Q with hook tail (majuscule: Ɋ, minuscule: ɋ) is a letter of the extended Latin alphabet. It was introduced by Lutheran missionaries in Papua New Guinea for use in the Numanggang language in the 1930s or 1940s. In 2002, it was decided to discontinue using the letter.[1] It is still used in the Kâte language to represent a voiced labial-velar plosive /ɡ͡b/. (Latin Q is voiceless /k͡p/)
In some forms of handwriting for English (and presumably other languages based on the Latin alphabet), lowercase q always has a hook tail. This is particularly evident in geometric sans-serif typefaces used to teach children how to write.
Despite the name, the uppercase glyph itself resembles more the letter latin alpha (Ɑ) than Q.
Computing codes
| Preview | Ɋ | ɋ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | LATIN CAPITAL LETTER SMALL Q WITH HOOK TAIL | LATIN SMALL LETTER Q WITH HOOK TAIL | ||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 586 | U+024A | 587 | U+024B |
| UTF-8 | 201 138 | C9 8A | 201 139 | C9 8B |
| Numeric character reference | Ɋ | Ɋ | ɋ | ɋ |