Khitan Small Script Character 18CBB

It was one of two systems for writing Khitan.

Tradition dates the script to around 925 and credits Yelü Diela. Its forms draw on Chinese characters; historical accounts cite the old Uyghur script as an influence. A 2026 study argues it was standardized and spread widely later, under Emperor Shengzong; the earliest securely dated example is Wugulin Taishi’s 1051 tomb inscription.

Most surviving examples are elite tomb inscriptions, with others on monuments, walls and bronze mirrors. It continued under Liao, Western Liao and Jin; the Jurchen later adapted Khitan models for their own script. Inside vertical word clusters, signs are ordered left-to-right, then top-to-bottom; without cluster layout, they may display separately.