Tangut Ideograph 17349

“Fast” is the only unqualified gloss. The Tangut dictionary entry prints “fast” directly and puts a question mark after “to capture.” One scholarly reconstruction writes the sound as hə̱²: a breathy h, then a vowel made toward the back of the mouth without rounding the lips, at a steady mid pitch. This is a reconstructed Tangut sound, not Mandarin pinyin.

The Tangut script was created in 1036 under the first Western Xia emperor for state-building. It gave the state its own writing system and was used for a Tangut Buddhist canon, among other texts. A Khara-khoto manuscript likely dates to the 12th or early 13th century, showing Tangut in book culture.

Tangut borrowed Chinese visual conventions and ways of building characters, but it was not derived from Chinese characters; its rulers also followed neighboring Khitan script makers. After Western Xia fell, Tangut writing continued in Yuan and Ming contexts. Two Buddhist pillars erected in 1502 are the latest datable Tangut material known. The script’s creation date does not date 𗍉 itself.

How do I type 𗍉?

Use a Tangut-capable font and a specialist input method. Tangut manuscript forms vary, and modern stroke order is reconstructed. Fonts and input tools can therefore display or index the character differently.

A reconstruction-based input scheme can use hə̱²; other routes include a Tangut stroke-code layout, dictionary index, or handwriting lookup. If the glyph appears as a missing-glyph box, the active font lacks Tangut coverage; a font such as Noto Serif Tangut can supply it.