Abugida

Pronunciation

• GenAm IPA: /ɑːbuˈɡiːdÉ™/

Origin

Adapted by Peter T. Daniels from Ge'ez አቡጊዳ (a-bu-gi-da), the name of its own script, based on the Greek alphabet order (Α, Β, Γ, Δ).

Full definition of abugida

Noun

1. (linguistics) A writing system, similar to a syllabary, in which each symbol represents a consonant with a particular vowel. Some languages that use abugidas are Amharic, Hindi, Burmese, Cree and Ojibwe (Canadian Aboriginal syllabics). An abugida is a kind of syllabary in which the vowel is changed by modifying the base consonant symbol, so that all the forms that represent a given consonant plus each vowel resemble one another.

Derived terms

• abugidic

Synonyms

• alphasyllabary