Ƨ
Ƨ (minuscule: ƨ) is a letter of the Latin alphabet; depending on the context in which the letter is used, it is based on the numeral 2 or the Latin letter S.
Ƨ was used in the Zhuang alphabet from 1957 to 1986 to indicate the second, or falling, tone (IPA: [˧˩]), due to its resemblance to the numeral 2, along with four other letters resembling numbers. (See table). In 1986, Ƨ was replaced by the similarly shaped, but fully Latin, Z, when the alphabet was simplified for use in computers.
As a reversed S, Ƨ was also used as a fractional Roman numeral, where it stood for the fraction 1⁄72.
The proposed Metelko alphabet, devised by Franc Serafin Metelko, used the letter Ƨ to represent the schwa ə sound; it is unclear what inspiration Metelko used for the character (possibly from the Georgian letter ჷ used in the Laz and Svan languages spoken in the Southern Caucasus).[citation needed]
In italic type, ⟨г⟩ Cyrillic's ge ⟨г⟩ is strongly homoglyphic to the lowercase ƨ. Early forms of the letter dze ⟨S⟩, currently only used in Macedonian Cyrillic, could resemble either a forward or reversed S.
A charge strongly resembling a Ƨ appears in the civic coat of arms borne by the municipality of Haßloch in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Reversed S is very often used in languages using the Latin alphabet as a substitute for S, to simulate a young child's handwriting.
Computing codes
character | Ƨ | ƨ | ||
Unicode name | Latin capital letter Tone Two | Latin small letter Tone Two | ||
character encoding | decimal | hex | decimal | hex |
Unicode | 423 | 01A7 | 424 | 01A8 |
UTF-8 | 198 167 | C6 A7 | 198 168 | C6 A8 |
Numeric character reference | Ƨ | Ƨ | ƨ | ƨ |
The Unicode name of the letter is "tone two," but is encoded in an order that suggests it is a form of the letter S, between the Latin letters Yr (Ʀ) and capital Esh (Ʃ).[original research?]