Ethiopic Syllable Wu

It is the u-vowel form in the Ethiopic w-series.

Ethiopic writing groups consonants into series with forms for different vowels. ዉ is one written syllabic unit in the series conventionally romanized with w.

An Amharic teaching text uses it in ዉሃ, meaning “water.”

How did the Ethiopic script originate?

Its history took shape across several periods.

The Ethiopic tradition is historically connected to South Arabian writing. An account places South Arabian writing in Tigray around the eighth century BCE and identifies Dakhanamo as the earliest attestation of Ethiopian writing in that account. The present quasi-syllabic system developed from an earlier consonant-only form in the third and fourth centuries CE.

A Ge'ez prayer book from the fifteenth century shows later manuscript use. Courtly Ethiopic writing also appeared in official manuscripts and books prepared for display. Ge'ez later became chiefly liturgical, while the script also serves modern languages such as Amharic and Tigre.