Ethiopic Alphabet (ፊደል)

The Ethiopic script is a syllabary, not a true alphabet. Each character represents a consonant-vowel combination rather than a single sound, which makes it fundamentally different from Latin, Arabic, and most other scripts. Amharic has 33 base consonant families, each with 7 forms for the 7 vowel orders, giving 231 core characters before additional characters for sounds specific to Ge'ez, Tigrinya, and other Ethiopian languages. The script has been in continuous use for over 2,000 years, making it one of the oldest scripts in Africa still used daily.

This reference shows the complete Amharic character set with phonetic romanisation in the SERA standard, which is used in academic and technical contexts to represent Ethiopic characters in ASCII. The Ethiopic script (Fidel) has 31 base consonants, each with 7 vowel orders, giving 217+ unique characters. Click any cell to hear it spoken (browser speech synthesis).

Order	1 ä / e	2 u	3 i	4 a	5 é	6 ə	7 o
Name	ዐ	ካዕብ	ሣልስ	ራብዕ	ኃምስ	ሳድስ	ሳብዕ
Sound	like "a" in about	like "u" in rule	like "ee" in see	like "a" in father	like "ay" in way	schwa — neutral vowel	like "o" in go

Base	1 ä / e	2 u	3 i	4 a	5 é	6 ə	7 o
ሀ h	ሀ hä	ሁ hu	ሂ hi	ሃ ha	ሄ hé	ህ h	ሆ ho
ለ l	ለ lä	ሉ lu	ሊ li	ላ la	ሌ lé	ል l	ሎ lo
ሐ H	ሐ Hä	ሑ Hu	ሒ Hi	ሓ Ha	ሔ Hé	ሕ H	ሖ Ho
መ m	መ mä	ሙ mu	ሚ mi	ማ ma	ሜ mé	ም m	ሞ mo
ሠ s̈	ሠ s̈ä	ሡ s̈u	ሢ s̈i	ሣ s̈a	ሤ s̈é	ሥ s̈	ሦ s̈o
ረ r	ረ rä	ሩ ru	ሪ ri	ራ ra	ሬ ré	ር r	ሮ ro
ሰ s	ሰ sä	ሱ su	ሲ si	ሳ sa	ሴ sé	ስ s	ሶ so
ሸ sh	ሸ shä	ሹ shu	ሺ shi	ሻ sha	ሼ shé	ሽ sh	ሾ sho
ቀ q	ቀ qä	ቁ qu	ቂ qi	ቃ qa	ቄ qé	ቅ q	ቆ qo
በ b	በ bä	ቡ bu	ቢ bi	ባ ba	ቤ bé	ብ b	ቦ bo
ቨ v	ቨ vä	ቩ vu	ቪ vi	ቫ va	ቬ vé	ቭ v	ቮ vo
ተ t	ተ tä	ቱ tu	ቲ ti	ታ ta	ቴ té	ት t	ቶ to
ቸ ch	ቸ chä	ቹ chu	ቺ chi	ቻ cha	ቼ ché	ች ch	ቾ cho
ነ n	ነ nä	ኑ nu	ኒ ni	ና na	ኔ né	ን n	ኖ no
ኘ gn	ኘ gnä	ኙ gnu	ኚ gni	ኛ gna	ኜ gné	ኝ gn	ኞ gno
አ ʾ	አ ä	ኡ u	ኢ i	ኣ a	ኤ é	እ ə	ኦ o
ከ k	ከ kä	ኩ ku	ኪ ki	ካ ka	ኬ ké	ክ k	ኮ ko
ኸ kh	ኸ khä	ኹ khu	ኺ khi	ኻ kha	ኼ khé	ኽ kh	ኾ kho
ወ w	ወ wä	ዉ wu	ዊ wi	ዋ wa	ዌ wé	ው w	ዎ wo
ዘ z	ዘ zä	ዙ zu	ዚ zi	ዛ za	ዜ zé	ዝ z	ዞ zo
ዠ zh	ዠ zhä	ዡ zhu	ዢ zhi	ዣ zha	ዤ zhé	ዥ zh	ዦ zho
የ y	የ yä	ዩ yu	ዪ yi	ያ ya	ዬ yé	ይ y	ዮ yo
ደ d	ደ dä	ዱ du	ዲ di	ዳ da	ዴ dé	ድ d	ዶ do
ጀ j	ጀ jä	ጁ ju	ጂ ji	ጃ ja	ጄ jé	ጅ j	ጆ jo
ገ g	ገ gä	ጉ gu	ጊ gi	ጋ ga	ጌ gé	ግ g	ጎ go
ጠ T	ጠ Tä	ጡ Tu	ጢ Ti	ጣ Ta	ጤ Té	ጥ T	ጦ To
ጨ Ch	ጨ Chä	ጩ Chu	ጪ Chi	ጫ Cha	ጬ Ché	ጭ Ch	ጮ Cho
ጸ ts	ጸ tsä	ጹ tsu	ጺ tsi	ጻ tsa	ጼ tsé	ጽ ts	ጾ tso
ፀ Ts	ፀ Tsä	ፁ Tsu	ፂ Tsi	ፃ Tsa	ፄ Tsé	ፅ Ts	ፆ Tso
ፈ f	ፈ fä	ፉ fu	ፊ fi	ፋ fa	ፌ fé	ፍ f	ፎ fo
ፐ p	ፐ pä	ፑ pu	ፒ pi	ፓ pa	ፔ pé	ፕ p	ፖ po

Click any cell to hear the pronunciation via your browser's speech synthesis. Best results with a voice that supports Ethiopic or phonetic English.

Historical Notes

• ሀ and ሐ and ኸ were originally distinct sounds but merged in modern Amharic
• ሠ and ሰ merged; both now pronounced as "s"
• ጸ and ፀ were distinct but now both pronounced "ts"
• These doubled characters persist in writing for historical/etymological reasons

Script Facts

• Ethiopic (Ge'ez) is one of the oldest alphabets in the world, with a history of over 2,000 years
• Used for Amharic, Tigrinya, Ge'ez, Bilen, and other Ethiopian languages
• Written left-to-right, unlike Amharic's regional neighbor Arabic
• Each syllable is a single character; Ethiopic is technically a syllabary (abugida)

About the Ethiopic Alphabet

The Ethiopic script (also called Ge'ez or Fidel) is one of the oldest continuously used writing systems in the world, with documented use going back to at least the 4th century CE in the Kingdom of Aksum. As an abugida, each base character represents a consonant combined with the vowel /a/, with systematic modifications to the character shape indicating different vowels. The full Ethiopic syllabary contains 231 core characters (33 consonant rows × 7 vowel orders) plus additional characters for labiovelar consonants. It is used today for Amharic (the official language of Ethiopia with 40+ million speakers), Tigrinya (Eritrea and Ethiopia), Ge'ez (liturgical), Bilen, and several other Ethiopian languages.