Edo (Bini) Alphabet

Edo, which English has long also called Bini, is written in the Latin alphabet in this order as it is usually taught: A B D E Ẹ F G GB GH H I K KH KP L M MW N NW NY O Ọ P R RH RR S T U V VB W Y Z. That is 24 single letters and 10 double letters. Only two letters go beyond English: Ẹ ẹ comes right after e and Ọ ọ right after o. C, J, Q and X are not part of the alphabet and appear only in English names and loanwords.

The double letters, which people searching for the Edo alphabet often call the “double alphabet”, are counted as letters of their own when the alphabet is recited, but you type them as two ordinary letters. gb and kp are made with the lips and the back of the tongue closing at the same time, a sound Edo shares with Yoruba, Igbo and many other West African languages. gh is a soft throaty g and kh the rasping sound of Scottish loch; ny is close to the ñ of Spanish año. Edo also has three r-like sounds, written r, rr and rh, and a sound between v and w written vb, which is why so many Edo names and words contain it.

Because the double letters are made of plain letters, the grid on this page lists only the single letters, the tone-marked vowels and the marks you need to build the rest.

Ẹ and Ọ: the two dotted vowels

Edo has seven vowels and Latin only five vowel letters, so a dot underneath creates the other two. Plain e is a close e, near French été, while ẹ is the open e of English bed. Plain o is a close o, near the o of go, while ọ is the open o of British law. The dot matters: dropping it can turn one word into another, so in careful writing ẹ and ọ are never just decoration. You see them in the name of the language itself, Ẹdo, and in the title of its king, the Ọba of Benin.

Yoruba uses the same two dotted vowels for the same sounds, and Igbo writes ọ too, so a Yoruba keyboard already has both and an Igbo keyboard has ọ. When you copy, watch the look-alikes: ẹ (e with dot below, U+1EB9) is not ė (dot above), ę (ogonek) or ɛ (open e, used in Ghanaian languages), and ọ (U+1ECD) is not ơ or ɔ. A look-alike looks nearly right but breaks search and sorting.

Tone marks in Edo

Edo is a tonal language: the pitch of a syllable is part of the word. Dictionaries, school primers and careful texts mark it with accents, an acute for a high tone (á é í ó ú) and a grave for a low tone (à è ì ò ù), as in the language's own name Ẹ̀dó. In everyday writing, on signs, in newspapers and in text messages, tones are usually left out and readers know the word from its context.

Unicode has ready-made letters for the plain vowels with accents, but not for ẹ and ọ with a tone. Those are written as ẹ or ọ followed by a combining accent: ẹ + ◌́ gives ẹ́, ọ + ◌̀ gives ọ̀. The combining acute (U+0301), grave (U+0300) and dot below (U+0323) are in the grid so you can copy them and build any tone-marked Edo vowel.

How to type Ẹ ẹ Ọ ọ and Edo tone marks

On a phone, the easiest way is to add a Yoruba keyboard, which Gboard and other keyboard apps offer and which has both ẹ and ọ (an Igbo keyboard has ọ but not ẹ); or copy the letters straight from this page and paste them.

On Windows, in Microsoft Word or WordPad type the code and press Alt+X: 1EB9 gives ẹ and 1EB8 Ẹ, 1ECD gives ọ and 1ECC Ọ, and 0301 or 0300 right after a letter adds a high or low tone mark. With the US-International keyboard, ' then a vowel gives á and then a vowel gives à. On a Mac, Option+E then a vowel gives á and Option+ then a vowel gives à; for ẹ and ọ open the Character Viewer with Control+Command+Space and search for dot below.

In HTML, write ẹ for ẹ, Ẹ for Ẹ, ọ for ọ, Ọ for Ọ, and ́ or ̀ after a vowel for the high or low tone. The naira sign ₦ is 20A6 then Alt+X in Word, or ₦ in HTML.

Where the Edo (Bini) language is spoken

Edo is the language of the Edo people of Edo State in southern Nigeria, centred on Benin City, the old capital of the Kingdom of Benin; CLDR estimates about 1.7 million speakers. Its speakers call both the language and the city Ẹdo, and Bini, from the same root as Benin, is the older English name, still common in phrases such as Bini language and Edo-Bini.

Edo gives its name to the Edoid family of languages, which also includes Esan, Owan and Etsako elsewhere in Edo State and Urhobo and Isoko in Delta State. Edo is the language of the Ọba's court, of local radio, church services, songs and films made in Benin City, and many speakers also use English and Nigerian Pidgin every day.

For money, Edo speakers use the Nigerian naira, written ₦500. For the letters of Nigeria's other languages see the Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa and Nigerian Pidgin collections, and for the flag, the naira and the country's emoji see Nigeria.

The Kingdom of Benin in emoji

A few emoji belong to Edo culture as naturally as its letters. 👑 stands for the Ọba of Benin, whose palace is at the heart of Benin City and whose kingship is one of the oldest in Africa. 📿 is for the red coral beads the Ọba and his chiefs wear in rows at ceremonies, the most recognisable sign of Benin royalty, and 🐆 for the leopard, the emblem of the Ọba's power that appears again and again in Benin bronze and ivory art.

Igue, the Ọba's festival held each December, is the time for 👑🎉 and good wishes, and Benin's bronze casters, whose guild still works on Igun Street in Benin City, keep alive the craft behind the famous Benin Bronzes. Add 🇳🇬 and the message is complete.