Yi Syllable Za

It spells one syllable; the word around it gives the translation.

Standard Liangshan romanization writes it as za: start with the “ts” at the end of “cats,” then an open “ah”; keep the pitch level in the middle. With no final t, x, or p, za marks the midlevel tone. This romanized spelling identifies a spoken syllable, not a translation by itself.

The standardized Liangshan Yi script is a modern form that selected older Northern Yi shapes. The earliest surviving dated Yi inscription is on a bronze bell from 1485. Earlier regional traditions varied in glyph shape and writing direction; bimo, Yi ritual specialists, maintained them for religious, magical, medical, and family-history texts. To improve Yi literacy, the Liangshan standard was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980 for that variety, not all Yi languages.