Nüshu sign mai42

𛇷 is the Nüshu sign read mai42 in local speech from Jiangyong County, Hunan, China. Women used Nüshu for letters and verse. A Taiping-era coin (1851–1864) is the earliest known artifact in the script.

Text symbol

What 𛇷 means

It gives one spoken syllable, not a full message. The recorded transcription is mai42 for Jiangyong speech.

Nüshu adapts Chinese-character forms and is read in vertical columns from right to left. Women used it for poems, songs and letters. A “third-day book” was a booklet of good wishes given to a bride three days after marriage.

The earliest historical account is a survey written in 1931 and published in 1933. By 2025, UNESCO reported efforts to revive and teach Nüshu as heritage.

Part of the collection

𛅰

Nüshu Script (Women's Writing)

Who writes 𛇷

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What it means when someone sends it to you

2 readings

One syllable, not enough to identify a full word.

Questions people ask

Why does 𛇷 show as a box on some devices?

Not every system ships a font for the Nushu block. Where none is installed, the character shows as an empty box; adding a font such as Noto fixes it. The character itself is still correct and copies correctly.