Tangut Ideograph 17A0B

It is a Tangut word glossed “divide” or “part.” A Tangut dictionary index pairs it with Chinese 分, whose senses include dividing, a share, or a part; that gloss does not make 𗨋 a Chinese character.

Use surrounding Tangut text to settle the exact sense. Alone, 𗨋 identifies a Tangut character, while the sender’s particular intent depends on context.

Why was Tangut writing created?

It served a state and religious project. Tangut writing was created around 1036 under Li Yuanhao, the first emperor of Western Xia. It gave the state a written identity distinct from Song China and was used for works including a Tangut Buddhist Canon, a collection of Buddhist scriptures, translated Confucian classics, military texts, encyclopedias, and literature.

A surviving manuscript fragment from Khara-khoto is dated probably to the 12th or early 13th century. After the Mongol conquest ended Western Xia, Tangut writing continued under Yuan and Ming rule and was obsolete by the end of the Ming dynasty.

Is Tangut related to Chinese or Khitan?

Tangut is a distinct script influenced by Chinese writing. Its visual style and way of forming characters drew on Chinese. Neighboring Khitan states also created native scripts, and Tangut rulers followed that example—a historical connection between writing traditions, not proof that a particular Tangut character descends from a Chinese or Khitan one.

Tangut sources show variant glyph shapes for an encoded character, and some fonts lack Tangut support. A blank box is a display problem; it does not change the character’s identity.