Nüshu character ku21

It carries the Nüshu reading ku21.

Unicode’s Nüshu data records ku21 as a phonetic reading. Nüshu signs usually represent syllables, and one local syllable can match several words. Read it in the full line: surrounding characters help select the word.

Why did women write Nüshu?

It gave local women a way to write their spoken language.

Nüshu means “women’s writing.” Its slanted forms partly adapt Chinese characters, but the script usually represents syllables. In traditional Nüshu practice, women wrote letters between sworn sisters (close friends bound by a pledge), life stories and cloth-bound messages for a bride three days after her wedding.

Origins are debated. A local legend credits a woman at the imperial court in the late 11th century; a 2015 study argues the script existed by 1704. UNESCO identifies an 1851–1864 bronze coin as the earliest known object, while accounts date its first written record to 1931 or 1933.

Was Nüshu a secret language?

It writes local speech in a distinct script, not a separate tongue.

Outside coverage in the 1980s often sensationalized it as a secret language invented to oppose men. Nüshu was a women’s writing practice for local speech; men who heard a text sung could understand the words without being able to read the script. Outside attention also brought study and preservation efforts.