Phags-pa (Unicode block)


Phags-pa is a Unicode block containing characters from the 'Phags-pa script promulgated as a national script by Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan dynasty. It was used primarily in writing Mongolian and Chinese, although it was intended for the use of all written languages of the Mongol Empire.

Block

The block has six variation sequences defined for standardized variants. They use :
U+CharacterBase code pointBase + VS01
A856Phags‑Pa Letter Small A
A85CPhags‑Pa Letter Ha
A85EPhags‑Pa Letter I
A85FPhags‑Pa Letter U
A860Phags‑Pa Letter E
A868Phags‑Pa Subjoined Letter Ya

Note that four vowel letters have positional variants:
U+CharacterOrientationIsolateInitialMedialFinal
U+A85EPhags‑Pa Letter Iregular
U+A85EPhags‑Pa Letter Ireversed
U+A85FPhags‑Pa Letter Uregular
U+A85FPhags‑Pa Letter Ureversed
U+A860Phags‑Pa Letter Eregular
U+A860Phags‑Pa Letter Ereversed
U+A861Phags‑Pa Letter Oregular

History

The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Phags-pa block: