Yi syllable Cit

It represents one Nuosu syllable; its word meaning depends on context. In Yi Pinyin, the Latin-letter system for Nuosu, cit spells it; the final t marks a high tone, not an ending consonant.

Use ꊮ as one sound-bearing unit inside a Nuosu word. The neighboring syllables determine the word’s meaning; cit is a pronunciation spelling, not an English translation.

How did Yi writing develop?

Yi writing grew through regional traditions before a Liangshan standard was set. Some Guizhou inscriptions are assigned to the Western Han and Shu Han periods, but they are proposed early evidence. Surviving paper or sheepskin Yi texts date to around 1500; the earliest surviving monumental example is an inscription on a bronze bell dated 1485.

Yi writing served religious, magical, medical, and genealogical purposes, often transmitted by local ritual specialists. Standardization for the Liangshan variety began in 1974 and was officially promulgated in 1980, creating a shared set of syllable signs without covering every Yi variety. Regional traditions used different repertoires, shapes, and writing directions, so readers trained in different regions may not know the same glyphs. Its documented history does not trace it to Han, Tibetan, Burmese, or Tai scripts.