Tangut Ideograph 176D0

It is a Tangut pronunciation clue, not a standalone word for “snake.”

A 2016 study of Pearl in the Palm—a Tangut–Chinese bilingual glossary, or a word list pairing the languages—identifies this glyph as L4156 and records it as a pronunciation cue for the Chinese entries 成 (“become”) and 蛇 (“snake”).

Tangut was created around 1036 as the state script of Western Xia, a kingdom whose language was Tangut. The earliest surviving Tangut text is an official document sent to a military officer in Guazhou in 1072.

Is 𗛐 a Chinese character?

No; it belongs to the separate Tangut script.

Tangut characters have a dense, square shape familiar from Chinese writing, but the script represents the Tangut language. It developed in a region where Chinese writing was influential; that context does not make 𗛐 a Chinese character.

Tangut served official records, private writing, and religious works. After Western Xia fell, it continued in Yuan and Ming records and religious texts, then became obsolete by the end of the Ming dynasty. Tangut was rediscovered in the late 19th century.

How do I type or display 𗛐?

Repeated entry needs Tangut input support; display needs a Tangut-capable font.

As of 2026, specialist Tangut input methods support stroke codes or reconstructed readings—scholarly estimates of historical pronunciation. A phonetic method uses a reading as input, not an English translation; consult a Tangut dictionary or the source passage when accuracy matters.

Exact fallback display is font-dependent: without a Tangut-capable font, software may show an empty box or substitute glyph. A font such as Noto Serif Tangut covers the script, and fonts can draw the same encoded character differently.