Tangut character 1857B

It completes an alternate Tangut word for “three.”

In the Ode on Monthly Pleasures, 𘕻 follows 𗛰 as the second element of an unusual two-character numeral. A following Tangut word for “month” makes the phrase name the third lunar month; the poem also gives an ordinary form of the month name.

“Ritual language” is a debated label for this version. Earlier scholars treated the unusual wording as a separate ritual vocabulary; an analysis published in 2011 instead reads it as an explanatory gloss—a word-by-word aid to the ordinary verse.

Why did Tangut writing take its own form?

It served a state project for scripture and a distinct identity.

By 1036, Tangut Emperor Li Yuanhao had sponsored the script as part of building his state. Accounts differ over individual credit: one gives Li the initial design and Yeli Renrong the work of developing it; another credits Li’s father. A key purpose was publishing a Tangut Buddhist canon—a collection of scriptures—while giving the state its own written identity beside Song China.

Tangut character forms drew inspiration from Chinese writing without deriving directly from it; nearby Khitan rulers had made two scripts roughly a century earlier, one largely based on Chinese writing. The Western Xia state fell in 1227, but Tangut writing survived for centuries; the latest known example is dated 1502.

How do I type 𘕻?

Use a Unicode input tool that accepts supplementary code points.

U+1857B has five hexadecimal digits, so a code-point box limited to four digits cannot enter it as one value. Use a Unicode picker or another method that accepts supplementary-plane characters.