Tippi, Bindi, Addak and Pairin: The Small Marks of Gurmukhi

Beyond letters and vowel signs, Gurmukhi uses several small marks. They look minor, but they change how a word sounds and what it means.

Nasal signs

Mark	Name	Effect	Example
ਂ	bindi	nasal sound after some vowels	ਹਾਂ (hāṁ, yes), ਮਾਂ (māṁ, mother)
ੰ	tippi	nasal sound with short vowels	ਪੰਜ (panj, five), ਸੰਤਰਾ (santrā, orange)

In general, the bindi goes with longer vowel signs and the tippi with shorter ones.

Addak: the doubling mark

The addak (ੱ) placed above a letter doubles the sound of the following consonant:

• ਅੱਖ (akkh, eye)
• ਬੱਚਾ (bachchā, child)
• ਦੁੱਧ (duddh, milk)
• ਇੱਕ (ikk, one)
• ਅੱਜ (ajj, today)

Doubling changes meaning and length, so it matters in spelling.

Pairin: subscript letters

Some consonants can appear as small forms under another letter, called ਪੈਰੀਂ (pairīṁ, "at the feet"). The two most common are:

Sign	Letter	Example
੍ਰ	ra	ਪ੍ਰੇਮ (prem, love), ਸ੍ਰੀ (srī, Mr, sacred honorific)
੍ਵ	va	ਸ੍ਵਾਦ (svād, taste)

The pairin ra is common in Sanskrit-derived words such as ਪ੍ਰੇਮ, ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾ and ਪ੍ਰਸ਼ਨ.

Dotted letters (nukta)

A dot below (਼, nukta) marks sounds borrowed from Persian, Arabic and English:

Letter	Sound	Example
ਸ਼	sh	ਸ਼ਹਿਰ (shahir, city)
ਖ਼	kh (throaty)	ਖ਼ਬਰ (khabar, news)
ਗ਼	gh (throaty)	ਗ਼ਲਤ (galat, wrong)
ਜ਼	z	ਜ਼ਰੂਰ (zarūr, certainly)
ਫ਼	f	ਫ਼ੋਨ (fon, phone)

Reading tips

1. Look at the marks first: a tippi, bindi or addak changes the sound.
2. Notice doubled consonants: hold them longer.
3. Learn the nukta letters in common words.

Common mistakes

• Using tippi and bindi interchangeably.
• Forgetting the addak, which changes the word.
• Dropping the nukta in foreign words.

Look up any word with English Punjabi Dictionary →