Tangut character 18713

It is a Tangut verb meaning “to count.” It names an action, not a written number.

Around 1036, the Western Xia court put Tangut writing into official use. Schools taught it; officials wrote in it, and Buddhist works were translated and block-printed in it. The script served administration and marked a distinct state identity alongside Chinese culture.

After Western Xia fell, Tangut continued in Buddhist texts and inscriptions. The latest known example of the script is on Buddhist dhāraṇī pillars—stone monuments bearing ritual texts—erected in 1502. The word’s documented meaning remains “to count”; its setting changed more clearly than its gloss.

Is 𘜓 Chinese or Tangut?

It is Tangut, not Chinese. Its square layout and strokes echo Chinese writing, but Tangut has its own character-building system.

Tangut appeared within a 10th–13th-century wave of state scripts, alongside Khitan and Jurchen. That is a historical and regional connection, not evidence that this character was copied from either script.

A reader familiar with Chinese may recognize the style without being able to read this word. The resemblance can suggest a region and period, but it does not translate the character.