Lingoflyஔ — au
«au» is a vowel of the Tamil script, read as “au”. The diphthong 'au' as in 'how', in everyday speech 'av': ஔவை is read 'avvai'. It occurs in only a handful of words. The Tamil alphabet has 31 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. It may also be written as அவ் — and that is how it is pronounced. In the alphabet it sits in the “uyir — the twelve vowels” group.
In short
| Character | ஔ |
| Name | au |
| Sound | au |
| What it is | a vowel |
In our course the character comes 12th of 49: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ஓ and க.
How to type ஔ
- On a phone: add the Tamil keyboard in the keyboard settings (Gboard on Android; Keyboards in the iPhone settings).
- In Word on Windows: type U+0B94 and press Alt+X right after it — the code turns into the character.
- On a Mac: switch to the Unicode Hex Input source, hold Option and type 0B94.
- Unicode code point: U+0B94. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
The diphthong 'au' as in 'how', in everyday speech 'av': ஔவை is read 'avvai'. It occurs in only a handful of words
The character in the “uyir — the twelve vowels” group
'Uyir' means 'soul': Tamil grammar counts the vowel the soul of the syllable and the consonant its body. A vowel is written as a separate letter only at the beginning of a word.
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound, see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 31 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Tamil character ஔ read?
As “au” — it is a vowel of the Tamil script. The diphthong 'au' as in 'how', in everyday speech 'av': ஔவை is read 'avvai'. It occurs in only a handful of words.