Conjunct consonants are a type of letters, used for example in Brahmi or Brahmi derived modern scripts such as Balinese, Bengali, Devanagari, Gujarati, Tibetan, Dzongkha etc to write consonant clusters such as pronounced as //pr// or pronounced as //rv//. Although most of the time, letters are formed by using a simple consonant with the inherent value vowel "a" (as with "k", pronounced "ka" in Brahmi), or by combining a consonant with an vowel in the form of a diacritic (as with "ki" in Brahmi), the usage of conjunct consonant permits the creation of more sophisticated sounds (as with "kya", formed with the consonants k and y assembled vertically). Conjuncts are often used with loan words. Native words typically use the basic consonant and native speakers know to suppress the vowel.
In modern Devanagari the components of a conjunct are written left to right when possible (when the first consonant has a vertical stem that can be removed at the right), whereas in Brahmi characters are joined vertically downwards.[1]
Some simple examples of conjunct consonants in Devanagari are: Undetermined: त + व {{=, Undetermined: ण + ढ {{=, Undetermined: स + थ {{=, where the vertical stroke of the first letter is simply lost in the combination. Sometimes, conjunct consonants are not clearly derived from the letters making up their components: the conjunct for is Undetermined: क्ष (क् + ष) and for it is Undetermined: ज्ञ (ज् + ञ).
Some examples of conjunct consonants in Gujarati are: Undetermined: પ + ઝ {{= (where a stroke of the first letter is lost in the combination), Undetermined: હ + ળ {{=, Undetermined: જ + ભ {{= . Sometimes, conjunct consonants are not clearly derived from the letters making up their components: the conjunct for is Undetermined: શ્ચ (શ્ + ચ) and for it is Undetermined: ઞ્જ (ઞ્ + જ).
Conjunct consonants are used in many other scripts as well, usually derived from the Brahmi script.[2] In Balinese, conjunct consonants are called Haksara Wrehastra.[3]