Yi Syllable Nbut

ꂅ writes one spoken syllable in Liangshan Nuosu, a Yi language; its standard Latin-letter transcription, <code>nbut</code>, ends in <code>t</code> to mark high, level pitch rather than another consonant. The transcription identifies the syllable, not a complete word meaning. The standardized Liangshan script grew from older, regionally varied Yi writing traditions.

Text symbol

Search it as: nbut · Nuosu · Liangshan · Yi · syllable · HTML entity · missing glyph · tone
Shows up in: Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws

What ꂅ means

It writes one spoken syllable in Liangshan Nuosu. The standard Latin-letter transcription is nbut; its final t marks high, level pitch (tone), not a final consonant. That transcription identifies the syllable but does not give the meaning of a whole Nuosu word.

Yi writing developed through local traditions, and its older forms varied by region. The oldest surviving dated Yi-script inscription known is on a bronze bell at Dafang, Guizhou, in 1485. That dates the writing tradition, not the first use of ꂅ.

Village ritual specialists used older Yi manuscripts for religious, medical, historical, and family-line texts. To support literacy, a standardized Liangshan system with one character per spoken syllable was devised in 1974 and formally promulgated in 1980. It entered textbooks, literature, and newspapers, and writes Liangshan Nuosu rather than every Yi language.

Neutral in Liangshan Nuosu writing; on its own, it gives readers who do not know the script little clue to a word's meaning.