Yi syllable qyr

It represents qyr, a Nuosu Yi syllable used for “burn clean.”

In Yi Pinyin, qyr is a Latin-letter spelling, not something to pronounce by English letter names: q begins like ch with an extra breath, while yr is a high, buzzy vowel made with the tongue slightly drawn back. With no final t, x, or p, its tone stays level and mid. In longer Yi words, neighboring syllables settle the meaning.

The modern standard has older Yi roots

Traditional Yi writing came in many local forms. One traditional account credits Aki with creating the older character-based script during China’s Tang dynasty (618–907). The earliest surviving Yi inscription is on a bronze bell dated 1485.

Village priests known as bimo passed traditional texts between generations; these local scripts served religious, magical, medical, and family-history writing.

ꐗ belongs to the later standardized Liangshan Yi syllabary. Yi Pinyin, a Latin-letter spelling system for pronouncing and entering Yi syllables, was introduced in 1956; the standardized syllabary was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980 to support literacy. It draws on traditional forms but represents the Liangshan variety, also called Nuosu, not every Yi language.