N'Ko Alphabet

Tap an N'Ko letter to copy it: under each is its name and its sound.

N'Ko Alphabet

ߊA [a]U+07CAReady to copy

85 letters. Tap one to copy it.

Letters 33

Tone marks 8

Foreign sounds 25

Digits and signs 19

Next step Next alphabet: Tuareg

How it works

The N'Ko alphabet to copy, letter by letter: the 33 letters in their traditional order, then the tone marks, the marked letters for foreign sounds, the digits and the other signs. The script reads from right to left.

Read the full guide

Every vowel and tone is written

N'Ko is an alphabet devised in 1949 for the Manding languages of West Africa. Like Arabic it has letters joined at the base, but vowels and tones must both be marked. A tone mark sits above the vowel, a dot below makes it nasal, and a bare vowel is short and descending.

A mark for a borrowed sound

A mark on a letter writes a sound from another language: ߝ߭ is [v], ߖ߭ is [z], ߜ߭ is [ɡ] and ߛ߭ is [ʃ], and two dots on ߎ give the French u. Each tile of that group copies the letter with its mark.

  • ߒ is a whole syllable alone, a nasal, and the first letter of ߒߞߏ, the script's name.
  • Digits run the other way from Arabic ones. The digit worth most stands at the right: 144 is ߁߄߄.
  • April 14 is N'Ko Alphabet Day, the date on which the script is believed to have been finalized.

Questions and answers

How many letters are in the N'Ko alphabet?

Seven vowels, 19 consonants and ߒ, which is neither: 27. The chart adds six more: ߑ dagbasinna, which marks a consonant cluster, ߠ and ߧ for a consonant changed by a nasal before it, and three archaic letters.

What does N'Ko mean?

I say, in all Manding languages. The word also names the literary standard written in the script, a register called kangbe, the clear language.

Which languages are written in N'Ko?

The Manding languages, among them Maninka, Bambara, Dyula and Mandingo. As of 2005 the script was used mainly in Guinea and the Ivory Coast, with an active user community in Mali.

Is N'Ko in Unicode?

Yes, since version 5.0 of July 2006, in the block U+07C0 to U+07FF. The block is named NKo, because a Unicode name may not hold an apostrophe. Three characters were added in 2018; 61 of the 62 are on this page.

All 85 letters

Letters 33

  • A [a] U+07CA NKo letter a. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Vowel 1 of 7. Sound [a].
  • Ba [b] U+07D3 NKo letter ba. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 1 of 19. Sound [b].
  • Cha [t͡ʃ] U+07D7 NKo letter cha. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 5 of 19. Sound [t͡ʃ].
  • Da [d] U+07D8 NKo letter da. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 6 of 19. Sound [d].
  • Dagbasinna U+07D1 NKo letter dagbasinna. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Writes no sound. Two syllables with the same vowel are spelled with the vowel written once, after the second; this letter set between the two consonants shows that they form a cluster instead.
  • E [ɛ] U+07CD NKo letter e. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Vowel 4 of 7. Sound [ɛ].
  • Ee [e] U+07CB NKo letter ee. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Vowel 2 of 7. Sound [e].
  • Fa [f] U+07DD NKo letter fa. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 11 of 19. Sound [f].
  • Gba [ɡ͡b] U+07DC NKo letter gba. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 10 of 19. Sound [ɡ͡b].
  • Ha [h] U+07E4 NKo letter ha. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 17 of 19. Sound [h].
Show all 85 letters (75 more)

Letters, continued

  • I [i] U+07CC NKo letter i. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Vowel 3 of 7. Sound [i].
  • Ja [d͡ʒ] U+07D6 NKo letter ja. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 4 of 19. Sound [d͡ʒ].
  • Jona cha U+07E9 NKo letter jona cha. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. An archaic letter, a variant of ߗ cha.
  • Jona ja U+07E8 NKo letter jona ja. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. An archaic letter, a variant of ߖ ja.
  • Jona ra U+07EA NKo letter jona ra. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. An archaic letter, a variant of ߙ ra.
  • Ka [k] U+07DE NKo letter ka. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 12 of 19. Sound [k].
  • La [l] U+07DF NKo letter la. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 13 of 19. Sound [l].
  • Ma [m] U+07E1 NKo letter ma. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 14 of 19. Sound [m].
  • N [ŋ] U+07D2 NKo letter n. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Neither a vowel nor a consonant: a nasal that makes a syllable by itself. Sound [ŋ]. The first letter of the name ߒߞߏ.
  • Na [n] U+07E3 NKo letter na. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 16 of 19. Sound [n].
  • Na woloso U+07E0 NKo letter na woloso. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. An abstract consonant: it stands for a consonant changed by a nasal before it.
  • Nya [ɲ] U+07E2 NKo letter nya. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 15 of 19. Sound [ɲ].
  • Nya woloso U+07E7 NKo letter nya woloso. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. An abstract consonant: it stands for a consonant changed by a nasal before it.
  • O [ɔ] U+07D0 NKo letter o. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Vowel 7 of 7. Sound [ɔ].
  • Oo [o] U+07CF NKo letter oo. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Vowel 6 of 7. Sound [o].
  • Pa [p] U+07D4 NKo letter pa. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 2 of 19. Sound [p].
  • Ra [r] U+07D9 NKo letter ra. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 7 of 19. Sound [r].
  • Rra [rr] U+07DA NKo letter rra. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 8 of 19. Sound [rr].
  • Sa [s] U+07DB NKo letter sa. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 9 of 19. Sound [s].
  • Ta [t] U+07D5 NKo letter ta. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 3 of 19. Sound [t].
  • U [u] U+07CE NKo letter u. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Vowel 5 of 7. Sound [u].
  • Wa [w] U+07E5 NKo letter wa. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 18 of 19. Sound [w].
  • Ya [j] U+07E6 NKo letter ya. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Consonant 19 of 19. Sound [j].

