Tangut Ideograph 17339

𗌹 is a Tangut character read as part of a word.

Tangut is the language this script was made to write; it is now extinct. 𗌹 does not translate into a complete English sentence by itself. Read it with its neighboring characters and the sentence around it.

Scholars reconstruct its Tangut reading as *njijr¹. This is specialist notation for an estimated historical sound, not a modern pronunciation guide or a translation.

Why was the Tangut script created?

It supported official writing and a distinct Tangut identity.

Emperor Li Yuanhao ordered the Tangut script in 1036–1037 and promoted it as a state writing system. It served official records and translations of the Buddhist canon, a collection of Buddhist scriptures; Tangut books also included Chinese works translated into Tangut.

Tangut forms were inspired by Chinese characters in their visual design, but the script did not descend from Chinese. Its creation also followed the earlier example of the neighboring Khitan, who had made state-backed scripts of their own.

Where did Tangut writing appear?

Tangut writing survived its state and appears in many kinds of texts.

The earliest extant document is an official paper sent to a military inspector in Guazhou, in present-day Gansu, dated 1072. Tangut writing continued after the state fell during the Mongol invasion in 1227; a stone column with a Tangut inscription was erected at Baoding in 1502.

Surviving books include Buddhist scriptures, Confucian classics (books about Confucius's teachings), encyclopedias, military works, and literature. For 𗌹, the neighboring words and the text's subject supply the translation.