U+0BB4 "ழ" Tamil Letter Llla Unicode Character

Unicode Version 17.0

U+0BB4 "ழ" Tamil Letter Llla is a distinct consonant in the Tamil script, representing the retroflex lateral approximant sound /ɻ/, a unique phoneme that is pronounced with the tongue curled back against the palate. This character is a fundamental component of the Tamil abugida, often used in words such as "வழி" (vazhi, meaning path or way) and "அழகு" (azhagu, meaning beauty). As a letter without a specific diacritic, it carries the inherent vowel 'a', and it plays a key role in distinguishing Tamil’s rich phonological system from other Dravidian languages. Its design, featuring a curved, open shape, is typical of Tamil calligraphy, and it is encoded specifically for digital text representation in the Unicode Standard to ensure consistent rendering across platforms.

General Properties

Code Point U+0BB4
Version Added 1.1
Name Tamil Letter Llla
Block Tamil
General Category Other Letter
Canonical Combining Class Not Reordered
Bidirectional Class Left To Right

Encodings

HTML Decimal Encoding ழ
HTML Hex Encoding ழ
UTF-8 Encoding 0xE0 0xAE 0xB4
UTF-16 Encoding 0x0BB4
UTF-32 Encoding 0x00000BB4
C/C++/Java Escape \u0bb4

Unicode Properties

NFC Quick Check Yes
NFD Quick Check Yes
NFKC Quick Check Yes
NFKD Quick Check Yes
Numeric Type None
Numeric Value NaN
Line Break Alphabetic
Script Tamil
Script Extensions Tamil
Indic Syllabic Category Consonant
ID Start Yes
XID Start Yes
ID Continue Yes
XID Continue Yes
Alphabetic Yes
Vertical Orientation Rotated
Grapheme Base Yes
Grapheme Cluster Break Other
Word Break Alphabetic letter
Sentence Break OLetter