Vai Syllable Me

It is a Vai syllable sign, not an English message.

“Me” is the syllabic reading assigned to this sign in Vai; it does not make the character the English pronoun. In a Vai word, ꘈ writes one syllable. By itself in an unexplained message, it identifies a writing system but gives no reliable English translation.

Historians place the script's beginning in Liberia around 1832 or 1833; its earliest surviving specimen is an 1834 manuscript. The script was developed to write Vai and was used in correspondence, record-keeping, and trade.

Where does the Vai script fit historically?

Vai developed in West Africa; its contact history remains debated.

A 1962 University of Liberia project aimed to standardize one sign for each syllable. Older manuscripts preserve variants, and the encoded repertoire draws on both standard and earlier Vai material.

Vai users also knew Arabic and Latin writing, and scholars have debated whether Cherokee writing may have provided a stimulus. That theory does not establish Cherokee descent. A clearer regional link is the script's influence on later indigenous writing systems in West Africa.

How can I enter ꘈ in text?

Enter its hexadecimal Unicode value with an input method your app supports.

It has no ordinary key on a standard keyboard. In Microsoft Office, type A608 and press Alt+X. In a GTK/Linux text field, press Ctrl+Shift+U, type A608, then press Enter. As of 2026, these routes insert it; the selected font determines whether its Vai glyph appears.