What 𖧩 means
“Pue” is the letter’s Phase-E label, not an English translation.
Bamum writing began around 1896 under King Ibrahim Njoya, with help from palace scribes and advisers. Its earliest form used signs for objects and actions; a first-phase manuscript is dated 1897. After several rounds of reduction and reorganization, Phase E emerged around 1908.
Why was Bamum writing created?
It began as a way to record Bamum language and community life.
Njoya’s early system served as a memory aid and a way to represent language. The court later used the evolving script for letters, calendars, histories, legal records, maps, medical writing, education, and administration.
Is 𖧩 part of modern Bamum?
No: modern Bamum writing uses the later Phase-G system.
Unicode 17.0 describes the Bamum Supplement as mostly unused in ordinary Bamum writing but useful to specialist linguists and historians. In a modern text, treat 𖧩 as a historical citation or preserved spelling; the surrounding source determines which Phase-E spelling is intended.
Archive-facing and specialist: it points to historical Bamum material or the study of earlier writing phases.
The shared “Pue” label does not make the Phase-E and Phase-G characters interchangeable.
Part of collections
Who writes 𖧩
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What it means when someone sends it to you
2 readingsA Phase-E letter interpreted within that manuscript’s spelling system.
Related characters
2
Questions people ask
1Why does 𖧩 appear as a box?
Unicode 17.0 includes the character, but your font or app still needs a glyph from the Bamum Supplement to render it. Without that coverage, it may appear as a box.
More like this
10
How to type or find 𖧩
- Search it as
- bamum pue · bamum phase e · phase e pue · bamun pue
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
𖧩\169E9Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.