Tangut character for railing

𗛢 is the Tangut word for a railing. It belongs to historical writing, not an emoji drawing of a fence; the character gives you the word but not why someone sent it.

Text symbol

What 𗛢 means

It means “railing” in Tangut. Li Fanwen’s Tangut–Chinese Dictionary gives that gloss. The script was created around 1036 under Western Xia ruler Li Yuanhao to write the Tangut language and distinguish the state from Song China; a Tangut edition of Buddhist scriptures may also have been an aim.

Tangut texts include government records, Buddhist books, and works translated from Chinese. Use continued after Western Xia fell and faded by the end of the Ming dynasty. Chinese writing inspired Tangut’s square forms, but Tangut is a separate script; possible influence from earlier Khitan scripts has been discussed, though direct descent is not established. Reference works record more than one written form for 𗛢; a stroke difference alone does not mean its word meaning changed.

Part of collections

𗀀

Tangut Characters List

𗼇

Tangut Script

Who writes 𗛢

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Questions people ask

Why does 𗛢 show as a box on some devices?

Not every system ships a font for the Tangut block. Where none is installed, the character shows as an empty box; adding a font such as Noto fixes it. The character itself is still correct and copies correctly.