonant's value ×10, but the independent vowel letter did not have an inherent value by itself.

Historic I

There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. I as found in standard Brahmi, was a simple geometric shape, with variations toward more flowing forms by the Gupta . Like all Brahmic scripts, Tocharian I 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 I are indicated with vowel marks added to the letter A.

Brahmi I

The Brahmi letter , I, is probably derived from the altered Aramaic Ayin , and is thus related to the modern Latin O and Greek Omicron. Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi I 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 vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.

Brahmi I historic forms

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

Tocharian I

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

Tocharian consonants with I vowel marks

Ki	Khi	Gi	Ghi	Ci	Chi	Ji	Jhi	Nyi	Ṭi	Ṭhi	Ḍi	Ḍhi	Ṇi
Ti	Thi	Di	Dhi	Ni	Pi	Phi	Bi	Bhi	Mi	Yi	Ri	Li	Vi
Śi	Ṣi	Si	Hi

Kharoṣṭhī I

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

Devanagari I

I (इ) 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 ઇ, and the Modi letter 𑘂.

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, इ is pronounced as [i]. 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 I

I (ই) is a vowel of the Bengali abugida. It is derived from the Siddhaṃ letter , and is marked by a similar horizontal head line, but less geometric shape, than its Devanagari counterpart, इ.

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, ই is pronounced as [i]. 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 I

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

Gujarati-using Languages

The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, ઇ is pronounced as [i]. 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 I

Telugu I

I (ఇ) is a vowel of the Telugu abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter . It is closely related to the Kannada letter ಇ. 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.

Malayalam I

I (ഇ) is a vowel of the Malayalam abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Grantha letter i. 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.

Odia I

I (ଇ) is a vowel of the Odia abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter i. 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. Unlike other vowels, ଇ has an alternate subjoined matra form used on letters with an open top - ଖ (Kha), ଥ (Tha) and ଧ (Dha).

Kaithi I

I (𑂅) is a vowel of the Kaithi abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter I. 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 I

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

Comparison of I in different scripts

Aramaic Kharoṣṭhī 𐨁 Ashoka Brahmi Kushana Brahmi Tocharian Gupta Brahmi Pallava Kadamba - Bhaiksuki 𑰂 Siddhaṃ Grantha 𑌇 Cham ꨁ Sinhala ඉ Pyu / Old Mon - Tibetan  /  Newa 𑐂 Ahom 𑜢 Malayalam ഇ Telugu ఇ Burmese ဣ Lepcha ᰧ Ranjana Saurashtra ꢄ Dives Akuru 𑤂 Kannada ಇ Kayah Li ꤤ Limbu ᤡ Soyombo 𑩑 Khmer ឥ / ិ Tamil Chakma 𑄄 Tai Tham ᩍ / ᩥ Meitei Mayek ꯤ Gaudi - Thai ิ Lao ິ Tai Le ᥤ Marchen 𑲱 Tirhuta 𑒃 New Tai Lue - Tai Viet ꪲ Aksara Kawi - 'Phags-pa ꡞ Odia ଇ Sharada 𑆅 Rejang ꥇ Batak ᯤ Buginese - Zanabazar Square 𑨁 Bengali-Assamese Takri 𑚂 Javanese ꦆ Balinese ᬇ Makasar 𑻳 Hangul - Northern Nagari - Dogri 𑠂 Laṇḍā - Sundanese ᮄ Baybayin ᜁ Modi 𑘂 Gujarati ઇ Khojki 𑈂 Khudabadi 𑊲 Mahajani 𑅑 Tagbanwa ᝡ Devanagari Nandinagari 𑦢 Kaithi Gurmukhi ਇ Multani 𑊁 Buhid ᝁ Canadian Syllabics - Soyombo 𑩑 Sylheti Nagari ꠁ Gunjala Gondi 𑵢 Masaram Gondi 𑴂 Hanuno'o ᜡ 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 I

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

Character information

Preview							ఇ		ଇ		ಇ		ഇ		ઇ		ਇ
Unicode name	DEVANAGARI LETTER I		BENGALI LETTER I		TAMIL LETTER I		TELUGU LETTER I		ORIYA LETTER I		KANNADA LETTER I		MALAYALAM LETTER I		GUJARATI LETTER I		GURMUKHI LETTER I
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	2311	U+0907	2439	U+0987	2951	U+0B87	3079	U+0C07	2823	U+0B07	3207	U+0C87	3335	U+0D07	2695	U+0A87	2567	U+0A07
UTF-8	224 164 135	E0 A4 87	224 166 135	E0 A6 87	224 174 135	E0 AE 87	224 176 135	E0 B0 87	224 172 135	E0 AC 87	224 178 135	E0 B2 87	224 180 135	E0 B4 87	224 170 135	E0 AA 87	224 168 135	E0 A8 87
Numeric character reference	इ	इ	ই	ই	இ	இ	ఇ	ఇ	ଇ	ଇ	ಇ	ಇ	ഇ	ഇ	ઇ	ઇ	ਇ	ਇ
ISCII	166	A6	166	A6	166	A6	166	A6	166	A6	166	A6	166	A6	166	A6	166	A6

Character information

Preview	AshokaKushanaGupta				𑌇
Unicode name	BRAHMI LETTER I		SIDDHAM LETTER I		GRANTHA LETTER I
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	69639	U+11007	71042	U+11582	70407	U+11307
UTF-8	240 145 128 135	F0 91 80 87	240 145 150 130	F0 91 96 82	240 145 140 135	F0 91 8C 87
UTF-16	55300 56327	D804 DC07	55301 56706	D805 DD82	55300 57095	D804 DF07
Numeric character reference	𑀇	𑀇	𑖂	𑖂	𑌇	𑌇

Character information

Preview	𑘂		𑦢		ꠁ		𑵢
Unicode name	MODI LETTER I		NANDINAGARI LETTER I		SYLOTI NAGRI LETTER I		GUNJALA GONDI LETTER I		KAITHI LETTER I
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	71170	U+11602	72098	U+119A2	43009	U+A801	73058	U+11D62	69765	U+11085
UTF-8	240 145 152 130	F0 91 98 82	240 145 166 162	F0 91 A6 A2	234 160 129	EA A0 81	240 145 181 162	F0 91 B5 A2	240 145 130 133	F0 91 82 85
UTF-16	55301 56834	D805 DE02	55302 56738	D806 DDA2	43009	A801	55303 56674	D807 DD62	55300 56453	D804 DC85
Numeric character reference	𑘂	𑘂	𑦢	𑦢	ꠁ	ꠁ	𑵢	𑵢	𑂅	𑂅

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

• Indic letters