Phaistos Disc Strainer Sign

“Strainer” is a modern label, not a translated word.

𐇺 names one stamped sign on the Phaistos Disc, a clay object from Crete generally dated to the 18th–17th centuries BCE. Catalogues call it sign 43 and “strainer.” As of 2026-10-08, no accepted decipherment gives this sign a standalone word value.

So if someone asks what it translates to, the answer is unknown: the label describes the sign, not a recovered ancient word.

Why was the Phaistos Disc made?

Its purpose remains debated.

One interpretation reads the repeated sign groups and their patterns as a possible religious text or hymn. Another says the maker arranged familiar seal and amulet images to imitate writing. Calendar readings have also been proposed, but none establishes the meaning of 𐇺 itself.

Is 𐇺 related to Linear A?

A comparison exists, but a historical link is unproven.

Linear A was another writing system used on Crete around the same period; the Phaistos Disc was found among Linear A tablets. A dotted triangle stamped on pottery at Phaistos has also been compared with this sign, and catalogues compare sign 43 with Linear A AB66 (𐘷).

As of 2026-10-08, those similarities have not established that the scripts share an origin or that the signs have the same reading.