Yi syllable kuop

Type kuop in a Yi input method, then select ꈅ.

Microsoft’s Windows Yi input guide, dated 2024, describes entering the romanized syllable and selecting the matching character from suggestions. It uses sound-based entry instead of a separate key for each glyph.

What does ꈅ mean in a Yi text?

It writes one syllable; its word or sentence supplies the meaning.

ꈅ is a written syllable in the standardized Liangshan Nuosu Yi syllabary—a set of signs for syllables. The standard Liangshan romanization spells it kuop; final p marks a low-falling tone, meaning the voice pitch falls as the syllable is said. This spelling identifies a reading, not an English gloss.

Older local Yi writing traditions were used by bimo priests—religious specialists—for ritual, magical, medical, family-history, historical, and astrological texts. Surviving examples include a bronze bell cast in 1485 and paper texts from around 1500. A standardized Liangshan syllabary, adapted from older Northern Yi forms, was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980. It serves Liangshan Nuosu, not every Yi variety, in schools, newspapers, literature, public signs, and subtitles. Yi graphs developed within their own writing traditions rather than by direct borrowing from Han ideographs.

What if someone sends ꈅ alone?

It still represents a Yi syllable; context gives the message.

The glyph alone does not show a conversational intent. Ask what Yi word or sentence the sender meant.