Tangut character 17861

One Tangut Buddhist passage gives it a “soft,” “gentle,” or “harmonious” sense.

The study reconstructs its Tangut reading as wəə¹: a brief “w” glide followed by a long, neutral vowel; superscript ¹ marks the reconstructed tone. In the Huayan Sutra, a Buddhist scripture, this character appears in a passage translated with words for softness, gentleness, or harmony. Those glosses support this reading in that passage, not a fixed meaning for every occurrence.

Versions of the passage differ. A manuscript uses 𘓓, the usual Tangut character for filial piety, where a woodblock print has 𗡡. The study proposes that a scribe confused the similar-looking, near-sounding forms; it presents this as a possible explanation, not an alternate spelling rule.

Why did Western Xia create Tangut writing?

For state-building, scripture, and a distinct written identity.

Tangut was the language of Western Xia, a kingdom in what is now northwestern China. Emperor Li Yuanhao ordered a script in 1036 to support state-building, a Tangut Buddhist canon, and a written identity distinct from Song China. The script drew on Chinese and Khitan models but remained a separate system for Tangut.

A manuscript found among the ruins of Khara-khoto, in present-day Inner Mongolia, likely dates to the 12th or early 13th century. Surviving works include Buddhist scriptures, legal texts, Confucian writing, military treatises, and literature; the latest known Tangut inscription is dated 1502. These are script-history milestones, not a first-attestation date for 𗡡.

How do I type Tangut 𗡡?

Use a Tangut-aware input method.

One documented online Tangut IME offers reverse lookup, handwriting recognition, and code-based entry using a loaded Tangut dictionary. In source code, the Unicode escape is \U00017861.

A box means the app's available font cannot draw the character; the encoded text remains unchanged. As of 2026, the Tangut IME webpage lists Noto Serif Tangut and part of the Tangut Yinchuan Beta font, which can render the same text with different glyph designs.