Khitan White Sign (Masculine Form)

It is a dotted logogram for WHITE. A logogram stands for meaning, not sound. This dot is understood as masculine; undotted forms may be feminine or gender-neutral. Khitan phonetic signs cluster to spell words.

Khitan Small Script wrote Khitan, the language of the Liao Empire in northern China. Its shapes drew on Chinese characters, while Uyghur writing influenced how it represented sounds. Traditional accounts credit Yelü Diela and date its creation to around 925, but a 2026 study argues practical use began later. Different accounts date the earliest surviving epitaph to 1051 or 1053. The script appeared on tombs and monuments, continued into Jin rule (1115–1234), and an imperial order abolished Khitan writing in 1191. Jurchen scripts borrowed Khitan models.