Cherokee Letter Yo

It represents the Cherokee syllable written “yo.” That spelling is a guide to the sound, not an English word or a picture; in a Cherokee word, Ᏺ contributes a syllable.

Sequoyah developed the syllabary so Cherokee speakers could write their language. It appeared in letters, diaries, healing notes, legal and religious works, and the Cherokee Phoenix, whose printing began in 1828. Forced removal interrupted the press in 1838; printing later resumed in Tahlequah.

A 2011 archaeological study interpreted marks at Red Bird River Shelter as possible experimental writing connected to the syllabary's formation, rather than a definitive first inscription. Sequoyah demonstrated the syllabary in 1821; Samuel Worcester and collaborators adapted its characters for printing, finalizing a print design in 1827.

Why do Cherokee letters look like Latin letters?

Some shapes were adapted for printing; their Cherokee sounds stayed distinct. Cherokee characters can resemble Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, or Arabic numerals, but visual resemblance does not make them the same letters or give them the same values.

Cherokee writing helped inspire James Evans's syllabary for Cree and Ojibway in 1840. That is a historical connection between writing systems, not an identity: Cree syllabics use rotated or reflected shapes to mark vowel differences, while Ᏺ remains a Cherokee character.

How do I type Ᏺ?

Choose a Cherokee keyboard layout; a font switch only changes how text looks. The key depends on the layout you enable.

The Cherokee Nation typing guide distinguishes keyboard input from font support. CLDR lists Cherokee-Nation and Cherokee-Phonetic layouts; as of 2026, its Cherokee-Nation map assigns Ᏺ to Y.

The two related forms are not different syllables: Ᏺ is the cap-height form, and ᏺ is its lowercase counterpart. A font may show them at different sizes.