Deseret Small Letter Chee

It represents the “ch” sound, as in “cheer.” In a Deseret spelling, 𐐽 is one consonant letter, not Latin c followed by h. Its uppercase partner is 𐐕; the pair keeps the same shape and changes size.

In 1850, Brigham Young asked the University of Deseret’s board to reform English spelling. By the mid-1850s, the project had become a distinct phonemic alphabet: a system that gives each speech sound its own letter. Its forms changed during development, before a version appeared in print in the late-1860s.

The project grew from the same spelling-reform climate as Isaac Pitman’s phonotypy, an English phonetic writing system. George D. Watt had studied Pitman’s system, but the Deseret board chose its own set of characters. That is a historical connection, not a claim that 𐐽 is a Pitman symbol.

What does it mean when someone sends me 𐐽?

It is a Deseret letter sample or a reference to the script.

Inside a Deseret word, read it as the “ch” sound. Sent alone, it may point to the alphabet, a spelling exercise, or a historical text; the surrounding message can tell you which.