What 𖧷 means
It is a historical Bamum sign from Phase E.
“Pi” is the value recorded for it in that phase. The modern Bamum syllabary is Phase G, so this character is not a modern spelling.
How did Bamum writing change?
King Njoya and his scribes devised Bamum writing around 1896 for the Bamum language. It began with logographic signs—marks for objects or ideas—and changed across stages toward syllabic writing, where signs represent syllables. Bamum manuscripts covered history, traditional medicine, maps, correspondence, administration, and education.
Phase A is the earliest form; Phase G is the modern syllabary. Phase E came before the major shift toward syllabic forms in Phase F. Signs were simplified and some values reassigned across phases, so “pi” belongs to its historical stage.
Some scholars suggest the West African Vai script influenced Bamum’s syllabic design. The Bagam people later adapted Bamum writing; these are connections between writing systems.
Historical and specialist; it belongs in work on older Bamum texts and the history of the script.
Drift: In the 1930s, colonial authorities exiled King Njoya, closed Bamum schools, and tried to destroy documents. A coordinated revival attempt began in 2007; a preservation collaboration between Endangered Alphabets and the Bamum Scripts and Archives Project began in 2022.
Part of collections
Who writes 𖧷
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Questions people ask
1Is 𖧷 the Greek letter π?
No. 𖧷 is a Bamum sign whose Phase E value is transcribed “pi”; Greek π is a letter from a different writing system.
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How to type or find 𖧷
- Search it as
- bamum pi · phase e pi · bamum script · historical bamum · bamum supplement · bamum glyph
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
𖧷\169F7Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.