Khitan Small Script Character 18BCD

Both spellings appear in scholarly reconstructions of this sign’s sound.

One reference transcription gives “yô”; another gives “yo.” Researchers infer sounds by comparing recurring spellings in surviving inscriptions, so the difference reflects competing reconstructions.

How did the Khitan small script develop?

It was made to write Khitan and lasted beyond the Liao dynasty.

The small script was created around 925 by Yelü Diela to write Khitan, alongside the separate Khitan large script. Its shapes drew on Chinese characters, while historical accounts link its sound-based design to Uyghur writing. It used signs for sounds and whole words; sound signs usually joined in clusters to spell a word.

A 2025 study identifies the Epitaph of Yelü Yugulin Taishi—a carved memorial dated to the Liao dynasty’s Chongxi reign period—as the earliest known small-script inscription. Under Liao rule, both Khitan scripts served official records and activities such as diplomacy, poetry, and book translation; surviving small-script inscriptions also appear on mirrors and other objects. After the Liao fell, Khitan script continued under Jin rule until a decree ended its official use in 1191. Jurchen rulers later modeled their own large and small scripts on the Khitan pair.