Khitan Small Script character 18B69

A Khitan phonogram adds sound inside a word.

Reconstructions transcribe its sound as “ss” or “sï”. These are scholarly readings, not translations; Khitan Small Script is only partly deciphered.

Khitan Small Script puts several signs into a square block to write a word. This sign contributes to that block, so it cannot identify the full word by itself.

How was Khitan Small Script used?

It was used to write Khitan under the Liao and Jin dynasties.

Khitan Small Script followed the earlier Khitan Large Script. Its forms drew on Chinese characters, while its sound-based design is traditionally linked to the Uyghur script, a writing system used by Uyghur communities. The small script served state, diplomatic, commemorative, and literary writing alongside Chinese.

Most surviving examples are inscriptions on tombs and monuments, along with writing on walls, mirrors, tallies, and coins. Khitan funerary inscriptions were rediscovered in 1922. The Jin court abolished both Khitan scripts in 1191. Jurchen writing was modeled on the Khitan scripts, but it remained a distinct system.

Someone sent me this character—what does it mean?

Read it as a sample until its word block is available.

A lone sign does not reveal the whole Khitan word. If someone expects a translation, ask for the neighboring signs that make up its square word block.

The character identifies one part of a written word; the block around it supplies the word-level reading.