Yi Syllable Bbu

ꁮ represents the Yi syllable written bbu in Latin letters.

Here, bbu is a spelling used to identify the spoken syllable, not an English translation. A word’s meaning depends on the syllable in its Yi-language context.

The oldest securely dated surviving evidence for Yi writing is an inscription on a bronze bell from 1485, not an attestation of this exact character. Traditional Yi scripts served village ritual specialists writing religious, magical, medical and family-history texts. The standardized Liangshan form was devised in 1974 and officially issued as a standard in 1980 to support literacy in one dialect; it later appeared in textbooks, literature and newspapers.

Is ꁮ a Chinese character?

No; ꁮ belongs to the Yi writing tradition.

Standardized Liangshan Yi uses this as a syllable, not as a Chinese character. Traditional Yi scripts have forms of their own, although some Yi traditions borrowed Chinese number signs.

Yi is not one uniform script: other regional traditions can use different signs and sound values for their dialects. A character from another regional tradition may therefore have a different reading.

What does it mean when someone sends ꁮ?

Read a lone ꁮ as Yi text unless the sender gives you another clue.

Someone who reads standardized Liangshan Yi may recognize its syllable value; the character alone does not tell an outside reader which word or sentence it belongs to. Ask what phrase it came from before assigning it a figurative meaning.