Tangut fox character

In Tangut, 𗗶 means “fox,” read nə.

Scholars reconstruct the reading as nə: say n, then the short, weak vowel at the start of “about.” Tangut is a historical language and writing system; the Western Xia kingdom created its script in the 11th century to support government and a Buddhist canon in Tangut.

A surviving manuscript from Khara-Khoto, probably from the 12th or early 13th century, preserves a Chinese-to-Tangut translation. Tangut writing also carried official and Buddhist texts, as well as secular works translated into Tangut.

Why do older Tangut records give two readings?

An older encoding grouped two separate character records.

An earlier record grouped 𗗶 with 𘴁, a separate Tangut character read “tail” or “east.” Unicode 13.0 split the entries after research found the merger too broad. The correction changed the records, not the fox meaning.

After Western Xia fell, Tangut remained in use under the Yuan and Ming dynasties before it fell out of use. Tangut's development followed the Khitan precedent: the Khitan people had created a script for their state. Tangut's square forms also drew on Chinese writing, but it is a separate script.