What ᴝ means
It marks a weakened u vowel in UPA transcription.
UPA, the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet, is a specialist system for writing how Uralic languages sound; it is also called Finno-Ugric transcription (FUT).
Here ᴝ marks a reduced form of u. A transcription key—the guide to a text’s notation—gives its precise value; it has no single equivalent in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
Why is ᴝ sideways?
The sideways shape avoids the n-like look of a fully turned u.
The notation developed through successive proposals rather than a one-person invention. Early examples in publications by Szilasi and Setälä date to 1901; Setälä reviewed earlier systems and proposed a scheme open to later refinement.
In UPA/FUT, rotation marks vowel reduction. Other rotated letters such as ᴑ, ᴈ and ᴟ use the same broad convention. FUT covers related systems rather than one fixed chart, so phonetic values can vary; typefaces also draw the outlines differently.
Specialist UPA/FUT notation; using it signals that a transcription system is in play.
Do not substitute IPA ɯ unless the transcription key supports that conversion.
Who writes ᴝ
Loading…
Don't confuse it with
3
Related characters
4
Questions people ask
2Is ᴝ an IPA symbol?
No. It belongs to UPA/FUT, a related but distinct notation system; do not silently convert it to an IPA character.
What does ᵙ mean?
It marks an extremely short or fleeting ᴝ in UPA. Its superscript form is not interchangeable with the full-size character.
More like this
10
How to type or find ᴝ
- Search it as
- UPA · FUT · reduced u · sideways u · Uralic phonetic transcription · IPA · reduced vowel
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
ᴝ\1D1DCodes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.