Khitan small-script character 18C22

It joins other sound signs to spell a whole word. The Khitan small script groups phonetic signs into compact word blocks; one sign supplies only part of the reading.

Around 925, Khitan royal Yelü Diela created the small script to write Khitan. Its character forms drew on Chinese writing; historical accounts also link its design to the Old Uyghur script, used by Turkic peoples farther west. The Khitans also used a separate Large Script.

The earliest known surviving Khitan small-script inscription is the 1053 epitaph of Yelü Zongjiao, a carved memorial placed in his tomb. The script remained in use into the Jin dynasty; Jurchen writers later modeled their scripts on both Khitan systems, until Jin rulers abolished Khitan writing in 1191.