ทัณฑฆาต

Usage notes

The mark is used as follows:

• Placed above a consonant letter to indicate that the letter is silent, as ยักษ์ (yák) in which ษ (sɔ̌ɔ) is silent.
• Placed above a consonant letter to indicate that the letter and some other consonant letters preceding it are silent, as อินทร์ (in) in which ท (tɔɔ) and ร (rɔɔ) are silent.
• Placed above a vowel mark to indicate that the vowel is silent, as สิริกิติ์ (sì-rì-gìt) in which the vowel " ◌ิ " is silent.
• Placed above a letter in a borrowed word to indicate that the letter closes the syllable, as เสดจ์ (sà-dèt) and สมเดจ์ (sǒm-dèt), but this is now archaic.
• Placed above a letter in a foreign statement or passage to indicate that the letter closes the syllable, as พาหุง์ สหัส์สมภินิม์มิตสาวุธัน์ตัง์ (paa-hǔng sà-hàt-sà-má-pí-nim-mí-dtà-sǎa-wú-ta-dtang; 'the demon lord appears to have a thousand arms magically created, all equipped with weapons'). But, in modern usage, this is deemed obsolete and the mark พินทุ (pin-tú) is used instead.

A letter or group of letters affected by this mark is called การันต์ (gaa-ran). For example:

• ษ์ [ษ (sɔ̌ɔ) + tan-tá-kâat] in ยักษ์ (yák) is called sɔ̌ɔ gaa-ran.
• ทร์ [ท (tɔɔ) and ร (rɔɔ) + tan-tá-kâat] in อินทร์ (in) is called tɔɔ rɔɔ gaa-ran.