Meitei script

Meetei Mayek
ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ
Meetei Mayek ; ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ;
Script type	abugida
Direction	Left-to-right
Region	Manipur
Languages	Meithei language
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Mtei (337), Meitei Mayek (Meithei, Meetei)
Unicode
Unicode alias	Meetei Mayek
Unicode range	U+ABC0–U+ABFF Meetei Mayek; U+AAE0–U+AAFF Meetei Mayek Extensions;
	This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This article contains Meithei text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Meithei script.

The Meithei script, Meetei Mayek, is an abugida that was used for the Meithei language, one of the official languages of the Indian state of Manipur, until the eighteenth century, when it was replaced by the Bengali script. A few manuscripts survive. In the twentieth century, the script experienced a resurgence.

Since the Meithei language does not have voiced consonants, there are only fifteen consonant letters used for native words, plus three letters for pure vowels. Nine additional consonant letters inherited from the Indic languages are available for borrowings. There are seven vowel diacritics and a final consonant (/ŋ/) diacritic.

One of the unique feature of this script is the use of body parts in naming the letters. Every letter is named after a human body part in the Meithei language. For example, the first letter "kok" means "head"; the second letter "sam" means "hair"; the third letter "lai" means "forehead", and so on.

Unicode

The Meithei script was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

Blocks

The Unicode block for the Meithei script, called Meetei Mayek, is U+ABC0–U+ABFF.

Characters for historical orthographies are part of the Meetei Mayek Extensions block at U+AAE0–U+AAFF.

Meetei Mayek^[1]^[2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E	F
U+ABCx	ꯀ	ꯁ	ꯂ	ꯃ	ꯄ	ꯅ	ꯆ	ꯇ	ꯈ	ꯉ	ꯊ	ꯋ	ꯌ	ꯍ	ꯎ	ꯏ
U+ABDx	ꯐ	ꯑ	ꯒ	ꯓ	ꯔ	ꯕ	ꯖ	ꯗ	ꯘ	ꯙ	ꯚ	ꯛ	ꯜ	ꯝ	ꯞ	ꯟ
U+ABEx	ꯠ	ꯡ	ꯢ	ꯣ	ꯤ	ꯥ	ꯦ	ꯧ	ꯨ	ꯩ	ꯪ	꯫	꯬	꯭
U+ABFx	꯰	꯱	꯲	꯳	꯴	꯵	꯶	꯷	꯸	꯹
Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 15.1 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Meetei Mayek Extensions^[1]^[2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E	F
U+AAEx	ꫠ	ꫡ	ꫢ	ꫣ	ꫤ	ꫥ	ꫦ	ꫧ	ꫨ	ꫩ	ꫪ	ꫫ	ꫬ	ꫭ	ꫮ	ꫯ
U+AAFx	꫰	꫱	ꫲ	ꫳ	ꫴ	ꫵ	꫶
Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 15.1 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

References

Chelliah, Shobhana L. (1997). A grammar of Meithei. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 0-19-564331-3.
Chelliah, Shobhana L. (2002). Early Meithei manuscripts. In C. I. Beckwith (Ed.), Medieval Tibeto-Burman languages: PIATS 2000: Tibetan studies: Proceedings of the ninth seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000 (pp. 59–71). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
Chelliah, Shobhana L. (2002). A glossary of 39 basic words in archaic and modern Meithei. In C. I. Beckwith (Ed.), Medieval Tibeto-Burman languages: PIATS 2000: Tibetan studies: Proceedings of the ninth seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000 (pp. 189–190). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.

External links

Meitei Mayek Channel : E-Pao.Net
Meetei Mayek
Omniglot, a guide to written language
Contemporary Meetei Mayek based Poetry
[1], Largest Collection of Manipuri sms,Manipuri Proverbs,Manipuri Riddles on Internet