Tangut character 18331

The Unicode label does not translate the character. 𘌱 is a character in Tangut writing. Its word or smaller meaning-bearing part must be identified from Tangut text; the label only identifies the encoded character.

A medieval Tangut rhyme dictionary, the Sea of Writing, indexes 𘌱 at 2.172 in a category for dental affricates and fricatives—consonants made with airflow at the teeth. This is a sound-based index entry.

Why was the Tangut script created?

It served Western Xia state-building and religious writing. In 1036, the Western Xia emperor Li Yuanhao commissioned Tangut writing as part of building the state. The project also supported translation of Buddhist scriptures into Tangut.

Tangut letter shapes were modeled on Chinese characters, but Tangut remained a distinct script. Its creation also followed the political precedent of Khitan rulers commissioning state scripts. Tangut texts include Chinese works in translation, books of Confucian teaching, encyclopedias, military manuals, literature, inscriptions, and manuscripts. After Western Xia fell, Tangut writing continued under the Yuan and Ming dynasties before becoming obsolete.

How do I type 𘌱?

A box usually signals a font gap. A font without Tangut coverage may display a box or blank space even when the character data is intact.

Unicode identifies the character; a font draws its outline. Tangut sources have glyph variants: forms that a source does not distinguish may share one encoding, while contrastive forms can have separate encodings. A modern font may therefore draw 𘌱 differently from a manuscript without changing which character is stored.