Tangut Ideograph 180FD

Its central sense is “enter”; other glosses include “contain” and “advance.”

A major Tangut–Chinese dictionary glosses 𘃽 as “contain,” “enter,” and “advance”; another study translates the word as “hold” and “enter.” Buddhist fragments also use it in a phrase translated “enter.” These are context-dependent translations of one historical word, not meanings you can read from the character’s shape.

The Tangut script was commissioned in 1036 under Li Yuanhao, emperor of the Western Xia state. A surviving dated document from 1070/71 may be the earliest known Tangut writing; a manuscript from Khara-Khoto probably dates to the 12th or early 13th century. The script supported state-building, a distinct identity from China under the Song dynasty, and work on the Buddhist canon—the collection of Buddhist scriptures.

Why does 𘃽 look Chinese?

Tangut uses Chinese-like design principles, but it is a separate script.

Unicode describes Tangut as unrelated to Chinese ideographs, although Tangut characters resemble Chinese writing and use similar ways of combining parts. A Chinese character meaning “enter” can serve as a comparison, but it is not a substitute for 𘃽.

The neighboring Khitan people had already created scripts for their state. Tangut followed a similar political pattern while developing different forms; that is a connection between writing traditions, not a shared character.

What does 𘃽 mean when someone sends it?

In Tangut context, read it as the word glossed “enter.”

If someone sends it in a conversation about Tangut, begin with “enter”; surrounding words may favor “contain” or “advance.” Elsewhere, the historical glosses cannot tell you why they sent it, so ask for context.

After Western Xia fell in 1227, Tangut continued in religious and printed texts during the Yuan and Ming periods. A pair of Buddhist pillars from 1502, bearing dhāraṇī prayers—short Buddhist sacred formulas—is the latest datable Tangut material known in scholarship.