The Amharic alphabet — Fidel (ፊደል)
Amharic is written in the Ethiopic script, learned in character families: one base consonant shown across seven vowel orders. This is the complete published chart — 34 families, 236 characters — with transliteration throughout. Open a family for its seven forms and pronunciation notes.
Questions about the Fidel
How many letters are in the Amharic alphabet?
Amharicly teaches 34 character families; across their orders that is 236 characters. Counts differ between traditions — some list 33 or 34 base families and count the labiovelar and extended sets separately — so you will meet slightly different totals elsewhere.
Is Amharic written with an alphabet?
Strictly it is an abugida: each Fidel character stands for a consonant plus a vowel, not a single sound. Learners usually still call it the Amharic alphabet, and the practical difference is good news — once you know a family's base shape, its seven vowel forms follow a pattern.
What are the seven orders?
Each character family appears in seven forms, one per vowel sound: ä, u, i, a, é, ə (or no vowel), and o. The base shape stays recognisable while small marks change the vowel — that is why the chart is learned family by family, not character by character.
Which direction is Amharic written?
Left to right, top to bottom — the same direction as English, unlike Arabic or Hebrew. There are no capital letters and no cursive joining: each character stands alone.
Reading the chart is not the same as knowing it
The free course teaches these families a few at a time — with audio, recognition practice and review — so the chart stops being a wall of characters and starts being something you can read.
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