U+10909 "𐤉" Phoenician Letter Yod Unicode Character

U+10909 "𐤉" Phoenician Letter Yod is the tenth letter of the Phoenician alphabet, representing a consonant sound similar to the English "y" and serving as the direct ancestor of the Greek letter Iota, the Latin letter I, and the Cyrillic letter І. Carved into stone and metal inscriptions across the ancient Mediterranean world from around the 11th century BCE, this character held both phonetic and symbolic importance, often associated with the word for "hand" (yad) due to its pictographic origin as a depiction of a forearm and hand. As a key element of the Phoenician writing system, Yod helped spread alphabetic literacy through trade networks, ultimately influencing the development of many modern scripts.