U+12D8 "ዘ" Ethiopic Syllable Za Unicode Character

Unicode Version 17.0

U+12D8 "ዘ" Ethiopic Syllable Za is a glyph from the Ethiopic script, representing the syllable "za" (pronounced with a /z/ sound and an inherent vowel "a") as used in languages like Amharic and Tigrinya. As part of the Ethiopic block of Unicode, this character is a fundamental element in writing systems that use this ancient abugida, which originated in the Kingdom of Aksum and remains central to liturgical and modern communication in the Horn of Africa. The syllable "ዘ" is formed by modifying the base consonant sign for "z" with a vowel diacritic, a key feature of syllabic scripts where letter forms change to indicate different vowels. Its inclusion in Unicode ensures that digital text can accurately represent these languages, preserving cultural and linguistic heritage in electronic formats.

General Properties

Code Point U+12D8
Version Added 3.0
Name Ethiopic Syllable Za
Block Ethiopic
General Category Other Letter
Canonical Combining Class Not Reordered
Bidirectional Class Left To Right

Encodings

HTML Decimal Encoding ዘ
HTML Hex Encoding ዘ
UTF-8 Encoding 0xE1 0x8B 0x98
UTF-16 Encoding 0x12D8
UTF-32 Encoding 0x000012D8
C/C++/Java Escape \u12d8

Unicode Properties

NFC Quick Check Yes
NFD Quick Check Yes
NFKC Quick Check Yes
NFKD Quick Check Yes
Numeric Type None
Numeric Value NaN
Line Break Alphabetic
Script Ethiopic
Script Extensions Ethiopic
Indic Syllabic Category Other
ID Start Yes
XID Start Yes
ID Continue Yes
XID Continue Yes
Alphabetic Yes
Vertical Orientation Rotated
Grapheme Base Yes
Grapheme Cluster Break Other
Word Break Alphabetic letter
Sentence Break OLetter