Ethiopic Syllable Ba

It is the basic b-form in the Ethiopic syllable series.

The Ethiopic script, also called fidel, writes consonant-vowel syllables with distinct signs. Inside a word, በ contributes one syllable, and its exact sound depends on the language. In Amharic, placed before a word, it can act as a prefix or preposition meaning “in, at, by, or with”; the sentence decides which sense fits.

The Ethiopic script developed from Ancient South Arabian writing that reached Tigray; the precise steps are not settled. A clearly defined Ethiopic script appears in inscriptions from the second/third centuries CE, and vowel marking developed by the fourth century. Early royal inscriptions carried public proclamations; later Ge’ez manuscripts carried religious and literary works. Amharic, Tigrinya, and Tigre use adaptations of the same script.