Ethiopic Syllable Xo

It writes one consonant-and-vowel syllable in Ethiopic-script words.

The Ethiopic syllable chart, often called fidel, groups cells by consonant series and vowel form. ኆ is the O-vowel cell in the series Unicode labels X. Amharic reads it as ho, with an audible h; Ge'ez transliteration marks that initial consonant with an under-mark. These are conventions for different languages, not competing names for one sound.

Ethiopic writing developed from South Arabian consonant writing brought to the Horn of Africa around the end of the first millennium BCE. Proto-Ge'ez evidence is placed around the 4th–5th centuries BCE; the shift to a vowel-marked syllabary took shape around the 4th century CE. That change let each sign write a consonant and vowel together, including in Ge'ez religious texts. Ge'ez later became mainly liturgical, while the script was adapted for Amharic and other languages. The exact route and outside influences remain debated.

How do I type ኆ?

Use an Ethiopic keyboard layout or input method (IME).

Unicode does not set a universal key sequence for Ethiopic characters. Select the O-vowel cell from the X series in your layout; the keys differ by keyboard or IME.