Tone marks 8

  • Long descending U+07CA U+07EE. NKo letter a with NKo combining long descending tone, a tone mark for a long vowel. The mark alone is U+07EE.
  • Long high U+07CA U+07EF. NKo letter a with NKo combining long high tone, a tone mark for a long vowel. The mark alone is U+07EF.
  • Long low U+07CA U+07F0. NKo letter a with NKo combining long low tone, a tone mark for a long vowel. The mark alone is U+07F0.
  • Long rising U+07CA U+07F1. NKo letter a with NKo combining long rising tone, a tone mark for a long vowel. The mark alone is U+07F1.
  • Nasal mark U+07CA U+07F2. NKo letter a with NKo combining nasalization mark: a dot below that makes the vowel nasal. It is typed before a tone mark. The mark alone is U+07F2.
  • Short high U+07CA U+07EB. NKo letter a with NKo combining short high tone, a tone mark for a short vowel. The mark alone is U+07EB.
  • Short low U+07CA U+07EC. NKo letter a with NKo combining short low tone, a tone mark for a short vowel. The mark alone is U+07EC.
  • Short rising U+07CA U+07ED. NKo letter a with NKo combining short rising tone, a tone mark for a short vowel. The mark alone is U+07ED.

Foreign sounds 25

  • A dots [ʕa] U+07CA U+07F3. NKo letter a with NKo combining double dot above. Writes [ʕa], or the Arabic letter ع ain followed by a.
  • Ba dot [ɓ] U+07D3 U+07ED. NKo letter ba with NKo combining short rising tone. Writes [ɓ].
  • Cha dot [ð] U+07D7 U+07ED. NKo letter cha with NKo combining short rising tone. Writes [ð], or the Arabic letter ذ thal, and also French [ʒ].
  • Da dot, ض U+07D8 U+07ED. NKo letter da with NKo combining short rising tone. Writes [ᵭ], or the Arabic letter ض dad.
  • Da dots [ḍ] U+07D8 U+07F3. NKo letter da with NKo combining double dot above. Writes [ḍ].
  • Ee dots [ə] U+07CB U+07F3. NKo letter ee with NKo combining double dot above. Writes French [ə].
  • Fa dot [v] U+07DD U+07ED. NKo letter fa with NKo combining short rising tone. Writes [v].
  • Gba dot [ɡ] U+07DC U+07ED. NKo letter gba with NKo combining short rising tone. Writes [ɡ].
  • Gba dots [kp] U+07DC U+07F3. NKo letter gba with NKo combining double dot above. Writes [kp].
  • Gba line [ɣ] U+07DC U+07EB. NKo letter gba with NKo combining short high tone. Writes [ɣ], or the Arabic letter غ ghain.
  • Ha dot [ħ] U+07E4 U+07ED. NKo letter ha with NKo combining short rising tone. Writes [ħ], or the Arabic letter ح hah.
  • Ja dot [z] U+07D6 U+07ED. NKo letter ja with NKo combining short rising tone. Writes [z], or the Arabic letter ز zain.
  • Ja dots, ظ U+07D6 U+07F3. NKo letter ja with NKo combining double dot above. Writes [ᵶ], or the Arabic letter ظ zah.
  • Ka dot [x] U+07DE U+07ED. NKo letter ka with NKo combining short rising tone. Writes [x], or the Arabic letter خ khah.
  • Ka line [q] U+07DE U+07EB. NKo letter ka with NKo combining short high tone. Writes [q], or the Arabic letter ق qaf.
  • La dot [lʕ] U+07DF U+07ED. NKo letter la with NKo combining short rising tone. Writes [lʕ].
  • Ma dot [ɱ] U+07E1 U+07ED. NKo letter ma with NKo combining short rising tone. Writes [ɱ].
  • Nya dot [ŋ] U+07E2 U+07ED. NKo letter nya with NKo combining short rising tone. Writes [ŋ].
  • Ra dot [ʀ] U+07D9 U+07ED. NKo letter ra with NKo combining short rising tone. Writes French [ʀ].
  • Sa dot [ʃ] U+07DB U+07ED. NKo letter sa with NKo combining short rising tone. Writes [ʃ], or the Arabic letter ش sheen.
  • Sa dots [θ] U+07DB U+07F3. NKo letter sa with NKo combining double dot above. Writes [θ], or the Arabic letter ث theh.
  • Sa line, ص U+07DB U+07EB. NKo letter sa with NKo combining short high tone. Writes [ᵴ], or the Arabic letter ص sad.
  • Ta dot, ط U+07D5 U+07ED. NKo letter ta with NKo combining short rising tone. Writes [ᵵ], or the Arabic letter ط tah.
  • U dots [y] U+07CE U+07F3. NKo letter u with NKo combining double dot above. Writes French [y].
  • Ya dot [j̰] U+07E6 U+07ED. NKo letter ya with NKo combining short rising tone. Writes [j̰].

