Tangut Ideograph 18676

Its core gloss is “strip,” with related senses of row and military formation.

Tangut dictionaries also record senses such as branch, row, file, and chapter. The standalone character is therefore not safely translated as “general.”

The Tangut script was devised around 1036 to write the Tangut language under the Western Xia state. It appeared in government and private writing, Buddhist texts, and inscriptions, and its written tradition continued for centuries after the state fell.

Why does 𘙶 sometimes mean “general”?

“General” comes from compounds or a specific chess-piece reading.

In 𘙶𗦳, the second character means “chief,” making the compound “general.” 𘙶𗹑 means “main general,” and 𘙶𗡼 means “lieutenant general”; their second characters mean “main” and “assistant” or “deputy.” The military sense grows from “formation” to its leader.

About 2002, a bronze chess piece was found in Gansu with Chinese 士 on one side and 𘙶 on the other. A Unicode chess proposal calls the Tangut character a type of general; a Tangut analysis reads it as an abbreviation for “general” or “lieutenant general.” The artifact supports a military reading, not a universal standalone translation.