Tangut character 17964

𗥤 means “know” or “understand” in Tangut. A scholarly transcription writes its reading as tsjij. A Buddhist translation glosses it with the Chinese character 識, meaning “know” or “recognize.”

A font without Tangut support may show 𗥤 as an empty square. In one revised Buddhist sutra title, the character is interpreted as a catalogue marker for a scripture box or section, rather than as the verb “know.”

Tangut writing was created in the eleventh century for the Western Xia state in what is now northwestern China. Ruler Li Yuanhao commissioned it, and Yeli Renrong’s team developed it for official writing and to distinguish the state’s culture from Song China. The earliest known surviving Tangut document is an official record from 1072; a stone inscription at Liangzhou dates to 1094. Tangut writing continued after Western Xia fell in 1227, with an inscription from 1502. Tangut shares design principles with Khitan and Jurchen scripts, but that does not make either script a direct ancestor of 𗥤.