Tangut Ideograph-180E1

It is the Tangut verb “to do” or “to make.”

Tangut is a historical language, so scholars reconstruct its pronunciation from written evidence. One system writes the reconstructed reading as wji¹; another writes vi¹. These are different scholarly notations for the same character, not variant glyphs.

It can also have a causative use: it marks someone causing an action or state. The sentence’s grammar determines which translation fits.

How did 𘃡 become a written character?

It was made to write Tangut in the Xixia state.

The Tangut script was officially created in 1036 to write the Tangut language in the Xixia (Western Xia) state. It was used for government writing, translations, and Buddhist texts.

Surviving manuscripts catalogued as Or.12380/1842, /3909, and /3911 contain this character. Those records do not establish when 𘃡 first appeared; the script’s creation date is not the character’s origin date.

What should you do with 𘃡 in a modern message?

Add a gloss if the Tangut context is missing.

Alone, the glyph does not tell a reader which verb sense you intend. A translation or a Tangut sentence supplies the context for “do,” “make,” or a causative use.