Tangut Character 𗣏

It means “physique”: a person's build or body shape. A Tangut wordbook gives its scholarly reconstruction as ²luq₃ and glosses it “physique.” The raised and lowered digits are part of scholarly transcription, not the character.

The Tangut script was disseminated in 1036 for the Western Xia state, giving Tangut a distinct written form. Accounts differ on whether Yeli Renrong or Li Deming deserves credit, so it is safer to describe the script as a state project than a one-person invention. Tangut manuscripts include translations of Chinese works, showing the script's literary and political range.

Why does 𗣏 resemble Chinese writing?

It is Tangut, a separate script with many Chinese-style strokes. Tangut uses square, component-based forms, but its characters are not generally direct Chinese or Khitan borrowings. The resemblance reflects visual conventions, not a Chinese reading.

Some Tangut characters combine a meaning clue with a sound clue; linguists call this a phono-semantic compound. In 𗣏, 𗧍 is the meaning component associated with the body, while 𗡮 points toward the sound. These parts help explain how the character is built; neither replaces the whole character.