Digits and signs 19

  • Dorome sign U+07FE NKo dorome sign. NKo block, Unicode 11.0. A currency sign. Added in Unicode 11.0, so an older device may show an empty box.
  • Gbakurunen U+07F7 NKo symbol gbakurunen. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Ends a major section of text. It stands for the three stones that hold a cooking pot over the fire.
  • High apostrophe U+07F4 NKo high tone apostrophe. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Stands where a vowel with a high tone was dropped, and keeps its tone.
  • Lajanyalan U+07FA NKo lajanyalan. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. A letter extender, sometimes used to fill out a line as the Arabic tatweel is.
  • Low apostrophe U+07F5 NKo low tone apostrophe. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Stands where a vowel with a low tone was dropped, and keeps its tone.
  • N'Ko 0 U+07C0 NKo digit zero. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. The digit 0. In a number the digit worth most stands at the right: 144 is ߁߄߄.
  • N'Ko 1 U+07C1 NKo digit one. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. The digit 1.
  • N'Ko 2 U+07C2 NKo digit two. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. The digit 2.
  • N'Ko 3 U+07C3 NKo digit three. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. The digit 3.
  • N'Ko 4 U+07C4 NKo digit four. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. The digit 4.
  • N'Ko 5 U+07C5 NKo digit five. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. The digit 5.
  • N'Ko 6 U+07C6 NKo digit six. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. The digit 6.
  • N'Ko 7 U+07C7 NKo digit seven. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. The digit 7.
  • N'Ko 8 U+07C8 NKo digit eight. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. The digit 8.
  • N'Ko 9 U+07C9 NKo digit nine. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. The digit 9.
  • N'Ko comma U+07F8 NKo comma. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. The comma of the script. The Arabic comma is used too, sometimes in the same text.
  • N'Ko exclamation U+07F9 NKo exclamation mark. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. The exclamation mark of the script.
  • Oo dennen U+07F6 NKo symbol oo dennen. NKo block, Unicode 5.0. Added to a phrase to show that its topic is placed in the remote future.
  • Taman sign U+07FF NKo taman sign. NKo block, Unicode 11.0. A currency sign. Added in Unicode 11.0, so an older device may show an empty box.

How this list was compiled: Every character was checked against UnicodeData.txt, version 18.0.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/UnicodeData.txt): the code points and the character names in the notes come from that file, names in sentence case. Block names come from Blocks.txt (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/Blocks.txt) and the Unicode version each character arrived in from DerivedAge.txt (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/DerivedAge.txt), both version 18.0.0. What a sign is for comes from the notes of NamesList.txt, version 18.0.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/NamesList.txt), and from section 19.4 of the Unicode Standard, version 17.0 (https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode17.0.0/core-spec/chapter-19/). The 33 letters stand in the order of their code points, which that section says is the traditional order of N'Ko; the exemplar letters of CLDR's N'Ko locale (https://github.com/unicode-org/cldr/blob/main/common/main/nqo.xml) are the same letters in the same order, with the three archaic letters as auxiliary ones. The same section gives the seven vowels, the 19 consonants, the letter that is neither, the two abstract consonants, what the dagbasinna does, which vowels each tone mark is for (its Table 19-4) and the 25 marked letters for sounds of other languages (its Table 19-3), each with the sound or the Arabic letter it stands for. The sound of each vowel and consonant follows the tables of the Letters section of Wikipedia's N'Ko script article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%27Ko_script). A tile name is the letter's Unicode name and that sound. A mark is shown on a letter, never alone: the tone marks and the nasal mark on the first vowel, a mark for a foreign sound on the letter the table names. The page holds 61 of the 62 characters of the NKo block, U+07C0 to U+07FF; the one left out is the abbreviation mark U+07FD, which is drawn under a letter and has no tile because no source read here shows it on one. The tile names and the grouping are this site's own. Each character was looked up in the system fonts of a current phone and drawn on a Mac on 2026-10-16 before it was kept, and all that are here drew. All sources were read on 2026-10-16. Licence: own work

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