What ꒥ means
It is a Yi dictionary component, not a word.
Each Yi syllable character represents one spoken syllable. Yi radicals are stroke components that group those characters for dictionary lookup. ꒥ is the secondary form in its group, paired with primary . Its label “Bur” refers to a resemblance to ꀱ, a separate Yi syllable character; it is not a translation.
Why was the Yi script made?
It served regional writing traditions, then a school standard.
Traditional Yi writing varied by region and was used by bimo, Yi ritual specialists. Their manuscripts cover religious texts, family lineages, history, medicine, and astrology. Securely dated examples include Yi inscriptions on Chenghua-era bronze bells from the 15th century; the script’s exact beginnings remain disputed.
The modern Liangshan standard was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980 to improve literacy and support school and public use. It differs from older regional bimo manuscript traditions. Its dictionary radicals use the component-indexing model found in Chinese dictionaries; that is an organizing connection, not evidence that these Yi characters are Chinese.
Reference-only: ꒥ is a dictionary component, not a word for ordinary prose.
“Bur” labels the shape; it does not translate it. ꀱ is the separate syllable character.
Don't confuse it with
1
Related characters
1
Questions people ask
1Why does ꒥ show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
More like this
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How to type or find ꒥
- Search it as
- bur symbol · bur unicode · yi radical · yi radicals · yi glyph · yi syllable character · ꒥ meaning
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
꒥\A4A5Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.