Yi syllable ngiep

It marks the syllable ngiep; Yi context supplies its word sense.

A Yi dictionary gives [ŋɛ²¹] as its reading: begin with the nasal sound at the end of “sing,” then an “e” as in “bed”; ²¹ marks the tone. Ngiep is a romanized reading, not an English translation.

The Liangshan standard is one branch of Yi writing

The earliest surviving dated Yi inscription is on a bronze bell from 1485; it dates that example, not the script’s beginning.

Traditional Yi forms developed in local writing traditions rather than from Han Chinese or neighboring Tibetan, Burmese, or Tai scripts. Bimo (Yi ritual specialists) transmitted older forms in religious, magical, medical, and genealogical texts.

The Liangshan standard was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980 to improve literacy. ꉟ belongs to it, not to every regional Yi tradition.