Nüshu syllable sign for teng42

Use an editor with Unicode hex entry and enter 1B2CA.

The exact keystrokes vary by app. This route enters the character by its code point, without requiring a Nüshu-specific keyboard.

What does the Nüshu reading teng42 mean?

It points to a syllable; context supplies the word.

The Unicode reference reading is teng42: teng gives the local Jiangyong syllable, and 42 marks its pitch contour on a five-step scale. Nüshu is usually syllabic, and one sound can match several words, so the surrounding text identifies the intended one.

What did women use Nüshu for?

It let women write local speech and share their lives.

Historically, women in Jiangyong County, Hunan, used Nüshu for letters, poems, songs and life stories; many had little access to standard Chinese literacy. Its forms drew on standard Chinese (Han) characters but usually represented spoken syllables. At marriage, cloth-bound song and poem booklets could pass between sworn sisters—women joined by a formal friendship pact.

One local legend credits a woman named Hu Yuxiu, who lived in the Song dynasty, with inventing Nüshu to send a letter home from the imperial court. The oldest known physical artifact is a coin inscription from 1851–1864, whose message calls women everywhere one family. Historical descriptions first appear in the 1930s. In 2006, China added Nüshu to its national intangible cultural heritage list for preservation.