Tangut character 17700

It names a brother, though one recorded gloss says maternal uncle.

Its scholarly reading is transcribed in Latin letters as tsew. In Tangut household records, it is commonly used by women to refer to their brothers. The additional “mother’s brother” gloss means it does not map neatly to one English family word.

Why was the Tangut script made?

It was ordered to write Tangut for Western Xia.

Tangut emperor Li Yuanhao ordered the script in 1036 for state use and a Buddhist canon in Tangut. Chinese and Tibetan works, legal and administrative texts, and literature were translated or written in it. A possible earliest dated piece of Tangut writing is assigned to 1070/1071; that date belongs to the script’s record, not to 𗜀 itself. Tangut drew on Chinese and Khitan writing traditions, but that does not make its characters readable as Chinese.

What does 𗜀 mean when someone sends it?

Alone, it does not tell a reader unfamiliar with Tangut what is meant.

Without Tangut or household-record context, ask which source or passage the sender means. Its recorded kinship gloss is narrow, not a general modern message. If it appears as a blank box or placeholder, the recipient’s font may lack Tangut support; that is a display problem, not another meaning.