What 躎 means
It means “to tread”; dictionaries also give “to stop.”
Jin-dynasty 《篇海》 gives Mandarin niǎn (roughly “nyen,” with a dipping-rise tone) for “tread.” Japanese references give den (e as in “bed”) and both senses.
A blank box is a font gap, not another character.
Formal and literary; not everyday conversation.
A lone message cannot show whether “tread” or “stop” is intended.
Questions people ask
1Why does 躎 show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
How to type 躎
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 8E8E, then Alt+X to get 躎.
Windows
Win+Rrun charmap for the full table, or use the emoji picker's Ω symbols tab (Win + .).
macOS
Control+Command+SpaceOpen the character viewer and search “cjk unified ideograph-8e8e”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 8e8e, then Enter or Space.
HTML
躎CSS
\8E8EHow do I type 躎 with Cangjie?
In Taiwan’s Cangjie input method, enter RMMFB (口一一火月).
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
躎
HTML hex
躎
CSS content
content: "\8E8E";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E8%BA%8E
1
On screen
1
Code points
1
JS .length
3
UTF-8 bytes
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.