Tangut Component-119

It marks one structural part of a larger Tangut character, not a complete word.

Tangut components are reference labels used to group characters in dictionaries and describe how they are built. On its own, 𘡶 has no fixed Tangut word meaning or reading.

The Tangut script was created in 1036 for business correspondence in the Western Xia state, ruled by the Tangut people. In 1038, a committee was formed to translate Buddhist sutras into Tangut. Today, this component serves as a tool for dictionary indexing and character analysis.

Why is it called a component?

Because it marks a part used to identify and describe larger characters.

An Ideographic Description Sequence (IDS) lays out how a character is built. A Tangut component can mark one piece of that structure; dictionary indexes also use components to group larger characters. Different Tangut dictionaries may arrange components differently, so “119” is an index number, not an ancient name.

Tangut is a writing system in its own right. Its characters may resemble Chinese characters, but that resemblance does not make this a Chinese radical. The modern component inventory draws on Tangut dictionaries and publications for studying the script.