English

ஜ — ja

«ja» is a consonant of the Tamil script, read as “ja”. Like the 'j' of 'jam'. The Tamil alphabet has 31 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. This character does not count as a letter of the alphabet. It appears, for example, in the word “ஜன்னல்” (jaṉṉal) — window.

Updated September 1, 2026 · Lingofly

In short

Character «ja» in the Tamil script
Characterஜ
Nameja
Soundja
What it isa consonant

In our course the character comes 32nd of 49: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ஃ and ஷ, appears in 41 words of this site.

How to type ஜ

ஜ
  • 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+0B9C 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 0B9C.
  • Unicode code point: U+0B9C. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.

How it sounds

Like the 'j' of 'jam'

The character in the “grantha — letters for foreign sounds” group

Six signs taken from the grantha script for Sanskrit and English words. The Tamil classification does not count them: thirty-one letters means 12 vowels, 18 consonants and the aytham.

Words with this character

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.

Frequently asked

How does the Tamil character ஜ read?

As “ja” — it is a consonant of the Tamil script. Like the 'j' of 'jam'.

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