Khitan Small Script Sign

Its Unicode label names the sign, not a word or reading. Khitan Small Script has signs for whole words and signs for sounds that join into written words. This label is generated from the script name and code point, so it does not tell you how this sign functioned in its original inscription. Its role must be read in the surrounding Khitan text.

When did Khitan Small Script first appear?

Tradition says c. 925; the oldest securely dated survivor is from 1051. Traditional histories credit Khitan scholar Yelü Diela, younger brother of Liao founder Yelü Abaoji, with devising the script around c. 925. Chinese character forms shaped its look; Uyghur writing, used by Turkic-speaking Uyghur communities, is cited as a model for its sound system, though the scripts look little alike. The Khitan used small script beside the separate Khitan Large Script to write their language. Jurchen scripts later adapted Khitan models.

Use continued under Western Liao and Jin rule. Khitan scripts also served diplomacy, flags, examinations, poetry and translated books, though most surviving small-script texts are funerary epitaphs. In a 2026 reassessment, Kang Junyoung identifies the 1051 epitaph of Wugulin Taishi as the earliest securely dated survivor and argues that systematization and wide adoption came later than the traditional creation story suggests.