Chinese character 𪿨

It has two recorded readings: “stele” and “ore.” One Mandarin reading is bēi: 𪿨 in Taiwanese personal names is listed as an alternate form of 碑, the character for an inscribed stele or memorial. A separate, undated record cross-references it to kuàng, the reading of 矿 for ore or mineral. The surrounding name or phrase tells you which sense fits; preserve this spelling in a person’s name.

The bēi reading leads to the older history of 碑. Classical Chinese ritual texts describe an upright stone in a palace or temple courtyard, used to mark the sun’s shadow or tether sacrificial animals; funerary accounts also describe timber posts and a pulley for lowering coffins. Over time, 碑 shifted from the upright object to carved memorials and public records.

Inscribed steles spread in early Eastern Han, serving as grave markers, records of merit, and accounts of events. This historical arc explains the stele reading; it does not settle the separate ore gloss.

Why does 𪿨 look different by region?

The same encoded character has regional source forms. Unicode links 𪿨 to character records from both mainland China and Taiwan. A Unicode glyph review in 2026 notes that the representative drawing follows the Taiwan submission rather than the mainland Chinese form. That shape split fits the two character cross-references, but context still decides which word was meant.