Bamum Letter Phase-E Laq

𖧙 is an older Bamum letter recorded as LAQ.

LAQ is the inventory’s Latin-letter transcription of its Bamum value, roughly “la” followed by a brief catch in the throat; the final Q marks that ending.

The Phase-E part of its Unicode name marks its last recorded phase, not its only one: the encoding proposal lists this same character in Phases A–E.

Bamum writing changed as its purpose changed

King Ibrahim Njoya and his scribes developed Bamum writing in western Cameroon between 1896 and 1910. It began with a large set of word-like signs used partly as a memory aid, then changed through successive phases.

The early phases moved toward syllabic writing; Phase F brought a sharp shift, and Phase G is the modern form. The older characters are for historical material, not an automatic way to spell modern Bamum.

Bamum manuscripts include histories, medical writing, local maps, correspondence, and folktales. The forms in a manuscript can help identify its phase and date, though this letter alone does not identify one exact phase.

Why does 𖧙 display differently on my device?

The installed font determines whether its outline appears.

Fonts and apps can draw the character differently; if the selected font lacks it, the text may show an empty box.