Tangut character “demented”

Dictionaries gloss it as “demented.”

A Tangut Buddhist text lists it among afflictions. Alone in a message, it gives you the word, not the sender’s intent.

Western Xia, a medieval kingdom in northwest China, adopted Tangut as a state script in 1036, signaling political independence. The script borrowed Chinese-style square strokes and followed neighboring Khitan rulers’ earlier example of creating a script of their own, but wrote a different language. Government records and Buddhist translations used it. Buddhist writing continued after Western Xia fell in 1227; a Buddhist pillar dated 1502 bears Tangut text.