Chinese character 仸

Two readings are documented; the word or source decides.

For 仸 yǎo, the Mandarin reading describes frailty or crookedness; 仸僑 means “not extending.” In Buddhist ritual writing, the fó reading uses 仸 for 佛.

As of 2026, the Ministry of Education’s variant-character dictionary says 仸 is absent from Shuowen, an early Chinese dictionary. Longkan Shoujian’s preface, dated 997, discusses Buddhist character variants and records yǎo. A 2020 study of a Xiapu ritual text linked to Manichaeism, a religion, records 仸 where editors read 佛.