Tangut character 𘝠

The same Tangut character has two scholarly glosses.

One Tangut dictionary entry glosses 𘝠 as “scorpion.” A 2023 study of Tangut character formation instead analyzes it as “to part” when things separate. The study pairs 𘝠 with 𘝡, whose counterpart reading is “to part something.” These are readings in different historical references, not a modern slang split; the glyph alone cannot tell a recipient which gloss a sender intended.

Why did Tangut writing exist?

It gave the Tangut language its own official writing system.

Tangut writing was created about 1036 under Western Xia’s first emperor. It gave the Tangut language an official written form, helped distinguish the kingdom from Song China, and supported Buddhist texts. Surviving works also include translations from Chinese and Tibetan, along with official, private, and religious writing.

After Western Xia fell, people continued writing Tangut under the Yuan and Ming; the script was obsolete by the end of the Ming dynasty. Its brush-stroked characters drew on Chinese writing traditions but formed a distinct script, created in the same broad period as Khitan writing for another regional state.