Yi Syllable Buop

ꀤ writes a Yi syllable, transcribed in Latin letters as buop, in Nuosu, a Yi language. Older Yi writing varied by local tradition and served ritual, medical, and genealogical purposes.

Text symbol

Also called: buop
Search it as: yi buop · nuosu buop · buop character · yi ime · yi keyboard · nuosu keyboard · yi font
Shows up in: Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws

What ꀤ means

It writes the Yi syllable transcribed as “buop”; context gives the meaning.

The standardized Nuosu syllabary represents one syllable per sign. “Buop” is the Latin-letter transcription of this syllable, not a full word translation.

The earliest surviving evidence is debated: stone inscriptions are reported from the 13th century, a bronze bell is dated 1485, and parchment or paper texts to around 1500.

Why was Yi writing standardized?

To create a teachable Nuosu syllabary that could support literacy.

Traditional Yi writing was kept mainly by village priests for religious, magical, medical, and genealogical texts. Local traditions differed in the signs they used and the direction they were written.

The Liangshan standard for Nuosu was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980. It is used for Nuosu, one Yi language, not every Yi language. Yi writing uses its own signs, distinct from Chinese Han characters and neighboring Tibetan, Burmese, and Tai scripts.

Neutral in Nuosu writing; the syllable's word meaning depends on context.