halants

Noun

halant (plural halants)

1. A diacritic used in most writing systems of the Indian subcontinent to signify the lack of an inherent vowel.
   • a Devanagari example: क (ka) + ् = क् (k)
2. A sign which serves the same purpose in any writing system.
3. A character which binds consonants into a conjunct or some other form of visual combination which is prototypically a visual indication that the first consonant does not have an implicit vowel