{"id":1247,"date":"2026-05-11T13:27:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/nepali\/?post_type=back-matter&p=1247"},"modified":"2026-05-21T14:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:40:12","slug":"glossary","status":"publish","type":"back-matter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/nepali\/back-matter\/glossary\/","title":{"raw":"Glossary","rendered":"Glossary"},"content":{"raw":"","rendered":"
\n
ak\u1e63ara<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

ak\u1e63ara<\/em> means a syllabic writing unit in Devanagari (dewan\u0101gar\u012b<\/em>)\u2014typically a vowel (\u0905) or a consonant with its vowel (\u0915 = ka<\/em>), and it can include vowel sign (m\u0101tr\u0101)<\/em> (\u0915\u093f, \u0915\u093e) or conjuncts (\u0915\u094d\u0924, \u0938\u094d\u0924) as one written unit.<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

b\u0101hrakhar\u012b<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

b\u0101hrakhar\u012b<\/em> is the traditional Devanagari (dewan\u0101gar\u012b<\/em>)\u00a0practice sequence that drills consonants with their vowel forms (especially the twelve vowels), helping learners memorize letter\u2013vowel combinations for reading and writing.<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

bindu<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

bindu<\/em> (\u0902)\u00a0is a nasalization mark written above a letter that signals a nasal sound in the syllable (e.g., \u0917\u0902\u0917\u093e ga\u1e45g\u0101<\/em>).<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

candrabindu<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

candrabindu<\/em> (\u0901) is a nasalization mark written above a letter that shows the vowel is nasalized (e.g., \u0939\u093e\u0901 h\u0101\u0303<\/em>).<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

Conjuncts<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

Conjuncts are combined consonant forms in Devanagari (dewan\u0101gar\u012b<\/em>)\u00a0used to write consonant clusters (e.g., \u0915\u094d\u0924, \u0924\u094d\u0930, \u0915\u094d\u0937, \u091c\u094d\u091e).<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

Devanagari<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
<\/dd>\n
dewan\u0101gar\u012b<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

Devanagari (dewan\u0101gar\u012b) <\/em>is the script used to write Nepali (and several other languages), in which most consonant letters include an inherent \u201ca\u201d vowel unless modified by vowel signs.<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

halanta<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

halanta<\/em> (\u094d) is the Devanagari (dewan\u0101gar\u012b<\/em>)\u00a0sign that removes a consonant\u2019s built-in vowel, so the consonant is read without any vowel sound (e.g., \u0915 ka<\/em> \u2192 \u0915\u094d k<\/em>).<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

jan\u0101<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

jan\u0101<\/em>\u00a0is a Nepali numeral classifier used when counting people, roughly meaning \u201cperson(s)\u201d (e.g., kati jan\u0101?<\/em> \u201chow many people?\u201d).<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

m\u0101tr\u0101<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

m\u0101tr\u0101<\/em> is a vowel sign (vowel diacritics) added to a consonant in Devanagari (dewan\u0101gar\u012b<\/em>) to change its vowel sound (e.g., \u0915 ka<\/em> \u2192 \u0915\u093e k\u0101<\/em>, \u0915\u093f ki<\/em>, \u0915\u0941 ku<\/em>).<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

p\u016br\u1e47a wir\u0101m<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

p\u016br\u1e47a wir\u0101m <\/em>is\u00a0the punctuation mark (\u0964) placed at the end of a complete sentence; full stop; period.<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

reph<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

reph <\/em>is special mark used when \u0930 (ra<\/em>) comes first in a consonant cluster. In Devanagari (dewan\u0101gar\u012b<\/em>), \u0930\u094d + another consonant is written as a curved mark above the following consonant. For example, \u0930\u094d + \u0915 = \u0930\u094d\u0915, read as rka<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

schwa<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

In Devanagari (dewan\u0101gar\u012b<\/em>)\u00a0, schwa is the built-in \u201ca\u201d sound in most consonant letters (e.g., \u0915 = ka) unless a vowel sign changes it or a halant\/consonant cluster cancels it.<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

schwa syncope<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

schwa syncope is the phonological process in which the inherent swara<\/em> vowel (\u0905) is reduced or dropped in pronunciation, even though it may still be present in the written Devanagari (dewan\u0101gar\u012b<\/em>) form.<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

\u015birorekh\u0101<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

\u015birorekh\u0101<\/em> is the horizontal \u201cheadline\u201d at the top of many Devanagari (dewan\u0101gar\u012b<\/em>) letters that often joins across a word, visually linking the letters together.<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

swara<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

swara<\/em>\u00a0is a\u00a0vowel sound or vowel letter in Nepali. Vowels can stand alone or attach to consonants as \u092e\u093e\u0924\u094d\u0930\u093e (m\u0101tr\u0101<\/em>).<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

warga<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

warga <\/em>is a consonant series in Devanagari (dewan\u0101gar\u012b<\/em>). Each warga<\/em> groups related consonants by where and how the sounds are produced in the mouth, such as \u0915-\u0935\u0930\u094d\u0917, \u091a-\u0935\u0930\u094d\u0917, \u091f-\u0935\u0930\u094d\u0917, \u0924-\u0935\u0930\u094d\u0917, and \u092a-\u0935\u0930\u094d\u0917.<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

wa\u1e6d\u0101<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

wa\u1e6d\u0101 <\/em>is a Nepali numeral classifier used with countable objects, roughly meaning \u201cpiece\/item,\u201d especially in questions and counts (e.g., kati wa\u1e6d\u0101?<\/em> \u201chow many (items)?\u201d).<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

wisarga<\/dfn><\/dt>\n
\n

wisarga<\/em> is a Devanagari (dewan\u0101gar\u012b<\/em>)\u00a0sign written as \u0903. In Nepali, it appears mainly in Sanskrit-derived words and represents a breathy sound after a vowel.<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n","protected":false},"author":1076,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":"cc-by-nc-sa"},"back-matter-type":[38],"contributor":[],"license":[57],"class_list":["post-1247","back-matter","type-back-matter","status-publish","hentry","back-matter-type-glossary","license-cc-by-nc-sa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/nepali\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter\/1247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/nepali\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/nepali\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/back-matter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/nepali\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1076"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/nepali\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter\/1247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2730,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/nepali\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter\/1247\/revisions\/2730"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/nepali\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter\/1247\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/nepali\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"back-matter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/nepali\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter-type?post=1247"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/nepali\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1247"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/nepali\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}