Yi syllable hmat

ꂘ is hmat, the Nuosu verb “teach.”

In the Nuosu Latin transcription hmat, final “t” marks a high, level tone; it is not pronounced as a final t. The surrounding sentence supplies the rest: ꂘꃀ, transcribed hmat mop, means “teacher”; ꉢꆏꂘꄐ, transcribed nga ne hmat dop, means “I can teach you.”

Is ꂘ Chinese?

No. ꂘ is a syllable in the Yi script.

Some accounts identify marks on a bronze object and a stone tablet as early Yi writing. The bronze is dated to the Western Han period (206 BC to AD 9), but the earliest surviving Yi text dates to only about five hundred years ago. By the Ming dynasty, different Yi scripts were in use across eastern Yunnan and western Guizhou.

Traditional Yi writing varied by region and is the documented predecessor of the modern Liangshan standard. Bimo priests—Yi religious specialists—used it for religious, magical, and medical texts that circulated through villages. The modern standard took one regional form: it was devised in 1974, used experimentally from 1975, and officially promulgated in 1980.

How do I enter the hmat syllable?

Use a Yi input method and select hmat’s candidate.

The Windows Yi IME accepts phoneme input typed with Latin keys, then displays Yi character candidates. Type the syllable’s Latin transcription hmat; press Enter or Space to accept the first candidate, or use the cursor keys to choose another.

ꂘ is a text character displayed by your font. If it appears as a box, the active font lacks support for Yi characters.