Tangut character 17493

Its Unicode label is an identifier, not a translation.

Tangut, also called Xixia, is the writing system for the Tangut language, used by the Western Xia state.

Li Fanwen's 2008 Tangut dictionary lists it as L2008-4837; the Sea of Writing, another Tangut dictionary, locates it at 25.261 under Rhyme 18. Those are lookup references, not a pronunciation or English gloss.

Why was Tangut writing created?

It served Tangut and the Western Xia state.

Around 1036, Western Xia ruler Li Yuanhao ordered a writing system for the Tangut language. It likely helped produce a Tangut Buddhist canon—a collection of Buddhist scriptures—and mark Western Xia as distinct from Song China.

The script's design took cues from neighboring Khitan writing and Chinese character conventions, but it represented Tangut rather than Chinese. Surviving official, private, and religious works include translations from Chinese and Tibetan. A manuscript fragment from the ruined city of Khara-khoto probably dates to the 12th or early 13th century. Tangut writing continued under the Yuan and Ming dynasties, fell out of use by the end of the Ming dynasty, and was rediscovered in the late 19th century.