How do I type Yoruba digraphs (gb, kp)?

Type g then b for "gb", k then p for "kp" — these are single phonemes in Yoruba, not consonant clusters. The keyboard shows them as combined units in the Phrase panel.

Why is Yoruba tone marking important?

Tones distinguish homophones: "ewé" (leaf) vs "ewè" (goat), "ọbẹ" (knife) vs "ọbẹ̀" (soup). Leaving out tones creates ambiguous text. This keyboard ensures you always type the correct tone.

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Yoruba Keyboard OnlineKeyboard Yorùbá

Type Yoruba from any device. No download, no installation.

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Ready-Made Yoruba Combos

One click to insert — or copy straight to clipboard

How To Use

Three steps. Ten seconds.

Type

Click the keys or type phonetically — Yoruba letters appear instantly as you go.

Copy

Hit the Copy button — your full Yoruba text is saved to clipboard in one tap.

Paste

Open any app — WhatsApp, TikTok, Instagram — and long-press to paste.

Yoruba Keyboard for Any App

Type your Yoruba text above → tap Copy → paste into any app. No special settings needed.

Snapchat

Type your text → tap Copy → paste in Snapchat Stories or chats. Works on iPhone and Android. No settings change needed.

Type your message → tap Copy → open WhatsApp → long-press to paste. Works on iPhone and Android. No settings change needed.

Instagram

Write captions, bio, or DMs → Copy → paste in Instagram. Looks great on any post or story.

TikTok

Write captions or comments → Copy → paste in TikTok. QWERTY layout lets you type from your English QWERTY keyboard.

Free Yoruba Keyboard

Free Yoruba Keyboard Online.
Type from any device — no download, no install.

45M+ speakers · 100% free · 0 downloads needed · All devices

Yoruba's written standard traces to a remarkable figure: Samuel Ajayi Crowther — captured as a boy, freed from a slave ship, and eventually the first African Anglican bishop — whose 1843 vocabulary and Yoruba Bible translation established the pattern of tone marks and subdotted letters still used today. The orthography was hammered out at an 1875 missionary conference in Lagos and refined by Nigerian linguists into the modern 1960s–70s standard. Before and alongside Latin, Yoruba was also written in Ajami Arabic script in the Muslim north — but it's Crowther's tone-marked Latin that became the language's face.

Written Yoruba carries information most keyboards physically can't produce: three tones (grave for low, acute for high, unmarked for mid) that stack on top of subdotted vowels — ọ̀ is a subdot AND a tone mark on one letter, built from combining characters phone keyboards mangle. The everyday Nigerian workaround is typing bare letters and letting readers guess from context — readable, but ambiguous everywhere it matters. This keyboard makes fully-marked Yoruba one tap per character: every tone, every subdot, every nasal vowel, with no combining-character breakage when you paste into other apps.

Roughly 45 million people speak Yoruba across Nigeria, Benin and Togo, centered on Lagos — Africa's largest city and its startup capital. And Yoruba's digital reach now far exceeds its borders: Afrobeats carried Yoruba lyrics global (Wizkid, Burna Boy, Davido, Asake), sending fans worldwide searching for the words; Nollywood runs a full Yoruba-language film industry; and Yoruba is a living liturgical language in the Americas — Candomblé in Brazil and Santería/Lucumí in Cuba preserve Yoruba prayer and song, with millions of practitioners learning the orthography. Add the UK and US diaspora on WhatsApp — Nigeria's default messenger — and Yoruba typing demand spans four continents.

1. Open kactyl.com/yoruba/ → 2. Click letters → 3. Copy → 4. Paste anywhere

Complete Yoruba Typing Guide Tips, shortcuts & how to use on WhatsApp →

How Yoruba Writes Its Tones

Yoruba is a tonal language written in Latin letters — with dots below and accents above doing work the base alphabet never could.

