Tangut Component-385

Not as a word on its own. A component is a structural part scholars use to file, describe, and analyze full Tangut characters. In some dictionaries, a Tangut radical is a filing label; it does not give this isolated sign a fixed gloss.

Across the Tangut script, one graphic element can carry different meanings when used as a radical, or different sounds when used phonetically. Those roles depend on the full character and the analysis system, so use the complete character or dictionary entry to work out its reading.

Why does Tangut writing look Chinese?

Its design drew on Chinese writing. The Tangut court ordered the script made around 1036 under Li Yuanhao, first emperor of Western Xia. The court wanted a native script for state-building and Buddhist texts, and to mark an identity distinct from Song China. Khitan neighbors had developed scripts about a century earlier.

Tangut had its own writing system, though its visual forms and ways of combining character parts were inspired by Chinese writing. A Khara-khoto manuscript, probably from the 12th or early 13th century, preserves translations of Chinese works. Tangut writing continued after Western Xia fell, under Yuan and Ming rule, and was obsolete by the end of the Ming dynasty.