Cherokee Letter Su

Read Ꮡ as the Cherokee syllable “su.”

Cherokee uses a syllabary: each sign represents a syllable-sized sound unit. The Cherokee Reader uses Ꮡ by itself as a lesson sound and in ᏑᎵ (suli, “buzzard”) and ᏑᏓᎵ (sudali, “six”). Translate the whole word; Ꮡ alone does not mean “buzzard” or “six.”

Why was the syllabary made?

It gave Cherokee a way to write the Cherokee language.

Sequoyah first tried one sign per word, then organized Cherokee speech into syllables. The syllabary was invented in the early nineteenth century; accounts of the earliest physical evidence are disputed. Unicode dates its development between 1815 and 1821.

The Cherokee Nation adopted it in 1825. In 1828, the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper began printing in both Cherokee and English. Written messages also helped maintain unity during forced removal. As of 2026, Cherokee Nation resources include teaching materials, fonts, and keyboards.

Why can Ꮡ look different in some fonts?

A font can change its shape without changing its reading.

Ꮡ belongs to the Cherokee syllabary’s s-series. Its printed forms were adjusted for type, and historical accounts differ on how much other letterforms influenced them. A visual resemblance does not give it an English-letter reading: its Cherokee value is su.

Traditional Cherokee text is mostly caseless and uses cap-height forms. Smaller forms are also encoded. On Android, missing Cherokee font support may show a box or placeholder instead of Ꮡ. The display can fail while the character’s reading stays the same.