Yi syllable bbut

ꁬ represents one spoken syllable, not a whole word. It is the Liangshan Yi syllable romanized as bbut. Yi Pinyin is the Latin spelling system for Yi sounds: bb marks a voiced b-like start, u the vowel, and final t a high, level tone. Say it roughly like English “boo,” holding the pitch high and even; the spelling gives pronunciation, not a translation.

Yi tradition credits a figure called Aki with creating the script during the Chinese Tang dynasty. A Yi-and-Chinese inscription on a bronze bell from 1485 is the oldest dated example that survives; undated manuscripts may be older. Local forms appear in religious, magical, medical, and family-lineage books kept by village ritual specialists.

The Liangshan standard was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980 to support literacy. It was used in official documents, newspapers, literature, and older ritual texts. Liangshan Yi, also called Nuosu, is the variety this syllabary represents; it draws on older Classical Yi forms, while other local Yi writing traditions can differ in characters, shapes, and direction.

How do I type ꁬ?

Use Yi Pinyin input and type bbut. Choose a Yi Pinyin or Nuosu input method, enter the full spelling, and select ꁬ; the final t marks tone.

Without a Yi input method, a text converter can map the Latin spelling to the character.