Vai Syllable Zu

ꖮ represents the Vai syllable transcribed as “zu.”

Vai is a syllabary: each sign represents a syllable. The earliest known surviving example is a handwritten document from 1834. Early accounts describe Vai writers creating the script to send letters to one another; later records show it used for correspondence, record-keeping, commerce, schools, and literature.

Early texts also used logograms—signs for whole words or ideas—alongside syllabic signs; later standardization favored the syllabic forms. Vai writing helped inspire other indigenous West African scripts. Historical accounts discuss possible Latin and Arabic influences; a proposed Cherokee connection remains disputed.