Tangut Component 036

It is a structural piece, not a standalone Tangut word.

In structural analysis, 𗋽, the complete Tangut character glossed “water,” is split into this left-side piece and other components; the full character carries the water gloss. Researchers also use these pieces in Tangut IDS (Ideographic Description Sequences), a notation for showing how a character is built, and to index characters in dictionaries. “036” is a modern sequence label, not a historical Tangut name.

Why did Tangut develop a separate script?

The court needed a Tangut script for state and religious texts.

Though the order to promulgate it is traditionally dated to 1036 under Western Xia ruler Li Yuanhao, linguistic scholarship allows that its design may have begun before 1036, under his father Li Deming. A major aim was a Tangut collection of Buddhist scriptures, while the script also marked an identity distinct from Song China.

Tangut character forms drew on Chinese writing’s visual style and structural principles, but Tangut is a separate script for its own language. The neighboring Khitan states had also created two scripts, one largely based on Chinese writing.

Surviving Tangut books include Buddhist scriptures and translations of Chinese Confucian classics, encyclopedias, military treatises, and literature, as well as work translated from Tibetan and texts originally written in Tangut. A court-case document called the Record of the Guazhou Trial is identified in one study as the earliest securely dated Tangut document, from 1069 or 1070.