What 𐒧 means
It gave Somali a dedicated script for writing the language.
Osman Yusuf Kenadid devised it in 1920–1922. It first circulated in private correspondence; after World War II, the Somali Youth League, a political movement for Somali independence, promoted it through schools.
Debate also considered the Arabic script and the Latin alphabet. Somalia adopted both Osmanya and the Latin alphabet for use in 1961; Latin orthography became official in 1973.
Don't confuse it with
4Questions people ask
1Why does 𐒧 show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
How to type 𐒧
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 104A7, then Alt+X to get 𐒧.
Windows
Win+Rrun charmap for the full table, or use the emoji picker's Ω symbols tab (Win + .).
macOS
Control+Command+SpaceOpen the character viewer and search “osmanya digit seven”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 104a7, then Enter or Space.
HTML
𐒧CSS
\104A7Standard Latin keyboard
The 7 key types Latin 7, not 𐒧; select the Osmanya digit from the palette.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
𐒧
HTML hex
𐒧
CSS content
content: "\104A7";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%F0%90%92%A7
1
On screen
1
Code points
2
JS .length
4
UTF-8 bytes
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.