Khitan Small Script Character 18C2B

It represents a sound element, not a whole Khitan word. Indexes list it as element 245: Daniel Kane transcribes it “û,” while Wu and Janhunen use “ú.”

Khitan Small Script was used to write the Khitan language in the Liao realm. Traditional histories place its creation around 925; a 2026 study argues that it was standardized later, under Liao emperor Shengzong. The earliest securely dated surviving example is an epitaph from 1051.

Khitan written characters could combine one to seven phonetic elements in a block. After the Liao fell, the Jin continued using Khitan writing until banning it in 1191; Jurchen script makers based their own large and small scripts on the Khitan models.