25 letters3 written tonesSubdot lettersgb = one sound

Do-re-mi meaning

Three tones change the word

ọkọọkọ̀ọkọ́

Low, mid and high tones are written with grave and acute accents — and they split words apart: ọkọ (husband), ọkọ̀ (vehicle), ọkọ́ (hoe). Skip the marks and the sentence is a guessing game.

ọkọ · ọkọ̀ · ọkọ́

The subdot letters

ẹ, ọ, ṣ — dots below

ẹọṣ

A dot below makes a different letter, not a decoration: ẹ and ọ are open vowels, ṣ says “sh”. Ẹ káàrọ̀ (good morning) needs both — and most keyboards can’t type either.

Ẹ káàrọ̀ — good morning

One sound, two letters

gb — pressed together

The digraph gb is a doubly-articulated consonant — g and b released at the same instant, a sound West African languages own. It opens gbogbo (all) and gba (receive).

gbogbo — all · gba — receive

The trimmed alphabet

No C, Q, V, X, Z

agbṣ

Yoruba dropped five Latin letters it never needed and added its own — the alphabet runs a–y in 25 letters, counting gb as a letter in its own right.

Yorùbá — Yoruba

FAQ

Frequently Asked
Questions

Everything you need to know about the Yoruba keyboard

kactyl.com/yoruba/ is 100% free with all Yoruba tone marks (à á), special letters ẹ ọ ṣ, voice typing, and emoji combos. Works on any device without installation.

Open kactyl.com/yoruba/ in any browser. Click tone-marked letters and special characters directly from the keyboard grid, or use voice typing to speak and transcribe.

The keyboard grid shows all 3 tone variants for each vowel: low tone (à è ì ò ù), mid tone (unmarked a e i o u), and high tone (á é í ó ú). Click the exact vowel+tone combination you need.

Type your message at kactyl.com/yoruba/, click Copy, open WhatsApp, long-press the chat box, tap Paste. All Yoruba tone marks and special letters paste correctly on iPhone and Android.

The Yoruba alphabet has 25 letters including special characters: ẹ (open e), ọ (open o), and ṣ (s with cedilla). Tone marks (grave, acute) are added to vowels. The standard orthography was established in the 1970s.

Type your caption at kactyl.com/yoruba/, tap Copy, paste into TikTok. Yoruba text with proper tones and special letters reaches Yoruba speakers across Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and the diaspora.

Click ẹ, ọ, ṣ directly on the keyboard. In the tone section, choose ẹ̀/ẹ́ for toned versions. These letters are essential for correct Yoruba spelling — standard keyboards don't include them.

Type g then b for \

Yoruba has 3 tones: low (`) falling pitch, mid (unmarked) level pitch, and high (´) rising pitch. Every syllable in Yoruba carries one tone — incorrect tones change word meaning completely.

Yes — Yoruba text with all diacritics pastes perfectly on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, and Snapchat. Share proverbs, cultural content, and messages in authentic Yoruba orthography.

Common phrases: Ẹ káàbọ̀ (welcome), E káarọ̀ (good morning), E kaasan (good afternoon), Ẹ jẹ́ kí a (let us), Mo fẹ́ràn rẹ (I love you), Ẹ ṣéun (thank you).

Yes — tap the microphone and speak in Yoruba. Voice typing transcribes your speech and shows suggested Yoruba text. Works best with Chrome on Android.

Completely free. No account, subscription, or app download needed. Open kactyl.com/yoruba/ on any device.

Yoruba uses standard Arabic numerals (1-9, 0). Tap the N123 button for the numbers panel. Traditional Yoruba numeration is vigesimal (base-20) but modern written Yoruba uses standard digits.

Tones distinguish homophones: \

Over 47 million people speak Yoruba as a first language — primarily in southwestern Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. It is the third most spoken language in Nigeria and growing among the African diaspora worldwide.

Absolutely — Yoruba communities in London, New York, Atlanta, and Toronto use this keyboard to type Yoruba proverbs, greetings, and cultural content on social media without a special keyboard.

Yes — type authentic Yoruba dialogue, subtitles, and captions for Yoruba Nollywood films and music content. The keyboard includes culturally relevant emoji combos.

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