Editing Odia script (section)

{{short description|Script primarily used to write the Odia language}}
{{Distinguish|Naoriya Phulo script}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox Writing system
| name        = Odia script
| altname     = {{lang|or|ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଅକ୍ଷର}}<br />{{Transliteration|or|ISO|'''Oḍiā akṣara'''}}
| type        = [[Abugida]]
| languages   = [[Odia language|Odia]], [[Sanskrit]], [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Kui language (India)|Kui]], [[Kuvi language|Kuvi]], [[Manda language (India)|Manda]], [[Pengo language|Pengo]], [[Gondi language|Gondi]], [[Kurukh language|Kisan Kurux]], [[Duruwa language|Duruwa]], [[Sora language|Sora]], [[Santali language|Santali]], [[Chhattisgarhi language|Chhattisgarhi]], [[Halbi language|Halbi]]
| time        = {{circa|14th century}} – present<ref>{{cite book |last1=Salomon |first1=Richard |title=Indian Epigraphy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XYrG07qQDxkC |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1998 |page=41|isbn=978-0-19-535666-3 }}</ref>
| fam1        = [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian]]
| fam2        = [[Proto-Sinaitic]]
| fam3        = [[Phoenician script|Phoenician]]
| fam4        = [[Aramaic script|Aramaic]]
| fam5        = [[Brahmi script]]
| fam6        = [[Gupta script]]
| fam7        = [[Siddhaṃ script]]<ref name="Akshara Orthography 2019 p.27" /><ref name="academia.edu"/>
| fam8        = [[Gaudi script]]<ref name="Cardona">{{cite book |last1=Cardona |first1=George |last2=Jain |first2=Dhanesh |title=The Indo-Aryan Languages |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iUHfBQAAQBAJ |page=487 |publisher=Routledge |place=London |year=2003 |series=Routledge language family series |isbn=0-7007-1130-9 }}</ref><ref name="salomon">{{cite book |last1=Salomon |first1=Richard |title=Indian Epigraphy |date=1998 |page=101}}</ref>
| sisters     = [[Bengali–Assamese script|Bengali–Assamese]], [[Tirhuta script|Tirhuta]], [[Nāgarī script|Nāgarī]], [[Nepalese scripts|Nepalese]]<ref name="Akshara Orthography 2019 p.27" /><ref name="salomon"/><ref name="masica">{{cite book |last1=Masica |first1=Colin |title=The Indo-Aryan languages |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J3RSHWePhXwC |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1993 |page=143|isbn=9780521299442 }}</ref>
| unicode     = [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0B00.pdf U+0B00–U+0B7F]
| iso15924    = Orya
| sample      = File:Odia script.svg
| caption     = 'Odiā akṣara' written in Odia script
| imagesize   = 
| footnotes   =
}}

{{Contains special characters
| special    = [[Odia language|Odia]] text
| fix        = Help:Multilingual support#Odia
| characters = Odia script
}}
{{Writing systems in India}}

The '''Odia script''' ({{langx|or|'''ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଅକ୍ଷର'''|Oḍiā akṣara|translit-std=ISO}}, also {{langx|or|'''ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଲିପି'''|Oḍiā lipi|translit-std=ISO}}) is a [[Brahmic script]] used to write the [[Odia language]]. To a lesser extent, it is also used to write [[Sanskrit]] and other regional languages. It is one of the [[official scripts of the Indian Republic]]. The script has developed over more than 1000 years from a variant of [[Siddhaṃ script]] which was used in Eastern India, where the characteristic top line transformed into a distinct round umbrella shape due to the influence of [[Palm-leaf manuscript|palm leaf manuscripts]] and also being influenced by the neighbouring scripts from the Western and Southern regions.

Odia is a syllabic alphabet or an [[abugida]] wherein all consonants have an [[inherent vowel]] embedded within. [[Diacritic]]s (which can appear above, below, before, or after the consonant they belong to) are used to change the form of the inherent vowel. When vowels appear at the beginning of a syllable, they are written as independent letters. Also, when certain consonants occur together, special conjunct symbols combine the essential parts of each consonant symbol.

An important feature of the Odia language seen in the script is the retention of inherent vowel in consonants, also known as [[schwa]], at both medial and final positions. This absence of [[Schwa deletion in Indo-Aryan languages|schwa]] deletion, which is also seen in Sanskrit, marks it from the rest of modern [[Indo-Aryan languages]] and their equivalent usage in related [[Brahmic scripts]]. The absence of the inherent vowel in the consonant is marked by a [[virama]] or halanta sign below the consonant.