Tigrinya Letters & Alphabet Guide

Complete reference for Tigrinya Ge'ez (Ethiopic) script with English pronunciation

About Tigrinya Script: Tigrinya is written in the Ge'ez script (also called Ethiopic or Fidel), one of the oldest writing systems still in active use. Each character in Ge'ez represents a consonant-vowel syllable — making it an abugida. There are 7 vowel orders for each consonant, giving the full alphabet over 200 characters. Tigrinya is spoken by over 7 million people in Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Base Characters Vowel Orders Numbers Translate Now →

Tigrinya Base Consonants — ፊደላት (Fidel)

Ge'ez (1st order)TransliterationPronunciationExample Word
h as in "hat"ሀገር (hager - country)
l as in "lip"ልቢ (libi - heart)
ḥäpharyngeal hሐቀኛ (ḥaqeña - honest)
m as in "man"ማይ (may - water)
s as in "sun"ሰላም (selam - peace/hello)
šäsh as in "ship"ሸምበቆ (šembäqo - reed)
ejective qቀልጢፍ (qälṭif - fast)
b as in "bat"ቤት (bet - house)
t as in "top"ትምህርቲ (timhirti - education)
čäch as in "chair"ቸርነት (čärnet - kindness)
n as in "not"ነፋስ (nefas - wind)
ñäny soundኛ (ña)
ʾäglottal stop + aአቦ (abo - father)
k as in "kit"ከተማ (ketema - city)
x/kh soundኸለ (xäle)
w as in "water"ወዲ (wedi - boy)
kwäkw soundዀ (kwä)
y as in "yes"ያታ (yata - hers)
d as in "dog"ደቂ (deqi - children)
j as in "jar"ጀሚሩ (jemiru - started)
g as in "go"ገዛ (geza - house)
ṭäejective tጠዓም (ṭäʿam - taste)
č̣äejective chጨርሲ (č̣ärsi)
p̣äejective pጰ (p̣ä)
ṣäejective sጸሓይ (ṣäḥay - sun)
ṣ̈ävariant ejective sፀ (ṣ̈ä)
f as in "fan"ፈረስ (färäs - horse)
p as in "pen"ፐ (pä)

Vowel Orders Example — ሰ (s) Family

OrderCharacterVowel SoundPronunciation
1st (ä)ä (neutral)
2nd (u)u as in "food"su
3rd (i)i as in "see"si
4th (a)a as in "father"sa
5th (e)e as in "they"se
6th (ǝ)schwa (neutral)
7th (o)o as in "go"so

Tigrinya Numbers — ቁጽርታት

NumberTigrinyaPronunciation
0ዜሮzero
1ሓደḥade
2ክልተkilte
3ሰለስተseleste
4አርባዕተarbaʿte
5ሓሙሽተḥamušte
6ሽዱሽተšduište
7ሸውዓተšäwʿate
8ሸሞንተšemonte
9ትሽዓተtišʿate
10ዓሰርተʿasärte
100ሚእቲmiʾti
1000ሽሕšiḥ
The Ge'ez Script: The Ge'ez (Ethiopic) script is one of the oldest alphabets still in use today, dating back to the 4th century CE. Unlike most writing systems, each Ge'ez character represents a full syllable (consonant + vowel), making it an abugida. It is used for Tigrinya, Amharic, Tigre, and other Ethiopian and Eritrean languages.

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