Tangut character

Its reconstructed reading does not settle an English meaning. The dictionary entry records historical compounds—𗌘𘟡 and 𗢫𗌘—but gives no English translation. A reconstructed reading tells you how scholars pronounce a character, not what word to translate; the compounds do not settle this character's meaning either.

Read it as an individual Tangut graph whose meaning depends on specialist lexicography and surrounding text. The script's resemblance to Chinese writing is a clue to its visual model, not a translation key.

Why was the Tangut script made?

It gave the Tangut state a script for its own language. Created by imperial decree, the script was used from 1036 to 1502 for official, private, and religious writing. It appears in records, books, Buddhist sutras, inscriptions, and manuscripts.

Tangut drew on the visual model of Chinese writing, but it wrote a different language in a distinct script. A familiar Chinese character cannot be used to guess this glyph's meaning.

How did scholars recover it?

Dictionaries and surviving texts anchor its modern study. The Wénhǎi (“Sea of Characters”), a Tangut rhyming dictionary from the 12th century, lists 𗌘; Tóngyīn (“Homophones”) also records it.

Tangut was rediscovered in the late 19th century and deciphered in the early 20th century. Its setting shifted from historical writing to modern study of the language and its texts.