Tangut character 173C8

It is glossed as “writing brush.”

Li Fanwen’s English dictionary index glosses entry 3535 as “writing brush.” The Unicode label identifies the character but does not give its reading or the meaning of its word.

The Tangut writing system was created under the first Western Xia emperor in 1036. Its characters drew on the appearance and component-building of Chinese writing, but Tangut is a distinct script. It served state writing and translations of Chinese classics and Buddhist texts, and followed the precedent of state-backed Khitan writing. A manuscript from Khara-Khoto probably dates to the 12th or early 13th century; Tangut remained in use into the Yuan and Ming periods.

How do you type 𗏈?

Use a Tangut-specific input method or look up its dictionary number.

A standard Chinese phonetic keyboard does not provide a Tangut input route. Documented options include stroke codes, sound-based mappings built from scholarly reconstructions of Tangut readings, and dictionary-number lookup. In Li Fanwen’s dictionary, this character is entry 3535.

Why does 𗏈 show as a box?

The app may lack a Tangut-capable font.

If you see a box, the text still contains the character; the app or browser lacks a font with Tangut glyphs. Noto Serif Tangut and Tangut Yinchuan are documented font options (as of 2026). A browser can use a web font, while other apps may need a Tangut font installed on the system.