Bengali–Assamese script

The Bengali–Assamese script, sometimes also known as Eastern Nagri, is an eastern Brahmic script, primarily used today for the Bengali and Assamese language spoken in eastern South Asia. It evolved from Gaudi script, also the common ancestor of the Odia and Trihuta scripts. It is commonly referred to as the Bengali script by Bengalis and the Assamese script by the Assamese, while in academic discourse it is sometimes called Eastern-Nāgarī. Three of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic—Bengali, Assamese, and Meitei—commonly use this script in writing; Bengali is also the official and national language of Bangladesh.

Besides, Bengali and Assamese languages, it is also used to write Bishnupriya Manipuri, Meitei, Chakma, Santali and numerous other smaller languages spoken in eastern South Asia. Historically, it was used to write various Old and Middle Indo-Aryan languages, and, like many other Brahmic scripts, is still used for writing Sanskrit. Other languages, such as Bodo, Karbi, Maithili and Mising were once written in this script. The two major alphabets in this script – Assamese and Bengali – are virtually identical, except for two characters — Assamese differs from Bengali in one letter for the /r/ sound, and an extra letter for the /w/ or /v/ sound.