What እ means
It pairs a throat closure with a short central vowel.
In fidel, the Ethiopic syllable-sign system, እ is sixth in the glottal row: ʾə, with ə for the schwa vowel.
Inscriptions show Ethiopic writing in 2nd–3rd centuries CE. It adapted Old South Arabian, a consonant script used in southern Arabia, for Geʿez, an older Ethiopian language; vowel notation developed by the 4th century CE. Geʿez manuscripts and Amharic, Tigrinya, and Tigre carry the tradition.
What it means when someone sends it to you
2 readingsAmharic, word-initial እ
The vowel is pronounced.
Amharic, in a cluster or at word end
The consonant may remain without its vowel.
Don't confuse it with
4Questions people ask
1Why does እ 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 እ
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 12A5, then Alt+X to get እ.
Windows
Win+Rrun charmap for the full table, or use the emoji picker's Ω symbols tab (Win + .).
macOS
Control+Command+SpaceOpen the character viewer and search “ethiopic syllable glottal e”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 12a5, then Enter or Space.
HTML
እCSS
\12A5Keyman 3.3 Amharic
To type እ with an Amharic keyboard, press e in Keyman 3.3’s mnemonic QWERTY layout; other layouts may differ.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
እ
HTML hex
እ
CSS content
content: "\12A5";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E1%8A%A5
1
On screen
1
Code points
1
JS .length
3
UTF-8 bytes
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.