Yi Radical Wo

It helps index Yi syllable characters in dictionaries.

The Yi radical Wo marks a recurring stroke form shared by a subset of Yi syllable characters. “Wo” refers to the closest-looking Yi syllable; it is not a translation of ꒸. Common Yi keyboard routes select syllables, so they may not offer this dictionary sign.

A bronze-bell inscription from 1485 is the oldest known dated evidence of Yi writing. The script’s origins are debated, and undated manuscripts may be older. The standardized Liangshan Yi form was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980 to support literacy.

Why are Yi radicals used in dictionaries?

They adapt a radical index to Yi characters.

The indexing method was modeled on Han radicals, the keys Chinese dictionaries use to sort characters. That is a functional link: traditional Yi characters do not appear to descend from Chinese ideographs.

Traditional regional forms of Yi writing appeared in religious, ritual, medical, and family-history manuscripts, often handled by ritual specialists. The standardized Liangshan form for Nuosu, one of the Yi languages, was used in literacy textbooks, newspapers, official documents, and literature. These are different settings for Yi writing, not different meanings of ꒸.

Does ꒸ combine with a Yi syllable?

No; it is an index sign, not a combining mark.

Unicode describes no typographic interaction between individual Yi characters, so ꒸ does not attach to a neighboring syllable to make a new glyph.