Tangut Component-487

It is a structural piece used to index and describe Tangut characters. Modern Tangut dictionaries and glossaries use components like 𘧦 to organize and analyze complete characters. The number in “Component-487” identifies an entry in that reference system; it does not name or translate a Tangut word.

Tangut is a separate writing system for the Tangut language. Its compact, square characters can resemble Chinese characters, but that visual resemblance does not make 𘧦 a Chinese character or give it a Mandarin reading.

Why was Tangut writing made?

It gave the Western Xia state a writing system of its own. Unicode dates its creation to about 1036, under the first Western Xia emperor. By 1038, Tangut writing was used for official correspondence, and a translation committee formed to render Buddhist sutras into Tangut.

After Western Xia fell in 1227, Tangut writing continued during the Yuan and Ming dynasties and became obsolete by the end of the Ming dynasty. Surviving material includes official, private and religious texts, such as books, sutras, inscriptions and manuscripts.