Odia Alphabet Chart

Updated 26 October 2026

The Odia alphabet, letter by letter

Odia is the official language of Odisha and one of India's classical languages. Its script is rounded, with a curved top on most letters, and like Devanagari it is an abugida: each consonant carries a short vowel, and other vowels are added as signs around it.

The tables below give every letter of the Odia alphabet (ବର୍ଣ୍ଣମାଳା) with its sound in Roman letters, the keys that type it in the notepad above, and a word that uses it. To hear yourself say it, read the “Say it like” column aloud. To type a letter, open Keys in the notepad and tap it.

Vowels (svara) and their signs

Consonants (byanjana)

Vowel signs (matra)

When a vowel follows a consonant it is written as a sign. Here are all the signs on କ.

Common joined letters (juktakshara)

When two consonants meet with no vowel between them, Odia joins them, often writing the second one smaller underneath. You type them as two letters in a row.

Odia numerals

Odia has its own digits: ୦ ୧ ୨ ୩ ୪ ୫ ୬ ୭ ୮ ୯. The notepad types them when you press 0–9, so 2026 → ୨୦୨୬.

A few letters that confuse beginners

• ଯ and ୟ. Odia says ଯ like “ja” and ୟ like “ya”. Spelling usually puts ଯ at the start of a word and ୟ inside it (ଯୋଗ, ନୟନ), though some words keep ଯ inside, such as ଅଯୋଧ୍ୟା and ସଂଯୋଗ.
• ଲ and ଳ. ଳ is a separate letter with the tongue curled back, used in very common words like ଜଳ (water) and କଳା (black).
• ବ, ଵ and ୱ. ବ is used for both b and v in most writing. ଵ appears in some Sanskrit texts, and ୱ in a handful of words such as ସ୍ୱାମୀ.
• ଡ and ଡ଼. The dot below changes ଡ (ḍa) into ଡ଼, a flapped r sound, as in ବଡ଼ (big) and ଓଡ଼ିଆ.
• ଶ, ଷ and ସ. Modern Odia pronounces all three much alike. Spelling still keeps them apart, so learn them with the word.

Ready to write? Use the Odia typing notepad, or start with the practice lessons. The complete list of keys is on the ITRANS chart.