Yi syllable Nrat

It writes the high-tone Nuosu syllable nrat.

In the Liangshan Yi romanization, final -t in nrat marks a high, level tone. ꎔ contributes one syllable to a Yi word, not an English word or idea on its own. Other tone forms are ꎕ nrax, ꎖ nra, and ꎗ nrap.

Yi writing was never one script shared by every Yi community. Older local traditions varied in shape, direction, and repertoire; village priests used them for religious, magical, medical, and family-history texts. Among the earliest securely dated surviving evidence cited for the tradition is a bronze bell inscription from 1485, not a date for ꎔ. The Liangshan standard, devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980, grew from older traditions to improve literacy in one dialect. Older texts mainly used signs for ideas; the standard uses one sign per syllable and does not cover every Yi language. A separate Yi Radicals block supplies components used to look up syllables.

Why does ꎔ appear as a box?

Your active font may not include its Yi glyph.

A box or blank shape means the active font lacks a Yi glyph; the character is still present. A font with Yi coverage or a Yi-capable input method can display it.