Tangut character 17BC2

It means “fart” in Tangut.

The Tangut script for the Tangut language was created around 1036 under Western Xia emperor Li Yuanhao as part of state-building. A likely goal was a Tangut collection of Buddhist scriptures; the script also marked a distinct identity from Song China. Though visually and structurally inspired by Chinese writing, the script was not derived from it. Tangut followed the neighboring Khitan, who had created their own scripts a century earlier.

An undated Tangut manuscript fragment from Khara-Khoto’s ruins in Inner Mongolia probably dates to the 12th or early 13th century. Tangut remained in use under the Yuan and Ming dynasties but was obsolete by the end of the Ming dynasty.