Ethiopic Number Thirty

It means thirty. In a larger Ethiopic numeral, it contributes 30 before smaller signs: ፴፭ is 35.

Before numeral signs were used, Ethiopic inscriptions wrote numbers out as words. The earliest known inscriptional evidence for numeral signs includes RIÉth 218 at Anza and HS1 at Ḥǝnzat; a 2023 study argues that the signs were in use by the first decades of the third century CE. They made quantities more compact, and strokes above and below helped distinguish numeral signs from ordinary letters.

The Ethiopic numeral family is conventionally linked to Greek alphabetic numerals, perhaps through Coptic. That origin is debated: a 2023 study instead proposes that the signs were formed locally from Ethiopic base letters without their usual vowel variants, plus a punctuation stroke.

Use it where Ethiopic notation matters.

As of 2026, Western digits suit phone numbers, decimals, and calculations for broad multilingual audiences; Ethiopic numerals appear in Ge'ez-language literature and some chapter or page numbering for Amharic- or Tigrinya-facing readers. The choice can preserve script continuity or make mixed-script information easier to scan.