What 𗇘 means
It means “put, place, or release.” A scholarly reconstruction writes its Tangut reading as lhi̱w²; 放 is the Chinese gloss, a translation aid rather than the character’s name or pronunciation.
The script was commissioned in 1036 under Tangut ruler Li Yuanhao as an act of state-building, for a Tangut Buddhist canon and a distinct identity beside Song China. A surviving manuscript, probably from the 12th or early 13th century, shows the script in use after its launch; it does not date this glyph’s first appearance.
Tangut writing drew on Chinese forms and the example of neighboring Khitan scripts, but it was a separate script for the Tangut language. Tangut texts include Buddhist scriptures and translations of Chinese history, military works, and literature, giving the script state, religious, and literary uses.
Why does 𗇘 sometimes show as a box?
The font is missing Tangut coverage. A Tangut-capable font supplies the glyph; a fallback font may show a missing-glyph box, and two suitable fonts may draw it differently. That changes the display, not the character’s reading.
Specialist and archival: this marks Tangut-language, Western Xia, or script-history context.
Without Tangut context, give its gloss; it can be hard to read as a standalone message.
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Who writes 𗇘
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Questions people ask
1Is 𗇘 Chinese?
No. It belongs to the Tangut script, a separate writing system for the Tangut language. Tangut writing was influenced by Chinese forms, but the two scripts are distinct.
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How to type or find 𗇘
- Search it as
- tangut · xixia · lhiw · put · place · release
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
𗇘\171D8Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.