Adlam Small Letter Qaaf

It marks the consonant represented by q in Latin transliteration.

In Adlam, 𞤹 is an extended consonant letter used especially for borrowed words and proper names from neighboring language groups. Pular (also Pulaar) names western Fula varieties; Fulfulde is used for central and eastern varieties.

Why was Adlam created?

Adlam gave Fula speakers a script of their own.

The alphabet was first devised in Guinea in 1989 by brothers Ibrahima and Abdoulaye Barry, then 10 and 14. Their father wrote Fulani words in Arabic script, and the brothers wanted a script that could represent their language directly.

Before Adlam, Fula was already written with Arabic and Latin scripts, so the new alphabet joined those practices. During Unicode review in 2014, teachers in Guinea proposed ADLaM; the brothers’ earlier name, Bindi Pular, meant “Pular script.” ADLaM combines the alphabet’s first four letters and is glossed as “the alphabet that keeps a people from being lost.” Arabic writing influenced Adlam’s right-to-left direction and optional joining.

Why does 𞤹 look different in different fonts?

Its outline depends on whether the font joins neighboring letters.

Adlam runs right to left. Cursive text joins letters within words, while display and teaching fonts may leave them separate; both styles use the same 𞤹.

Adlam letterforms were standardized in revisions in 2019 and 2025; as of 2026, some fonts still show older designs. If 𞤹 appears as an empty box, the font lacks Adlam support; choose one that supports the script.