Yi syllable do

It writes the Liangshan Yi syllable romanized as “do.”

In a word, ꄏ marks one spoken syllable. The spelling “do” is a Latin-letter way to write that syllable, not an English instruction.

Older Yi writing was not one uniform system: local traditions used different forms, and village priests passed down religious, magical, medical, and genealogical texts. Some Yi origin traditions credit Aki, a figure in origin stories, with creating the script. The earliest surviving dated Yi-script evidence is a bronze-bell inscription from 1485.

The Liangshan standard was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980 for one Yi dialect, not every Yi variety. Older Yi signs are described as apparently independent of Han characters, placing this script’s history in Yi writing traditions rather than in Chinese writing.

How do I type ꄏ?

Use a Yi input method and select the intended candidate.

A Yi input method works by sound: enter the syllable’s speech sounds with ordinary keyboard keys, then choose the matching Yi character from the candidates.

Why does ꄏ look like a Chinese character?

Its block-like outline does not give it a Chinese reading.

ꄏ belongs to Yi syllabic writing; 汉 is a Han character used in Chinese. Their similar block-like shapes do not make their readings or writing systems the same.

Fonts draw this text character, so its outline can vary. If it appears as a box, the font lacks a glyph for it; that display issue does not change the character.