Han character 㗂

Its gloss depends on the writing tradition. Chinese dictionaries give it an obsolete sense of speaking cautiously; Vietnamese Nôm uses it for tiếng (“voice, sound, or language”), and Tày Nôm uses it for tiểng (“language”).

Nôm writes Vietnamese with Han characters; Tày Nôm is a comparable Han-character writing tradition for Tày. The label “㗂 tiếng” therefore identifies a Vietnamese spelling choice, while the Chinese dictionary sense belongs to another context.

What do older records tell us about 㗂?

A dated dictionary record in 《玉篇》 reaches back to 543. An early Chinese character dictionary, 《說文》, does not list 㗂 as a headword; 《玉篇》 records the guarded-speech gloss. The date marks a dictionary reference, not when the character was invented.

A study of the Vietnamese Buddhist text Cư Trần Lạc Đạo phú identifies 㗂 as a Nôm spelling for tiếng in a version associated with the Lý–Trần period; surviving copies differ. The Nôm work Bảo xích tiện ngâm has a dated 1901 example of tiếng nói written 㗂呐.

Is 㗂 used in ordinary Chinese?

Not as a common standalone word in modern Chinese. Its Chinese dictionary sense is obsolete on its own, so an unexplained 㗂 fits a lexicographic or historical context better than casual conversation. In Nôm writing, the character appears in compounds for speech and language names.

As of 2025, the Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation’s lookup pairs tiếng in Quốc Ngữ—the Latin-script writing of Vietnamese—with 㗂 in Nôm. These are forms in different scripts; 㗂 is not a substitute spelling in ordinary modern Vietnamese text.