Ethiopic syllable qi

On the GFF Amharic phonetic layout, type qi. Other Ethiopic keyboard layouts may assign different keys.

Ethiopic input uses temporary keyboard codes that resolve into a single written syllable. qi is an instruction for that layout, not a second spelling of ቂ.

what does ቂ mean?

It is a written syllable, not a word on its own. In Amharic, qi is a Latin transliteration for a k pronounced with a sharp, throat-driven release, followed by ee as in “see.” That is an Amharic reading; other languages using Ethiopic writing can assign different sounds to the same series. In ጥቂት, meaning «a few», ቂ is part of the word, not a translation by itself.

An early South Arabian consonant script was adapted for Geʽez in the Horn of Africa, the continent’s eastern projection, around the end of the first millennium BCE. By the fourth century CE, this writing had begun changing into a left-to-right syllabary, with signs for vowels as well as consonants. Geʽez was the first language written with it; later, Ethiopic writing was also used for Amharic, Tigre, Oromo, and other languages.

why does ቂ look different in another font?

A font can change the glyph’s outline without changing the character. One Ethiopic syllable can have different glyph forms across fonts. If the outline looks broken or oddly spaced, check whether the font supports Ethiopic and whether the input method produced the intended syllable.