'Phags-pa script

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ꡖꡍꡂꡛ ꡌ
Yang Wengshe 1314.jpg
Type Alphabet
Languages Mongolian
Creator Drogön Chögyal Phagpa
Time period 1269 – ca 1360
Parent systems
Child systems possibly Hangul
Sister systems Lepcha
ISO 15924 Phag, 331
Direction Top-to-bottom
Unicode alias Phags-pa
Unicode range U+A840–U+A87F

The 'Phags-pa script,[1] also (Mongolian: дөрвөлжин үсэг, Square script), Passepa script, basiba script, was an alphabet designed by the Tibetan Lama Zhogoin Qoigyai Pagba (Drogön Chögyal Phagpa) for Yuan emperor Kublai Khan, as a unified script for the literary languages of the Yuan Dynasty.

Widespread use was limited to about a hundred years during the Yuan Dynasty, and it fell out of use with the advent of the Ming Dynasty. The documentation of its use provides linguists clues about the changes in Chinese, Tibetan, Mongolian, and neighboring languages during the Yuan era.


The Uyghur-based Mongolian alphabet is not a perfect fit for Middle Mongolian, and it would be impractical to extend it to a language with a very different phonology like Chinese. Therefore, during the Yuan Dynasty (ca. 1269), Kublai Khan asked ´Phags-pa to design a new alphabet for use by the whole empire. ´Phags-pa extended his native Tibetan script (an Indic script) to encompass Mongol and Chinese, evidently Central Plains standard.[2] The resulting 38 letters have been known by several descriptive names, such as "square script" based on their shape, but today are primarily known as the 'Phags-pa alphabet.



An imperial edict in 'Phags-pa

Second: Standard letter forms.



Korean records that state that hangul was based on an "Old Seal Script", 古篆字, which Gary Ledyard believes to be 'Phags-pa and a reference to its Chinese name 蒙古篆字 měnggǔ zhuānzì. (See origin of hangul.) However, it is the simpler standard form of 'Phags-pa that is the closer graphic match to hangul.



36 initials in Menggu Ziyun
No. Name Phonetic
1 見 jiàn *[k] g-
2 溪 qī *[kʰ] kh-
3 群 qún *[ɡ] k-
4 疑 yí *[ŋ] ng-
5 端 duān *[t] d-
6 透 tòu *[tʰ] th-
7 定 dìng *[d] t-
8 泥 ní *[n] n-
9 知 zhī *[ʈ] j-
10 徹 chè *[ʈʰ] ch-
11 澄 chéng *[ɖ] c-
12 娘 niáng *[ɳ] ny-
13 幫 bāng *[p] b-
14 滂 pāng *[pʰ] ph-
15 並 bìng *[b] p-
16 明 míng *[m] m-
21 精 jīng *[ts] dz-
22 清 qīng *[tsʰ] tsh-
23 從 cóng *[dz] ts-
24 心 xīn *[s] s-
25 邪 xié *[z] z-
26 照 zhào *[tɕ] j-
27 穿 chuān *[tɕʰ] ch-
28 床 chuáng *[dʑ] c-
32 匣 xiá *[ɣ] x-
h¹- Variant form of the letter ha
33 影 yǐng *[ʔ] ·- glottal stop
y- Normal form of the letter ya
34 喻 yù *[j] ʼ- null initial
y¹- Variant form of the letter ya
35 來 lái *[l] l-
36 日 rì *[ɲ] zh-

See also[edit]


  • Coblin, W. South (2006). A Handbook of 'Phags-pa Chinese. ABC Dictionary Series. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-3000-7. 
  • Poppe, Nicholas (1957). The Mongolian Monuments in hP´ags-pa Script (Second ed.). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 
  • Schuh, Dieter (1981). Grundlagen tibetischer Siegelkunde. Eine Untersuchung über tibetische Siegelaufschriften in ´Phags-pa-Schrift. Sankt Augustin: VGH Wissenschaftsverlag. ISBN 978-3-88280-011-1. 
  • Sampson, Geoffrey (1985). Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction. Great Britain: Anchor Brenton Ltd. ISBN 978-0-09-156980-8. 



The Unicode block for 'Phags-pa is U+A840–U+A877. Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points:

Unicode.org chart (PDF)
1.^ As of Unicode version 6.3


  1. ^ 'Phags-pa script: ꡏꡡꡃ ꡣꡡꡙ ꡐꡜꡞ mongxol tshi, "Mongolian script"; Mongolian: дөрвөлжин үсэг dörvöljin üseg, "square script"; Tibetan: ཧོར་ཡིག་གསར་པ་ Horyig Sarba, "new Mongolian script"; Chinese: 蒙古新字 měnggǔ xīnzì, "new Mongolian script" (Yuan Dynasty usage) or 八思巴文 bāsībā wén, "Phags-pa writing" (modern usage)
  2. ^ Coblin, W. South (2002). "Reflections on the Study of Post-Medieval Chinese Historical Phonology". In 何大安. 第三屆國際漢學會議論文集: 語言組. 南北是非 : 漢語方言的差異與變化 [Papers from the Third International Conference on Sinology, Linguistics Section. Dialect Variations in Chinese]. Taibei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica. pp. 23–50. ISBN 978-957-671-936-3. Retrieved 21 October 2011.  p. 31.

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