Tangut character 𗎃

It is Tangut; its word meaning needs context.

“Ideograph-17383” is an index label, not a translation. Scholars reconstruct its Tangut reading in different ways, so the character alone does not give one reliable pronunciation or English gloss.

If it appears without surrounding Tangut text, treat it as a written character whose word sense depends on its place in that text.

Why was the Tangut script created?

It supported Western Xia state-building and Buddhist writing.

The script was ordered in 1036 by Emperor Li Yuanhao to support Western Xia state-building and a native literary tradition. It enabled a Tangut edition of the Buddhist Canon—the collection of Buddhist scriptures—and marked a political identity distinct from the Song dynasty, a neighboring Chinese state. Later books included Buddhist works, translations from Chinese, classics of Confucian teaching, encyclopedias, military treatises, and literature.

How is 𗎃 connected to other writing traditions?

Tangut borrowed principles from Chinese writing without deriving its characters from it.

Tangut borrowed Chinese visual and compositional principles without deriving its characters from Chinese. Before the Tangut script, neighboring Khitan peoples had created two scripts, a regional precedent for an official state writing system. A surviving manuscript—a handwritten book—from Khara-Khoto, an archaeological site, probably dates to the 12th or early 13th century and preserves a translated Tangut text. Analyses record a left-to-right construction using 𘠱 and 𘢌; those components show the character’s structure, not its word meaning.