U+0EB1 "ັ" Lao Vowel Sign Mai Kan Unicode Character
Unicode Version 17.0
ັ
U+0EB1 "ັ" Lao Vowel Sign Mai Kan is a combining diacritical mark used in the Lao script to modify the inherent vowel sound of a consonant. This specific vowel sign represents the short "a" sound, similar to the "a" in the English word "about," and is typically placed above a consonant letter to form syllables. In the Lao writing system, Mai Kan is essential for accurately representing pronunciation, as it distinguishes words that would otherwise be ambiguous due to the inherent vowel default. It is commonly found in many common Lao words and is a fundamental component for learners and native speakers alike in achieving correct phonetic transcription.
General Properties
| Code Point | U+0EB1 |
| Version Added | 1.1 |
| Name | Lao Vowel Sign Mai Kan |
| Block | Lao |
| General Category | Nonspacing Mark |
| Canonical Combining Class | Not Reordered |
| Bidirectional Class | Nonspacing Mark |
Encodings
| HTML Decimal Encoding | ັ |
| HTML Hex Encoding | ັ |
| UTF-8 Encoding | 0xE0 0xBA 0xB1 |
| UTF-16 Encoding | 0x0EB1 |
| UTF-32 Encoding | 0x00000EB1 |
| C/C++/Java Escape | \u0eb1 |