For example, "avan" (“he”) is written as "a" + "va" + "chillu-n" , where "chillu-n" represents the "n" sound without a vowel. In other Indic scripts, the same word would be possibly written as "a" + "va" + "na" + virama. However, in Malayalam script, that sequence represents a different word, "avanŭ" (“to him”), and is not interchangeable with "avan". This is because in modern Malayalam script, the sign for a virama also works as the sign for a vowel "ŭ" at the end of a word, and is not able to cleanly “kill” the inherent vowel in this case.