Yi syllable nryr

This is a Nuosu syllable; context supplies its meaning. In Liangshan Yi romanization, the syllable is spelled nryr with Latin letters. One Nuosu word list glosses nryr as “pierce”; the surrounding word gives the full sense.

Nuosu origin stories credit Aki (also written A Ke) with creating Yi writing. Village priests used older forms for religious, magical, medical and family-line records. A 1485 bronze-bell inscription is the earliest surviving monumental example. A Liangshan Yi writing standard, devised in 1974 and officially introduced in 1980, widened reading and writing for one Yi variety. Older Yi forms do not appear to derive from Chinese characters.