Tangut Ideograph-17520

Li Fanwen’s dictionary glosses 𗔠 as “cheese.”

The Unicode proposal maps it to entry 5812 in Li Fanwen’s 2008 dictionary, whose English index glosses it “cheese.” The dictionary’s component index reconstructs its Tangut reading as miej, a scholarly spelling for the historical Tangut word, not the Mandarin reading of a Chinese character. The entry is also cross-referenced to 44.171 in Wénhǎi, a Tangut rhyming dictionary.

The Tangut script was promulgated for Western Xia in 1036 to write Tangut, translate Chinese works, and express a distinct state identity; surviving texts include Buddhist writings, laws, and literature. The earliest securely dated Tangut document is from 1069 or 1070; it dates surviving evidence, not 𗔠. After Western Xia fell, Tangut writing continued in Buddhist and other texts through the Yuan and Ming periods, then became obsolete. As of 2026, its documented gloss is “cheese”; the script shifted from state writing to scholarly study. Tangut forms drew on Chinese and Khitan traditions, but Tangut characters are not Chinese characters.

How do I type 𗔠?

Use a Tangut input method editor (IME) with a Tangut dictionary.

A Tangut IME can load RIME dictionaries, take code-based or phonetic input, and show candidates to select. This is a multi-step input method, not a one-key keyboard entry.