Ethiopic Syllable Hhu

It writes the u-vowel form of the ሐ consonant row.

The Ethiopic fidel is an abugida: each consonant row changes form to mark a vowel. ሑ contributes the consonant of the ሐ row with u inside a word; its meaning comes from that word and language.

In Amharic, the historically separate ሀ, ሐ, and ኀ rows may sound alike, though names and religious writing can preserve their spelling differences. Tigrinya’s Latin-letter romanization writes ሑ as ḥu; the dot under h marks the distinct consonant row.

Why is ሑ different from ሁ?

ሑ is the u form of ሐ; ሁ is the u form of ሀ.

Ethiopic writing grew from South Arabian consonant writing, though its precise beginnings remain debated. Inscriptions resembling Sabaean writing in Ethiopia and Eritrea date to the 8th/7th centuries BC; a clearly defined Ethiopic script appears in inscriptions from the 2nd/3rd centuries CE. Its vowel system had developed by the 4th century CE, turning consonant forms into syllables that could record Ge’ez words.

The script later served Ge’ez manuscripts, including church books, and was adapted, with changes, for Amharic, Tigrinya, and Tigre.

How do you type ሑ?

Use an Ethiopic keyboard that supports the ሐ row.

On the Geʾez Frontier Foundation layout, press H then U to produce ሑ. On SIL’s layout, select the ሐ row and its u-vowel key; the key mapping differs.

A font or app without Ethiopic support may show a box. Ethiopic font designs and optional variants can change how ሑ looks, but not which character was entered.