Yi syllable jji

It represents the Yi syllable jji; context supplies its word meaning. One Liangshan vocabulary gives jji the word gloss “bee.” Yi syllables combine into words, and one syllable can correspond to different words. Treat “bee” as a possible dictionary meaning, not a complete message.

If someone sends ꐚ alone, you can identify it as written Yi but cannot confidently translate it. The surrounding Yi word or sentence is what settles the meaning.

Older Yi writing had many local forms. Its traditional ideographic signs—characters representing words or ideas—appear not to derive from Han Chinese characters. Village priests called bimo passed local forms down in religious, magical, medical, and genealogical texts. The earliest surviving examples are monumental inscriptions, including a bronze bell inscription dated 1485. The Liangshan standard was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980 to improve literacy. It is a syllabary for Nuosu, not a unified script for every Yi language.

How do I type ꐚ?

Use a Yi input method: enter jji and select the matching character.

In Liangshan Yi romanization, jji is the spelling of this syllable, not an English pronunciation guide. With no final t, x, or p, it has the mid-level tone; those letters mark other tones. Yi input methods accept romanized phonemes and show character candidates. On Windows, type jji and select ꐚ; Microsoft's Yi IME guide was updated 2024-06-20.