Yi Syllable Tuot

It is the Liangshan Nuosu syllable “tuot.”

Nuosu is the Northern variety of Yi, and “tuot” is the standard Latin-letter spelling for this syllable.

A syllable is one spoken unit. Read the Yi word or sentence around ꄥ to understand its meaning.

Why was the Yi script made?

The modern syllabary was standardized to improve literacy in Liangshan Nuosu.

Older Yi writing, historically called Cuan or Wei, used local sets of ideographic signs—marks for words or ideas—rather than one uniform syllabary. The modern syllabary grew from those signs, though its signs are not direct copies of Han characters. One origin story credits a figure named Aki with devising the older signs during the Tang dynasty. The earliest surviving Yi inscription is on a bronze bell dated 1485.

Local traditions varied in their signs and writing directions. Village priests passed down religious, ritual, healing, and family-history texts from generation to generation, so the writing mainly served local communities. The standardized Liangshan syllabary was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980. It writes Nuosu, the Liangshan variety of Yi, not every Yi language.

Someone sent me ꄥ—what does it mean?

By itself, it gives a syllable, not a full translation.

Treat it as a piece of Yi text or a character example, not a complete English word. Ask for the surrounding Yi word or sentence if you need its translation.