Ethiopic syllable Gwa

ጐ marks “gwa,” a syllable in Ethiopic fidel, whose signs pair consonants with vowels. Ethiopic writing is linked to South Arabian consonant writing, though the route is debated; its earliest surviving evidence dates to around the fourth or fifth century BCE. Later forms added vowel distinctions to write Geʽez, including sacred texts; the script also serves Amharic, Tigrinya, and other languages.

Text symbol

What ጐ means

It marks a g with a w-like glide before the vowel: “gwa.”

In Amharic, fidel—the Ethiopic writing system—can preserve older spellings after some Geʽez pronunciation contrasts merged. One system that writes Amharic in Latin letters renders this character “go”; the Keyman GFF Ethiopic keyboard uses gue as its input sequence.

Part of the collection

ሀ

Amharic Alphabet & Letters

Who writes ጐ

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Don't confuse it with

ጎ

Ethiopic Syllable Go

ጎ is the plain “go” syllable in the same series; use ጐ where the word calls for a w-like glide.

ጓ

Ethiopic Syllable Gwaa

It also has a w-like glide, but marks a different vowel from ጐ.

Alphabet

Amharic alphabet38 letters

ሀለሐመሠረሰሸቀቈበቨተቸኀኈነኘአከኰኸወዐዘዠየደጀገጐጠጨጰጸፀፈፐ

Questions people ask

Why does ጐ 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.