Tangut character 𗌴

Read 𗌴 through the surrounding Tangut text. The exact-character dictionary entry lists reconstructed pronunciations but no English gloss as of 2026. These scholarly readings estimate sound; they do not translate the glyph. A passage may provide the context needed to infer its word, while the glyph's shape alone does not justify assigning it a Chinese or English meaning.

Tangut was a separate writing system for the Tangut language, once spoken in what is now northwestern China. Its characters draw on Chinese writing's visual and structural principles, but Tangut is a distinct script rather than Chinese characters borrowed wholesale.

Why was Tangut writing created?

The state built it to write Tangut in its own script. In 1036, Tangut emperor Li Yuanhao ordered its creation as part of state-building. The script was intended in part for a Tangut Buddhist canon and to mark a distinct political identity. Tangut followed the example of its Khitan neighbors, who had created two scripts of their own.

Tangut writing went far beyond that project: surviving books include Buddhist works as well as translations of Confucian classics, encyclopedias, military treatises, and literature. Some texts came from Tibetan sources; others were composed in Tangut.

What survived after Western Xia fell?

The script outlasted the Tangut state. Sources from the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries include Qara-Qoto material from after Mongol armies ended Western Xia in 1227.

Tangut writing continued under the Yuan and Ming dynasties, then became obsolete by the end of the Ming dynasty. Scholars rediscovered it in the late 19th century and largely deciphered it in the early 20th century.