Yi syllable ndup

It represents one Yi syllable, romanized as “ndup” in the Liangshan standard. The final p in Yi Pinyin marks a low-falling tone. The surrounding syllables form the word and supply its meaning; ndup is a reading, not an English translation.

The oldest securely dated surviving Yi writing includes a bronze bell inscription from 1485; earlier origins remain debated. Older local Yi traditions used writing for religious, magical, medical, and genealogical texts.

Why was a Liangshan Yi standard created?

To help people read and write Yi. Older Yi writing differed by region in its glyphs, repertoire, direction, and pronunciation. Bimo—Yi religious specialists—often transmitted it; it was not a common script shared across communities.

A Liangshan standard was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980 to support Yi literacy. It drew on older local Yi forms, not Han Chinese characters, and is not a universal writing system for every Yi variety.

How do I type ꅥ?

Enter its Yi-Pinyin spelling, “ndup,” in a Yi input method. On Windows, the Yi IME accepts Latin-letter spellings and offers Yi characters to select. The SIL Yi keyboard covers standardized Yi syllables but not Yi radicals.

If ꅥ shows as a box, the active font lacks a Yi glyph. The character can still be present as text; use a font or editor with Yi support.