Yi Syllable Kox

Read it as part of a complete Yi word. ꈇ marks one spoken syllable, not a self-contained English idea. In Liangshan romanization, the syllable is written kox; its final x marks a mid-high tone, a pitch pattern, rather than an added consonant.

Older Classical Yi writing traditions varied by region. Bimo, Yi ritual specialists, used them for religious, magical, medical, and family-history writing. The modern Liangshan standard drew on those traditions; it was developed in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980 to support literacy, schooling, books, and newspapers.

The oldest securely dated surviving Yi inscription commonly cited is a text on a bronze bell from 1485. Earlier objects have been proposed, but whether they are Yi writing is debated. Classical Yi traditions differed in glyphs, character sets, orientation, and writing direction; ꈇ belongs to the modern Liangshan standard, not a universal spelling shared by every Yi variety.