Thai

Noun

ทัณฑฆาต • ‎(tan-tá-kâat)

1. (typography) the diacritical mark " ◌์ ".

Usage notes

The mark tan-tá-kâat is:

• placed above a consonant letter to indicate that the letter is silent, as ยักษ์ ‎(yák) in which ษ ‎(sɔ̌ɔ) is silent;
• placed above a consonant letter to indicate that the letter and some other consonant letters preceding it are silent, as อินทร์ ‎(in) in which ท ‎(tɔɔ) and ร ‎(rɔɔ) are silent;
• placed above a vowel mark to indicate that the vowel is silent, as สิริกิติ์ (sì-rì-gìt) in which the vowel " ◌ิ " is silent; but this is extremely rare;
• placed above a letter in a borrowed word to indicate that the letter closes the syllable, as เสดจ์ ‎(sà-dèt) and สมเดจ์ ‎(sǒm-dèt); but this is now archaic;
• placed above a letter in a foreign statement or passage to indicate that the letter closes the syllable, as พาหุง์ สหัส์สมภินิม์มิตสาวุธัน์ตัง์ (paa-hǔng sà-hàt-sà-má-pí-nim-mí-dtà-sǎa-wú-ta-dtang; 'the demon lord appears to have a thousand arms magically created, all equipped with weapons'); but, in modern usage, this is deemed obsolete and the mark พินทุ ‎(pin-tú) is used instead.

A letter or group of letters affected by the mark tan-tá-kâat is called การันต์ ‎(gaa-ran). For example:

• ษ์ [ษ ‎(sɔ̌ɔ) + tan-tá-kâat] in ยักษ์ ‎(yák) is called sɔ̌ɔ gaa-ran;
• ทร์ [ท ‎(tɔɔ) and ร ‎(rɔɔ) + tan-tá-kâat] in อินทร์ ‎(in) is called tɔɔ rɔɔ gaa-ran.