Arabic Letter Beh with Small V

In Wolofal, ݖ writes the consonant c. Wolofal is Wolof written in an Arabic-based script called Ajami; the letter gets its sound from that spelling system.

Ajami adapts Arabic letter shapes to distinguish sounds in African languages. Arabic-script inscriptions from the Niger bend dated to the 11th through 15th centuries give regional context, but do not date this exact letter. A 2003 Unicode proposal describes extended African letters as already in use and cites 1992 orthography reports. That record points to established adaptation, not a single inventor.

A Soninke Ajami teaching manual also identifies ݖ with c in its Senegal standard, while teaching ش as an alternative. The choice belongs to an orthographic convention: do not infer the sound from the shape alone.

How do I type ݖ as one character?

Insert ݖ as a single Unicode character. It is not Arabic ب with a separately added combining mark.

In Wolofal, نݖ represents prenasalised c and does not occur at the start of a word. Arabic letters join their neighbors, so the shape can change by position; a font without this letter may show a box.