What Ꭲ means
It represents the Cherokee syllable i.
The Cherokee syllabary was developed in 1815–1821 to write Cherokee speech. Inscriptions at Red Bird River Shelter are interpreted as experiments with the new script from the early 19th century.
The Cherokee Nation adopted the syllabary in 1825. In 1828, the Cherokee Phoenix printed Cherokee news, laws, religious writing, and arguments over removal.
Why does Ꭲ look like a Latin I?
The similar outline hides a different reading.
Ꭲ is the Cherokee syllable i, not the Latin letter I. Some historical accounts connect Cherokee printed forms to familiar type; metal type standardized and simplified handwritten designs. In the syllabary, Ꭲ belongs to the vowel row with Ꭰ, Ꭱ, Ꭳ, Ꭴ, and Ꭵ.
Cree syllabics emerged by 1840 after James Evans learned of Cherokee’s success; the scripts are historically connected, but they are not interchangeable. As of 2025, Cherokee Nation language programs support syllabary classes, translation, and Cherokee text on computers and smartphones.
Use Ꭲ as Cherokee writing or in a Cherokee-language study context; a lone sign needs surrounding text.
Do not read a lone Ꭲ as English I.
Part of the collection
Who writes Ꭲ
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Don't confuse it with
1
Related characters
6
Questions people ask
1Why does Ꭲ show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
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How to type or find Ꭲ
- Search it as
- Ꭲ · Cherokee i · Cherokee syllable i · Cherokee syllabary · Tsalagi · Cherokee keyboard
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
Ꭲ\13A2Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.