Khitan Small Script Sign

It marks one sound unit, not a whole word.

Scholars romanize its reconstructed value as co; that spelling names a sound, not a translation.

Where does it fit in Khitan writing?

It belongs to a system created to write Khitan.

Traditional histories credit Yelü Diela with creating the script around 925, drawing on Uyghur writing and Chinese character forms. It served the Khitan-led Liao state; tomb inscriptions and monuments preserve its use, including under Jurchen rule. The later Jurchen script drew on both Khitan systems. A 2026 study challenges the traditional date, pointing to a 1051 tomb inscription as the earliest securely dated surviving small-script text.

Sound signs usually join in clusters that spell words; whole-word signs can stand alone. Within a cluster, order runs left to right, then top to bottom; historical lines ran vertically, with columns read right to left.