Behind the nsibidi

Some of these notes are where I take existing nsibidi (the original ones) and try and make a new character with them. There's a lot of testing which is done to check the aesthetics as well as usability (on a daily basis) of each compound. I also simplify nsibidi this way, those that are too elaborate to use in writing (such as 'hawk'). The nsibidi are taken from a variety of geographical locations as well as cultures.

In the papers, there are some hints of the development of an nsibidi derived syllabary as well.

The main reason for the 'sentences' are to simply see if they look nice, and to also see the balance, consistency and relationship of the characters.


Although the sentence is gibberish, I think the title looks very balanced and consistent. Some of the characters were rushed in order to create a sentence and may change. Tell me what you think.

Also notice the date formatting, more on that later.


The angle was a test to see if this would work better as a 'full stop', but the circle seems to serve the writing system better.


The top character is 'love'. I think this is one of the characters that are universal amongst nsibidi-literate cultures around the Cross River and was public (used by everyone).




A fake paragraph done with repeating a gibberish sentence. Maybe from the nsibidi already suggested on this website you can decipher what it says.


Some rejected simplifications and compounds, this happens a lot and slows down the process. The nsibidi with asterisks beside them are old 100% original nsibidi. The one with the */2 is half original, as in it represents a man originally carrying money (okpogho), but I added a 'house' around him, bank.

Nsibiri conjunctions 2

Generally used question and path symbols in these. I will update later.

Nsibiri conjunctions

Some conjunctions in Igbo and English.

'And' has already been explained.

'Or' is made out of Nsibiri 'talk' (top), 'question' (bottom left) and 'unity' (bottom right). So it is interpreted literally as 'Speech question unity', e.g 'Decision conjunction'.

'But' is made out of Nsibiri 'talk' (top), 'fight' (bottom left) and 'unity' (bottom right). Interpreted as 'Talk fight unity', e.g 'Conflict conjunction'.

'So' is made out of Nsibiri 'support stick' (e.g fall, left), 'talk' and 'unity'. 'Fall/Drop/Come out (from Igbo fùtàrà) talk unity', e.g 'Conclusion conjunction'.

'For/Because' is made out of Nsibiri 'talk', 'path/journey' (middle) and unity. 'Talk journey unity', 'The point, the mission conjunction'.