Symbols
67Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
Chiyao alphabet
One row per letter in alphabetical order; ŵ follows w. Q and x are left out because Yao does not use them; f, h, r, v and z turn up mostly in borrowed words. Pairs such as ch, ng’ and ny are written with these ordinary letters.
The ng’ apostrophe
Either form spells ng’, the ng of singer: the straight keyboard apostrophe or the curly one that phones type.
Punctuation and quotation marks
Yao texts follow the English punctuation of Malawi and Tanzania: double curly quotes, single ones inside them.
Where it's spoken
Malawi has the largest Yao community, then Mozambique (about 800,000 speakers by the CLDR estimate) and Tanzania. Kwacha, metical and shilling have no Unicode signs: they are written MK, MT and TSh.
Yao country in emoji
🌊 Lake Malawi, whose southern shores are the Yao heartland; 🐟 chambo and the lake’s other fish; 🛶 the dugout canoes of its fishermen; 🕌 🌙 the mosques and the Ramadan and Eid moon of a mostly Muslim people.
On the map
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The Yao language alphabet: plain letters and ŵ
Yao is a Bantu language spoken around the southern end of Lake Malawi and across Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania; it is written in the Latin script, with country-specific orthographies. Unicode’s CLDR has no letter list for it yet, so the grid is a practical copy set rather than a complete alphabet; Malawi’s standard Ciyawo places Ŵ ŵ after W w. The standard alphabets vary by country: Malawi’s standard Ciyawo treats z, v and r as foreign sounds, found only in loanwords and respelled there as s, f and l.
This page is about the African Yao language, also called Chiyao or Ciyawo. In China, “Yao” is an ethnic-group label, not one single language: people classified as Yao speak different languages, including Hmong–Mien languages such as Iu Mien and languages from other families.
How Ciyawo spelling works: ŵ, c, ng’ and ny
Malawi’s standard Ciyawo orthography uses ŵ for a bilabial fricative and distinguishes it from w for a different sound; the guide contrasts waka and ŵaka. Malawi’s standard Ciyawo distinguishes ŵ from w, but the orthographies of other countries differ.
Other sounds are written with pairs of letters rather than accents. The standard language names are Ciyawo in Malawi and Ciyaawo in Mozambique; Chiyao and Ciyao are also used as alternate names. ny is the ny of canyon, like Spanish ñ, and ng’ with an apostrophe is the ng of singer, kept apart from ng without one, which sounds as in finger. Yao is tonal. Ordinary texts in Malawi’s standard Ciyawo leave tone unmarked; marks are used only in technical literature such as dictionaries and grammar books.
How to type ŵ and the ng’ apostrophe
The easiest way is to copy Ŵ or ŵ from this page. On Windows, type 0175 or 0174 and press AltX in Word or WordPad to turn the code into ŵ or Ŵ; the US-International layout has no key for it. On a Mac, the ABC Extended input source gives the circumflex with Option6 followed by w. On phones, add the Welsh keyboard (on iPhone or in Gboard) and hold down w to get ŵ; Welsh uses the same letter. In HTML it is ŵ and Ŵ.
For ng’ the straight keyboard apostrophe ' and the curly ’ are read as the same mark; the curly one is the typographically proper form. Type it with Alt0146 on the Windows number pad, OptionShift] on a Mac, or by holding the apostrophe key on a phone. The quotation marks “ ” are Alt0147 and Alt0148 on Windows and Option[ and OptionShift[ on a Mac.
Where the Yao language is spoken
The Yao live in three countries that meet near Lake Malawi. The largest community is in southern Malawi , around Mangochi at the lake’s southern end and in Machinga, Balaka and Zomba. In Mozambique the Yao homeland is Niassa province, around its capital Lichinga, and Unicode’s CLDR estimates about 800,000 speakers there. In Tanzania Yao is spoken in the south, in districts such as Tunduru and Masasi.
In the nineteenth century Yao traders ran caravans between the lake and the Indian Ocean coast at Kilwa, and with that trade came Islam and many Swahili words. Most Yao are Muslim today, and mosques and Quran schools are a familiar sight in Yao towns such as Mangochi. Bakili Muluzi, Malawi’s president from 1994 to 2004, is Yao.
Yao’s neighbours each have a collection here too: Chichewa (Nyanja), spoken by most Malawians, the Makhuwa and Lomwe languages to the east in Mozambique, and Swahili, which many Tanzanian Yao also speak. The Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania collections have each country’s flag, emoji and Portuguese or Swahili letters.
How to use them
5 situationsClick to copyYao Language Letters (Chiyao) combos
12Worth knowing
- Ŵ is rare in the world’s alphabets: it is used in Welsh, where it is a long u-like vowel, and in Malawian languages such as Chichewa and Chiyao, where it is a consonant.
- Spellings of the language name vary across the region: Chiyao and Ciyao are among the alternate forms, while standard orthographies use Ciyawo in Malawi and Ciyaawo in Mozambique; Kiyao is also recorded in Tanzania.
- English has two unrelated “Yao” peoples: the Bantu-speaking Yao of Lake Malawi and the Yao of the mountains of southern China and Southeast Asia.
- Yao caravans linked Lake Malawi with Kilwa on the Swahili coast before colonial rule; Islam spread among Yao communities mainly in the late nineteenth century.
Questions people ask
6What is the Yao language?
Yao, or Chiyao, is a Bantu language spoken around the southern end of Lake Malawi, in southern Malawi, Niassa province in Mozambique and southern Tanzania. It is written in the Latin alphabet.
Is the Yao language of Malawi the same as Yao in China?
No. The African Yao language is Bantu. “Yao” is also an ethnic-group label in China, covering speakers of different languages, including Hmong–Mien languages such as Iu Mien and languages from other families.
What letters does the Chiyao alphabet use?
Malawi’s standard Ciyawo orthography uses Latin letters, Ŵ/ŵ and multigraphs such as Jw, Ly, Ng’, Ng’w and Ny. Tone is normally unmarked in ordinary Malawian texts but may be marked in technical literature.
How do I type ŵ on a keyboard?
Copy it from this page, or on Windows type 0175 then AltX in Word (0174 for Ŵ). On a Mac use the ABC Extended input source and press Option6 then w. On a phone, add a Welsh keyboard and hold the w key.
Is it Chiyao or Ciyao?
Both are used as alternate spellings, but the approved names are Ciyawo in Malawi and Ciyaawo in Mozambique. Kiyao is also recorded as an alternate name in Tanzania.
Where is the Yao language spoken?
Mostly in southern Malawi around Mangochi, Machinga and Zomba, in Niassa province of Mozambique, where Unicode’s CLDR estimates about 800,000 speakers, and in southern Tanzania around Tunduru and Masasi.
