Tangut Ideograph 1737B

The code-point label gives no Tangut word or English gloss.

𗍻 belongs to the Tangut script of the historical Western Xia state, also called Xixia. The 12th-century dictionary Sea of Writing includes it; the modern Li Fanwen dictionary lists it as number 4090. Scholars reconstruct a pronunciation, but a reading is not a translation. Interpret the character through the surrounding Tangut text.

how did the Tangut script begin?

It was created to write Tangut and serve the Western Xia state.

The script was created under the first Western Xia emperor around 1036 to write the Tangut language and support the state's official and cultural life. Surviving material includes government and private writing, religious books, inscriptions, and manuscripts.

After Western Xia fell to the Mongols, Tangut writing continued under the Yuan and Ming dynasties before becoming obsolete. Scholars rediscovered the script in the late 19th century and largely deciphered it in the early 20th century through bilingual texts and dictionary work.

is 𗍻 a Chinese character?

No; it belongs to a separate writing system.

Tangut characters have a Chinese-like square, brush-written style, but Tangut is a distinct script unrelated to Chinese ideographs. A Chinese reader may recognize the visual style and still have no Chinese reading for 𗍻.