Osmanya Digit Zero

It is the numeral zero in Osmanya, the Somali script. It has the same numeric value as Latin 0 but is a different character. In an Osmanya number, it marks zero.

Osmanya, also called Cismaanya or Far Soomaali (“Somali writing”), was devised by Cismaan Yuusuf Keenadiid in 1920–1922 for Somali. It followed Sheikh Uweys’s Arabic-based writing attempt and was later supplanted by the Latin orthography associated with Muuse Xaaji Ismaaciil Galaal.

Early published descriptions appeared in 1931–32. At first, a small circle of friends and relatives used Osmanya in private correspondence. Gregersen’s 1977 account reports 20,000 or more users in private letters and bookkeeping, as well as books and the biweekly journal Horseed (“Vanguard”).

Why would someone send 𐒠?

It most directly signals Osmanya text or a reference to it. On its own, read it as the numeral zero. In a message otherwise written in Latin letters, 𐒠 can mark a switch to Osmanya, a quotation, a lesson, or an example; surrounding text tells you which.

In 1945, the Somali Youth League widened the script’s reach, opening schools in major towns of Somalia and in Addis Ababa, Kenya, Zanzibar, and Yemen. Far Soomaali (“Somali writing”) began to replace the earlier name Osmania.

In the 1950s, newspapers debated Arabic, Osmanya, and Latin as writing systems for Somali. In 1961, Latin and Osmanya were both adopted for use in Somalia; the 1969 coup listed resolving the writing-system debate among its aims, and Latin orthography was adopted in 1973. A proposal from the Society for Somali Language & Literature describes online teaching begun in 2019 and identifies Latin as Somali’s official writing system in 2025.