What 𛰂 means
It is the Duployan consonant for p. Duployan is an alphabetic shorthand: consonant and vowel signs join into connected outlines, and the direction of a consonant line helps distinguish it. This is the p line.
Émile Duployé published the system in 1860 for writing French speech quickly. Later adaptations served English, German, Spanish and Romanian, so Duployan developed as a set of language-specific shorthand practices, not one universal spelling system.
Why can 𛰂 mean 1?
In Chinook number writing, it can stand for 1. The same character therefore reads as p in ordinary Duployan shorthand and as a numeral in that specific writing tradition.
Father Jean-Marie-Raphaël Le Jeune adapted Duployan for Chinook languages, which he considered poorly served by the Roman alphabet. His version was used for Chinook Jargon and other languages in interior British Columbia. The Kamloops Wawa, a publication using this writing, documents the use across 1891–1923.
Why does it look different when joined?
Neighboring signs can change its joined outline. Duployan consonants connect or overlap, and their visible forms can shift around adjacent signs.
In the Unicode rendering model, joining controls, the font, and the application or system environment can affect what appears. A Duployan-capable font and input method are needed to produce connected text as intended.
On its own, it is best read as a sample of Duployan writing or shorthand, rather than a casual reaction.
In Chinook number writing, read it as 1; in ordinary Duployan, read p.
What it means when someone sends it to you
2 readingsDon't confuse it with
4Questions people ask
1Why does 𛰂 show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
How to type 𛰂
𛰂\1BC02Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.