Khitan Small Script

The Khitan small script was used in the northeast of China in the Liao Empire, which existed from 907 to 1125. Yelü Diela developed it in 925 under the influence of Uyghur, so the latter is considered like 'the father' of Khitan. It received the name 'small' for a smaller number of characters compared to the Khitan large script, which was used at the same time and for the same purposes. That's why both scripts were quite easy to learn.

The samples have survived till our times, and you can find the Khitan script on various stone epitaphs in rich cemeteries. The majority of the characters haven't been deciphered yet, so their meaning is unclear.

The Khitan small script includes both phonograms (letters, syllables) and logograms (hieroglyphs). To make a word, you needed to compound from 2 to 8 phonograms. The logogram is sometimes accompanied by a dot that denotes the masculine gender. The writing direction is vertical, its columns go from right to left.