Ethiopic Syllable Loa

It spells a Me’en syllable beginning with l, then an open o. Ethiopic writing forms syllables by pairing a consonant with a vowel; ⶀ adds a more open-o form to the l row for Me’en. The Me’en chart marks that vowel ɔ; it means an open o sound.

Me’en is a language spoken in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Ethiopic script developed from South Arabian writing; its earliest attestations date to the 4th century. It began as a consonant script and developed into an abugida, where one sign represents a consonant-vowel syllable. It was first used to write Ge’ez and later adapted for other languages. In a 2004 proposal, Ethiopia’s standards agency supported the added forms for Me’en spelling, citing books and a syllabary from 1999–2002.

Why does ⶀ appear as a square?

Your font may lack Ethiopic Extended coverage. A square is the font’s fallback mark; the text can still contain ⶀ. As of 2026, SIL’s Abyssinica font lists complete coverage for Ethiopic Extended.