Cuneiform Sign KA Times U₂

It can be read several ways; the line decides.

In Sumerian records, KA×U₂ can stand for meliₓ (“throat”), tukur₃ (“to chew”), or uzug₅ (a person term). Read the surrounding words and the line’s language to decide which value belongs there.

Cuneiform scribes also used lexical lists—reference texts linking signs with pronunciations and meanings. A third-millennium BCE lexical-list fragment from Ebla preserves the tentative sequence KA-U2-KAK; that is not a secure first attestation of 𒆈 itself.

Why is KA×U₂ not a literal translation?

It names one sign’s structure, not a phrase.

In sign-list notation, × marks a sign analyzed as combining KA and U₂. KA×U₂ names one sign; it is not a phrase formed by translating its components. Writing the KA and U₂ signs one after another makes two encoded characters, not automatically 𒆈. Similar labels such as KA×U and KA×UŠ name other entries, so the final element matters.

Why does it look different in another font?

The font may show a different historical style.

Cuneiform glyphs vary by period, region, and writing medium, so one sign can have different drawn forms without changing its identity. Unicode’s reference glyph is one representative form. Some fonts also merge distinct signs incorrectly; check the sign-list identity and textual context instead of relying on shape alone.