Tangut character 1711B

It refers to meeting or encountering in Tangut.

One dictionary tradition reconstructs its pronunciation approximately as “ber,” written ber²; another writes bir₁. These are scholarly readings of a historical sound, not two meanings. A 12th-century Tangut sound-and-rhyme text records the character.

A standalone use is best understood as a reference to Tangut or its writing unless the sender supplies more context.

Why was Tangut writing created?

It gave Western Xia a writing system for the Tangut language.

Around 1036, Emperor Li Yuanhao's court established it. Yeli Renrong is traditionally credited with designing the script, though a 1982 account traces the project to Li Yuanhao's father, Li Deming. Chinese writing shaped its visual conventions; Khitan scripts may also have influenced its design.

It served government writing and Buddhist translation, including the Tangut Buddhist canon, a collection of translated scriptures. Tangut signs resemble Chinese characters, but belong to a separate script and cannot be read as Chinese. Tangut writing continued under Yuan and Ming rule and had become obsolete by the end of the Ming dynasty.