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