Yi syllable Hmyr

ꂭ is the Yi syllable romanized hmyr. In the standardized Liangshan spelling, also called Nuosu, its word meaning depends on the surrounding Yi text. A Yi dictionary gives the IPA transcription [m̥ɿ̱³³]: begin with an m-like nasal made with closed lips and air through the nose, without vocal-cord vibration; then say the Yi vowel at a steady mid pitch. The Latin spelling is a pronunciation guide, not an English word.

Some scholars date a Guizhou bronze casting to the Western Han period, and a Guizhou stone tablet is dated AD 223–37. The Unicode Standard identifies a bronze bell dated 1485 as the earliest surviving Yi example; paper texts survive from around 1500. These dates concern Yi writing broadly, not the first appearance of ꂭ.

Why was Yi writing standardized?

The modern Liangshan spelling was designed to support literacy. Before standardization, Yi communities used local writing traditions. Bimo, Yi ritual specialists, copied texts on religion, magic, healing, and family lineages. Older Cuan or Wei traditions used ideographic signs—marks for words or ideas—and do not appear to derive from Han characters.

A Liangshan syllabary, a writing system where each sign represents a spoken syllable, was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980. It serves the Liangshan variety of Yi, not every Yi variety. ꂭ belongs to this standardized spelling tradition.

How do you type ꂭ?

On Windows, use the Yi IME and choose the hmyr candidate. Microsoft's 2024 instructions say to add Yi, switch to its input method, type the syllable's phonemes with Latin keys, then select the matching character. Enter or Space accepts the first candidate.

ꂭ is a font-rendered text character, not emoji artwork. A font without Yi coverage can show a missing-glyph box or blank; the drawn shape can vary between Yi-capable fonts.