Ethiopic Syllable Moa

It represents a syllable used in Me’en spelling. Unicode places ⶁ in a group titled “Syllables for Me’en”; it is one of the extended Ethiopic characters for writing that language.

Inscriptions of Proto-Ge’ez, an early form of Ethiopic writing, are attested from the 4th–5th century BCE. Around 350 CE, Ethiopic writing developed into an abugida: each basic sign carries a consonant, and changes to the sign show its vowel. A 2004 Unicode proposal for Ethiopic Extended drew on Ethiopia’s national standard from 2002 and included extra characters for languages such as Me’en; its bibliography cites Me’en books and a syllabary from 1999–2002.