Yi Syllable Guo

It represents one syllable in the standardized Liangshan Yi script.

“Guo” is the Latin spelling for its Liangshan Yi syllable; it is not a Mandarin translation. If someone sends ꇨ by itself, ask for the surrounding Yi text before translating it.

How did the Yi script develop?

The modern Liangshan syllabary grew from older Yi writing traditions.

A widespread Yi tradition credits a figure named Aki with creating the older script during China’s Tang dynasty (618–907 CE); this is a traditional account, not a record of ꇨ itself. The earliest surviving dated evidence for Yi writing as a whole is a bronze-bell inscription from 1485. Village priests called bimo passed traditional signs down in religious, magical, medical, and family-history texts, so local repertoires and shapes varied.

A Latin-alphabet scheme for writing the Liangshan dialect was introduced in 1956. The standardized Yi syllabary—one sign per syllable—was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980, adapting older Yi signs. It became the form taught in literacy programs and used in textbooks, literature, and newspapers; other Yi regions kept distinct writing traditions. Traditional Yi signs appear not to derive from Han characters, the Chinese writing system.