Khitan Small Script Character 18BCB

𘯋 is a Khitan sign; the code label is not its reading. Khitan Small Script wrote the Khitan language. Some signs stood for whole words; others represented sounds and typically joined in clusters to spell a word. The code-based name identifies this character, not the sound or word it carried, so the surrounding inscription supplies the needed context.

How did Khitan writing change over time?

It served Khitan writing in government, monuments and literature. The History of Liao, a chronicle of the Khitan-led dynasty, credits its creation to Yelü Diela, the ruler’s younger brother. The account says an Uyghur envoy taught him Uyghur speech and writing; Khitan Small Script does not visibly resemble Uyghur script. It drew on Chinese character forms to write Khitan, while Khitan Large Script was a separate system for the same language.

The small script appeared in memorial inscriptions, official records and names, diplomatic letters, poems, translations and examinations. Its use continued under the Western Liao, also called Qara Khitai, and the Jin dynasty. Later Jurchen writing adapted Khitan scripts.

Traditional histories date its creation to 924 or 925. As of 2026, the earliest securely dated surviving small-script text identified in scholarship is the 1051 Wugulin Taishi epitaph, a stone memorial; the same study proposes that the script was systematized and officially promulgated later than the traditional account suggests. In 1191 Jin authorities ordered official Khitan writing discontinued; it gradually fell from use. In 1922, inscriptions at Qingling in Inner Mongolia brought the writing back to scholarly attention.