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.

Phags-pa
RangeU+A840..U+A87F
(64 code points)
PlaneBMP
ScriptsPhags Pa
Major alphabetsMongolian
Chinese
Assigned56 code points
Unused8 reserved code points
Unicode version history
5.0 (2006)56 (+56)
Unicode documentation
Code chart ∣ Web page
Note: [1][2]

Block

edit
Phags-pa[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+A84x
U+A85x
U+A86x
U+A87x
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

The block has six variation sequences defined for standardized variants.[3] They use U+FE00 VARIATION SELECTOR-1 (VS01):

Variation sequences for reversed shaping
U+ Character Base code point Base + VS01
A856 Phags‑Pa Letter Small A ꡖ︀
A85C Phags‑Pa Letter Ha ꡜ︀
A85E Phags‑Pa Letter I ꡞ︀
A85F Phags‑Pa Letter U ꡟ︀
A860 Phags‑Pa Letter E ꡠ︀
A868 Phags‑Pa Subjoined Letter Ya ꡨ︀

Note that four vowel letters have positional variants:

Positional forms of I, U, E, and O
U+ Character Orientation Isolate Initial Medial Final
U+A85E Phags‑Pa Letter I regular ꡞ‍ ‍ꡞ‍ ‍ꡞ
reversed ꡞ︀ ꡞ︀‍ ‍ꡞ︀‍ ‍ꡞ︀
U+A85F Phags‑Pa Letter U regular ꡟ‍ ‍ꡟ‍ ‍ꡟ
reversed ꡟ︀ ꡟ︀‍ ