anusvara

noun

an·​us·​va·​ra

ˌanəsˈvärə,

ˌän-

plural -s

1

: a Sanskrit postvocalic nasal sound or group of sounds occurring in the interior of a morpheme only before ś, ṣ, s, or h and at the end of a morpheme only before an initial consonant of a following morpheme

2

: a sign used in writing Sanskrit to represent the anusvara sound or sounds and in some manuscripts and editions certain other postvocalic nasal sounds

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Sanskrit anusvāra-, from anu- "after, along" + svāra- "sound, accent," lengthened-grade noun derivative of svarati "(s/he) sounds, sings"

First Known Use

1820, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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