Tangut Character 𗤴

Read it as Tangut writing, not a reaction emoji. A Tangut–Chinese dictionary pairs 𗤴 with 恙, the Chinese word for “sickness”; context explains why it was sent.

A state script with a broad book life

Tangut script was commissioned by Western Xia, a state in northwestern China, around 1036 CE for administration, state identity, and Buddhist translation. An early surviving work is a Tangut translation of the Lotus Sutra, a Buddhist scripture, dated to the late 1030s to mid-1040s.

Tangut’s design drew visual and structural ideas from Chinese writing but was not derived from Chinese characters. Neighboring Khitan state scripts, created about a century earlier, offered a model. Later books included Buddhist texts, Confucian classics, encyclopedias, military treatises, and literature. Tangut writing continued under Yuan and Ming rule after Western Xia fell, then became obsolete by the end of the Ming dynasty.