How it works
Malayalam has no capital letters, so this Malayalam alphabet chart shows one shape for each letter. A vowel letter is written where a word begins with a vowel.
Read the full guide
Vowel signs on both sides
A consonant letter already carries the vowel a, so ക reads ka. Any other vowel is written as a sign joined to the letter. Malayalam is written left to right, yet the signs for e, ē and ai stand to the left of their consonant: കെ is ke. The signs for o and ō have two parts, one on each side: കൊ is ko.
The last three letters
After the 25 consonants in rows of five come യ ര ല വ and ശ ഷ സ ഹ. The alphabet ends with ള, ഴ and റ, three letters taken from Vatteluttu, the script Malayalam was first written in. A mark called the chandrakkala removes the vowel from a consonant: ക് is k.
- Malayalam has a short and a long e and o. A line marks the long one: എ e, ഏ ē, ഒ o, ഓ ō.
- The spelling is ISO 15919, an international standard for romanizing Indic scripts, so ച is ca, ഛ is cha and ശ is śa.
Questions and answers
How many letters are in the Malayalam alphabet?
This chart prints 51: 13 vowel letters, അം and അഃ, and 36 consonants. Totals differ from one reference to the next, because the chillu letters and a few rare letters are counted in some and left out of others.
What are the Malayalam vowels?
അ a, ആ ā, ഇ i, ഈ ī, ഉ u, ഊ ū, ഋ r̥, എ e, ഏ ē, ഐ ai, ഒ o, ഓ ō, ഔ au, അം aṁ and അഃ aḥ. The last two are അ with a sign after it.
What are the Malayalam consonants in order?
ക ഖ ഗ ഘ ങ, ച ഛ ജ ഝ ഞ, ട ഠ ഡ ഢ ണ, ത ഥ ദ ധ ന, പ ഫ ബ ഭ മ, യ ര ല വ, ശ ഷ സ ഹ, ള ഴ റ.
What are chillu letters in Malayalam?
Consonant letters that stand for a bare consonant, with no vowel after it. Five are in use: ൺ ṇ, ൻ ṉ, ർ ṟ, ൽ l and ൾ ḷ. In അവൾ, avaḷ, the word for she, the last letter is a chillu.