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Shaw Alphabet Explore letters

Tool 02 Sound has a shape

Meet all 48 letters.

Click any character to hear its example, inspect the sound, and discover how Shavian’s paired shapes fit together.

48letters
24consonants
16 + 8vowels + compounds
U+10450Unicode begins

The complete set

Explore by sound or shape.

Click a letter card to select it and hear the example word. Use the controls to narrow the chart.

48 lettersTall Deep Short Compound

A system you can see

The shape carries a clue.

Shavian’s vertical proportions make word silhouettes distinctive and connect related sounds.

01
𐑐 𐑑 𐑒

Tall

Rise above the body line. Most represent voiceless obstruents such as /p/, /t/, and /k/.

02
π‘š 𐑛 π‘œ

Deep

Drop below the baseline. Many are rotated partners of tall letters and represent voiced sounds.

03
𐑦 𐑨 𐑰

Short

Sit within the body of a line. This group contains vowels plus four liquid and nasal consonants.

04
𐑸 𐑺 𐑿

Compound

Eight single characters efficiently capture frequent diphthongs and r-colored vowel sequences.

Ready to use the letters?

Turn English sounds into Shavian.

Open Shavian Translator β†’