Mongolian script multigraphs

Main articles: Mongolian script, Mongolian writing systems, and Mongolian language

This article describes two- and three-letter combinations (so-called digraphs and trigraphs) used for the Mongolian language when written in the Mongolian script.

Mongolian script multigraphs
The Mongolian script
Mongolian vowels
ᠠ a ᠡ e ᠢ i ᠣ o ᠤ u ᠥ ö ᠦ ü ᠧ (ē)
Mongolian consonants
ᠨ n ᠩ ng ᠪ b ᠫ (p) ᠬ q/k ᠭ ɣ/g ᠮ m ᠯ l ᠰ s ᠱ š ᠲ t ᠳ d ᠴ č ᠵ ǰ ᠶ y ᠷ r ᠸ (w)
Mongolian script multigraphs
Galik alphabet
v t e

Vowel and consonant combinations

The intervocalic letters ɣ/g, and y has in some combinations come to help form long vowels, namely:^{[1]: 36–37}

• Long a with: aɣa, iɣa, iya.
• Long e with: ege, ige, iye.
• Long i with: igi.
• Long o with: oɣa, oɣo, uɣa.
• Long u with: aɣu, iɣu, uɣu.
• Long ö with: öge, üge.
• Long ü with: egü, igü, ügü.

Sometimes intervocalic b and m is silent: as in ᠳᠡᠪᠡᠯ debel (Khalkha: дээл deel) 'robe, garment' or ᠬᠦᠮᠦᠨ kümün (Khalkha: хүн khün) 'human, person; man'.^{[2]: 64 [3]}

Vowel combinations

Doubled vowels[1]: 10, 30 [4]: 59
ii	oo	uu	üü	Transliteration[note 1]
ī	ŏ	ū	ǖ	Pronunciation
—	—	ᠤᠤ⟨?⟩ ⟨⟩ [note 2]		Alone
		ᠣᠣ [note 3]	—
		ᠤᠤ‍	ᠦᠦ‍ [note 4]	Initial
‍ᠢᠢ‍	‍ᠣᠣ‍ [note 5]		(‍ᠦ᠋ᠦ‍) [note 6]	Medial
—	—	‍ᠤᠤ [note 7]		Final

• The doubled vowels ii, uu, and üü mark these out as long. Doubled oo is instead both used in a few words to mark the vowel as short, and to distinguish it from u.^[1]: 30

Diphthongs[1]: 10, 31–32 [4]: 58 [13]: 111 [8]: 41–42
ai	ei	oi, ui	öi	üi	Transliteration
āi̯	ēi̯	ōi̯, ūi̯	—	ǖi̯	Pronunciation
ᠠᠢ [note 8]	ᠡᠢ [note 9]	ᠣᠢ [note 10]	ᠥᠢ [note 11]		Alone
ᠠᡳ᠌‍	ᠡᡳ᠌‍	ᠣᡳ᠌‍	—	ᠣᡳ᠌‍	Initial
‍ᠠᡳ᠌‍		‍ᠣᡳ᠌‍	—	‍ᠦᡳ᠌‍	Medial
‍ᠠᠢ		‍ᠣᠢ	—	‍ᠦᠢ	Final

• Most of the i's of these diphthongs derive from an earlier yi, but is no longer recognized as such. The yi origin can for instance be seen in the two long teeth of ᠰᠠᠶᠢᠨ^⟨?⟩ sayin 'good'. These has become a pair of short and long teeth (᠊‍ᠢ᠋‍) in recent manuscripts. The diphthongs only appears with the single form of i, as in ᠳᠠᠯᠠᠢ dalai̯ 'sea', at the end of words.^{[1]: 10, 31 [4]: 9, 58}

Diphthongs, continued[1]: 11, 31–32
au	eü	u‑a	uu‑a	Transliteration
aū	eǖ	uă/uā	ūā?	Pronunciation
ᠠᠤ‍	—	—	—	Initial
‍ᠠᠤ‍				Medial
—		‍ᠤ᠎ᠠ⟨?⟩ ⟨⟩ [note 12]	‍ᠤᠤ᠎ᠠ⟨?⟩	Final

Notes

1. Scholarly transliteration.^[5]
2. Interrogative uu/üü particle (subject to vowel harmony; Khalkha: уу/үү/юу/юү uu/üü/yuu/yuü) used after the predicate.^{[7]: 437, 889, 1014 [1]: 172 [4]: 38 [8]: 53 [9]: 183} The positional variant ⟨ᠶᠤᠤ⟩ yuu/yüü (Khalkha: юу/юү yuu/yuü) is only used in the modern language.^{[7]: 437 [8]: 53}
3. As in ᠣᠣ/ᠠᠭᠤᠤ uu/aɣuu (Khalkha: —/агуу —/aguu) 'vast, great[ly], large', etc.^{[7]: 18, 889 [1]: 30}
4. The tooth here is not from the semivowel y but is part of the first vowel itself, it's the only sign that distinguishes a u from a ü. Sample word: ᠦᠷ/ᠦᠦᠷ ür/üür (Khalkha: үүр üür) 'dawn, daybreak'.^{[7]: 1010, 1014}
5. As in ᠲᠤᠤᠯᠢ tuuli (Khalkha: тууль tuuli) 'old tale, story, epic, epic poem'.^{[7]: 847 [10]: 834}
6. Written with an intervocalic long tooth, as in the loanword ᠫᠦᠳ/ᠫᠦᠦᠳᠡ püd/püüde (Khalkha: пуд pud) 'pud', a Russian weight.^[7]: 650
7. Final uu/üü in the prohibitive particle ᠪᠤᠤ () buu/büü (Khalkha: бүү büü) 'don't' lacks an intervocalic long tooth.^{[7]: 141, 153 [1]: 166 [4]: 38} Contrast with the visually similar conjunction ᠪᠤᠶᠤ ()^: xiii buyu (Khalkha: буюу buyuu) 'or',^{[7]: 132 [4]: 44} and noun ᠬᠦᠦ küü (Khalkha: хүү khüü) 'son, young boy', a colloquial form of ᠬᠥᠪᠡᠭᠦᠨ köbegün (Khalkha: хөвүүн/хөвгүүн khövüün/khövgüün),^{[7]: 494, 509 [1]: 20 [4]: 11 [10]: 816 [11]: 37 [12]: 395}
8. As in ᠠᠢ ai (Khalkha: ай ai) 'category; sound, noise', or an pity/sympathy/worry-expressing interjection.^[7]: 19
9. As in ᠡᠢ ei (Khalkha: ий ii), an compassion/sorrow/fright/disgust-expressing interjection.^[7]: 303
10. As in ᠣᠢ oi (Khalkha: ой oi) 'woods, forest, grove; mind, intellect; memory',^{[7]: 603–604} or ᠤᠢ ui (Khalkha: уй ui) 'mourning, sorrow'.^[7]: 866
11. As in ᠥᠢ/ᠥᠶᠢ öi/öyi (Khalkha: өөе ööye), an exclamatory interjection meaning 'hello', 'I say', or 'look here',^{[7]: 633 [3]} or ᠦᠢ ᠲᠦᠮᠡᠨ üi (Khalkha: үй üi) tümen 'multitude; innumerable'.^[7]: 999
12. As in the final diphthongs u-a and uu-a.^[1]: 31