Tangut character 𗀇

Its Tangut readings include “be able” and “win.”

𗀇 can mean “to be able” or “can”; it can also mean “to win,” “to defeat,” or “to be victorious.” Surrounding words decide which verb is intended.

Historical texts also use it to transcribe sounds of Middle Chinese, an older form of Chinese, associated with 俄, 娥, and 虞. That is sound-mapping, not another everyday Tangut definition.

Is 𗀇 a Tangut character or a Chinese character?

It is Tangut, shaped in a Chinese-influenced writing tradition.

Tangut is a distinct historical script for the Tangut language. Its square forms and recurring components draw on Chinese writing traditions, but this character’s Tangut readings are not Chinese readings.

Where did the Tangut script come from?

Western Xia commissioned it for state writing.

Created under Western Xia’s first emperor around 1036 CE, the script served official writing: recording Tangut and translating Buddhist and Chinese classics.

Tangut survives in official, private, and religious texts. This character is recorded in the 12th-century Wénhǎi (“Sea of Writing”) and Tóngyīn (“Homophones”), reference books about Tangut writing. After Western Xia fell to the Mongols, Tangut writing continued through the Yuan and Ming dynasties and became obsolete by the end of the Ming dynasty.