Linear B syllable B032 Qo

It is a syllable sign read qo.

Linear B is a syllabary: each sign writes a syllable-sized sound. The “q” marks the q-series, whose consonant was made at the back of the mouth with rounded lips. “qo” is a conventional scholarly transliteration; the exact ancient sound is reconstructed, not recorded.

Linear B usually writes a consonant followed by a vowel. When Mycenaean Greek had a consonant cluster or a consonant at the end of a word, spellings could leave a consonant unmarked or add a vowel. Read the neighboring signs and the word context together; 𐀦 alone does not translate as a word.

Why did Mycenaean palaces use Linear B?

It was an administrative script for palace records.

Linear B adapted Linear A, an earlier Aegean script, to write Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek. It appears at Knossos around 1450 BC, after Mycenaean control reached Crete.

Surviving clay tablets list goods, stores, people, and movement. As of 2026, no Linear A sign is attested as the qo sign. Cypro-Minoan is another script in the wider Aegean tradition, not another reading of 𐀦.