Tangut character 𗆮

It means “return” or “retreat”; context adds two more senses.

In Tangut, 𗆮 can mean “return” or “retreat.” Historical dictionaries also gloss it as “bend” or “contract,” and use it for a monarch’s death. A scholarly reconstruction writes its historical reading as *lhjwo¹; the asterisk marks an inferred form, not a current spoken reading. The 12th-century rhyming dictionary Sea of Writing, which groups words by rhyme, lists 𗆮 as a head character.

Why was Tangut writing created?

It served the Western Xia state, education, and cultural life.

Western Xia was a Tangut-ruled state. Around 1036, its first emperor promulgated Tangut as a state script. Accounts link its creation with Yuqi and Yeli Renrong, a court official; the earliest transmitted document, an official message to a military inspector, dates to 1072.

Tangut characters used structural principles also found in Chinese writing. Scholars compare Tangut’s creation with Khitan, another script, but the two are separate and not interchangeable. Tangut writing served official records, private texts, translations, and religious works; many surviving sources are Buddhist. Use continued after Western Xia fell to the Mongols in 1227; a Tangut inscription at Baoding dates to 1502.

What does 𗆮 mean when someone sends it?

Treat a solo send as a Tangut reference, not a shared reaction.

As of 2026, 𗆮 has no established modern chat reading. If someone sends it alone, treat it as a historical Tangut reference and ask what they intend instead of guessing “return” or “death.”