Khitan Small Script Character 18C57

It is a sound sign, not a complete word. A character index reconstructs its value as neu.

Khitan small script combines phonetic signs into word clusters and also uses logograms, which stand for whole words. A lone phonetic sign may be only part of a word; the neighboring signs provide the rest.

When did the Khitan small script begin?

It was created to write Khitan, but its start date is debated. Tradition dates it to around 924 or 925 and credits Yelü Diela, younger brother of Yelü Abaoji, founder of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty. The account says Diela learned the Uyghur script, used by Uyghur communities, from an envoy. It influenced the phonetic approach, while the character forms also draw on Chinese characters.

In 2026, one study challenged the traditional date, arguing that the script was systematized later under Emperor Shengzong, another Liao ruler. It cites Goryeo, a neighboring Korean kingdom, failing to decipher a Khitan letter, and the earliest securely dated surviving text: Wugulin Taishi’s grave inscription from 1051. The authors suggest that later standardization may have helped govern a multiethnic empire; this remains a scholarly proposal.

Khitan large and small scripts wrote the same language. After the Liao fell, the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty continued official use until an edict ended it in 1191; Jurchen scripts later adapted Khitan models. Surviving small-script evidence includes epitaphs (inscriptions honoring the dead), monuments, diplomatic writing, tallies, poetry, and translations. Historical text runs top to bottom in vertical columns starting at the right; digital layouts may show signs in a horizontal line.