Yi Radical Hmo

꒭ is a dictionary lookup radical in standardized Liangshan Yi. It helps readers find characters in dictionaries; the radical itself does not carry a word or sentence meaning.

How far back does Yi writing go?

Reported early inscriptions predate the surviving record. The Nuosu Book of Origins, a history from one Yi tradition, reports inscriptions on objects from the Chinese Western Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 9) and the Shu Han period (AD 223–37). The earliest surviving example in the Unicode account is a bronze-bell inscription from 1485; Yi manuscripts on paper and parchment appear around 1500.

The standardized Liangshan form, a regional Yi standard, was selected from older northern Yi forms. Its dictionary index follows the Han Chinese practice of grouping characters by recurring stroke components called radicals, while the Yi script keeps its own signs.

Why was Yi writing used?

Traditional Yi texts served ritual and specialist work. They carried religious, medical, magical, and genealogical knowledge maintained by local ritual specialists; they were not widely read across communities.

The standardized Liangshan form was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980, then used in textbooks, newspapers, official documents, and wider education. Other Yi traditions differ in shapes, sounds, writing direction, and punctuation, so this radical is not a universal index for every Yi writing tradition.