Ethiopic Syllable She

It is sixth in Amharic’s “sh” series. This form may have a reduced vowel, like the first vowel in English “about,” or no vowel.

Pseudo-Sabaean South Arabian writing (consonants, not vowels) is attested in Ethiopia and Eritrea in the 8th–7th centuries BCE. An Ethiopic abjad (consonant-only script) for Geʽez, the classical language, appears in the 1st–3rd centuries CE. In the 4th century, signs gained vowels, forming an abugida (one sign combines consonant and vowel) that sped writing, especially sacred texts. Amharic added the “sh” series from ሰ in the 14th–15th centuries. Geʽez remains a church language; Amharic and Tigrinya also use the script.