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ኬ

ethiopic syllable kee

Ethiopic Syllable Kee

In Ethiopic writing, ኬ is a syllable sign used inside words. Its reading depends on the language, so Unicode’s “kee” is a label rather than a universal pronunciation.

Text symbol
Search it as
Ethiopic keyboard · fidel · Amharic writing · Ge'ez writing
Shows up in
Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws

What ኬ means

It represents a syllable: k followed by a vowel. The Ethiopic k-series has seven forms, pairing the same consonant with different vowels, so ኬ cannot replace ከ or ክ. One romanization used for Amharic writes it as kē; actual readings still depend on the language.

The Ethiopic script grew from the Old South Arabian alphabet and first served to write Geʿəz, an ancient Ethiopian language. Geʿəz inscriptions are attested from the second or third century CE; a vowel-marked Ethiopic script appears by the fourth century CE. Today, the script is used for Amharic and other languages.

Don't confuse it with

2

Questions people ask

1

Why does ኬ 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 ኬ

Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 12AC, then Alt+X to get ኬ.
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 kee”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 12ac, then Enter or Space.
HTML
ኬ
CSS
\12AC
AmharicPro Ethiopic keyboard
On the AmharicPro Ethiopic keyboard layout, type `kE` for ኬ; other layouts may differ.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
ኬ
HTML hex
ኬ
CSS content
content: "\12AC";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E1%8A%AC
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.

Families this belongs to

1

African scripts2,275 symbols