Tangut ideograph 17A96

The English gloss for 𗪖 is “many.” Scholars reconstruct its Tangut reading as *low², roughly like “low” with a rising tone; the asterisk marks a reconstruction. Outside Tangut text, that gloss alone does not tell you why someone sent it.

Li Yuanhao ordered Tangut writing in 1036 for state-building, to distinguish his kingdom from Song China, and to compile Buddhist scripture in Tangut. Its forms were visually inspired by Chinese writing but recorded a different language. A manuscript fragment found among the ruins of Khara-Khoto in Inner Mongolia is thought to date to the 12th or early 13th century; Tangut texts include Buddhist works and translations from Chinese and Tibetan.