Tangut Ideograph-180BF

It is glossed as “skill” or “technique.”

A Tangut dictionary entry for 𘂿 lists the Chinese glosses 伎 and 技, covering skill, technique, or skilled performance. Scholars reconstruct its Tangut reading as vyq; that spelling is a scholarly reconstruction, not a modern pronunciation guide.

Tangut is a separate script whose character designs were influenced by Chinese writing. That influence does not make 𘂿 a Chinese character or make the scripts interchangeable.

Why was the Tangut script created?

It gave the Tangut state a writing system for its own language.

Established around 1036 under Li Yuanhao, the script supported Western Xia (Xixia) state-building and cultural independence from Song rulers and the neighboring Khitan people. Its designers drew on Chinese character-building principles and the Khitan example, but did not simply derive Tangut from Chinese. One major project was a Tangut Buddhist canon, a collection of Buddhist writings; the script also carried classics, law codes, encyclopedias, military treatises, and literature.

The earliest known dated piece of Tangut writing may be from 1070/1071. After Western Xia fell in 1227, Tangut continued in Buddhist settings; inscriptions dated 1345 and 1502 show that it remained in use long after the state ended.