What ꑰ means
It represents one spoken syllable.
In IPA, the Liangshan reading is [ɕɿ̱³³]: a forward “sh”-like hiss, a short unrounded vowel, and level mid pitch.
Yi writing grew from regional traditions. Its oldest securely dated example is a bronze-bell inscription from around 1485; earlier dates are debated. Bimo, Yi ritual specialists, transmitted traditional texts on worship, healing, genealogy, and history.
Does this Yi standard cover every community?
No; it is for Liangshan Nuosu, a Yi variety.
The standard was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980.
Other Yi traditions vary in glyphs, readings, direction, and repertoire.
Neutral in Yi writing; elsewhere, it marks a specialized script. Its shape depends on the font.
If ꑰ arrived alone, ask what Yi word or sentence it belongs to: the glyph represents one syllable, not the surrounding message.
Don't confuse it with
4Questions people ask
1Why does ꑰ show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
How to type ꑰ
ꑰ\A470Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.