What 𐀽 means
It is the Linear B sign for the syllable “ze.”
Linear B was adapted from Linear A, an earlier Aegean script that remains undeciphered, and used for palace records in Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek. Its signs represent syllables; za, ze, and zo form a z-series inherited from Linear A.
On Knossos tablet KN Sc 230, dated to the late 15th to early 14th century BCE, a broken ZE after chariot and horse records abbreviates zeugos, “pair”; a following numeral completes the count. Elsewhere, read 𐀽 as “ze.” That scholarly spelling does not settle its Bronze Age sound, debated as an affricate or a palatalized velar.
Is 𐀽 the Greek letter zeta?
No; it is a syllable sign, not a Greek alphabet letter.
Linear B adapted the za–ze–zo series from Linear A. The later Cypriot syllabary belongs to a related Aegean writing tradition, but 𐀽 itself is a Linear B sign. Greek zeta (ζ) followed another route into Greek through the Phoenician alphabet.
A specialist historical sign; in modern chat, its meaning depends on the sender’s explanation.
Read it as “ze” by default; “pair” is specific to KN Sc 230.
Part of the collection
Who writes 𐀽
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What it means when someone sends it to you
3 readingsIt may refer to Linear B or be decorative; ask the sender what they intend.
Don't confuse it with
1
Worth knowing
- Michael Ventris deciphered Linear B in 1952, establishing that its tablets recorded an early form of Greek.
Questions people ask
3Is the “ze” reading a modern Greek pronunciation?
No. “Ze” is a scholarly transliteration; specialists have analyzed the sign’s Bronze Age sound as an affricate or a palatalized velar.
Why does 𐀽 show as a box?
The active font may lack Linear B coverage. A font that includes Linear B signs is needed to display the character.
Is Linear B a language or an alphabet?
Neither. It is a syllabary, a writing system whose signs represent syllables. The language written in it was Mycenaean Greek.
More like this
9
How to type or find 𐀽
- Also called
- Linear B ZE · B074 · *74
- Search it as
- ze · zeugos · pair · KN Sc 230 · Knossos tablet · Mycenaean Greek · Linear A · Greek zeta
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
𐀽\1003DCodes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.