Phags-pa letter EE

It is a vowel letter, not a complete word.

The conventional transcription is EE, representing an e-like vowel. It appears in Phags-pa spellings of Chinese and Mongolian from the Yuan era (Mongol-ruled China), but not in Tibetan Phags-pa texts.

The script was presented at the imperial court and promulgated by edict in 1269.

Why was Phags-pa made?

It was made to write several imperial languages with one system.

Its design adapted Tibetan letterforms, while its top-to-bottom columns and vertical joins followed Mongolian writing practice. It was intended for Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan, Uyghur, and Sanskrit. It never replaced the older Mongolian script, which had developed from Uyghur writing.

Its official use appears on imperial edicts, stone inscriptions, books, paper money, coins, seals, passports, porcelain, and Christian tombstones. Two Buddhist inscriptions in Sanskrit were carved in 1345. After 1368 it no longer served Chinese or Mongolian writing. In Tibet it continued for limited special purposes; by the late sixteenth century, a distinctive Tibetan variety called hor-yig was used decoratively for book titles, architecture, and calligraphic samples.

Why does ꡦ change shape?

Its joins are a font feature, not a new character.

Phags-pa letters normally join vertically within a syllable. ꡦ has no separate initial, medial, or final forms, but a font can show or hide a stem that connects it to the following letter. Its outline can therefore change inside a syllable even though the character remains ꡦ.

If it appears as a box or blank, the selected font lacks Phags-pa support. A font with those characters can display it.