Vai Syllable Zoo

ꖉ records a Vai syllable; “zoo” is its Latin-script label, not a translation. The surrounding text supplies its meaning.

Text symbol

What ꖉ means

It represents one spoken syllable. Vai uses a syllabary—one character per syllable—and writes words without spaces.

How did the Vai syllabary develop?

It began in Liberia in the early 1830s. Mọmọlu Duwalu Bukẹlẹ led its creation. An 1836 school report mentions the script; printed accounts appeared in 1849. Merchants used it for correspondence and records.

Older texts used logograms—signs for whole words. Scholars debate possible Latin, Arabic, or Cherokee influence and an earlier picture-like source. Vai's syllabic design influenced Mende, Loma, and Kpelle; links to Bamum and Bagam are less certain. A standard syllabary appeared in 1962.

Part of the collection

ꕙ

Vai Script

Who writes ꖉ

Loading…

Don't confuse it with

Digit Eight

Ordinary digit eight. In some fonts Vai Zoo is drawn like an 8, and UTS #39 lists them as confusable, so check which one a page uses.

８

Fullwidth Digit Eight

Fullwidth Digit Eight, the wide form of 8 used in East Asian input and text. It looks like 8 but is a different character.

Latin Capital Letter Ou

In some fonts its loop shape resembles an 8, so it can be mistaken for the Vai glyph when copied.

Questions people ask

Why does ꖉ 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.