Ethiopic Syllable Qyaa

ⷃ is an older Gurage spelling for a palatalized syllable in the q-series. It belongs to the Ethiopic writing tradition; later Gurage conventions prefer a different glyph for the matching form in the “a” vowel row.

Text symbol

Search it as: qyaa · Gurage qyaa · Chaha · Sebat Bet · Gurage orthography · Ethiopic extended
Shows up in: Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws

What ⷃ means

It is a Gurage spelling character for a palatalized q-series syllable.

An older Gurage chart puts it in the “a” row of the palatalized q’ series: a series is a group of syllables sharing a consonant, and palatalized means the tongue moves toward the hard palate, the front part of the roof of the mouth. The chart’s technical Latin transliteration is k’ʲa.

The modern extended series was first introduced in 1963-1964 to represent Gurage sounds the established Ethiopic inventory did not distinguish. The wider Ethiopic script belongs to the Ge’ez tradition and has historical roots in South Arabian writing.

How do I type Qyaa correctly?

Use a Unicode-aware input method and follow the source spelling.

Older Gurage computer fonts sometimes built related forms from a base sign and a separate mark; poor positioning could change their appearance. For a legacy text, preserve its encoded characters instead of reconstructing the spelling from how the glyph looks.

A specialist spelling choice in Gurage writing.

Choose by the source’s orthography, not by whichever glyph looks closest.

Drift: The 2013 Gurage spelling reform changed the preferred forms for the palatalized series; ቓ is the corresponding form in the “a” row of that later convention.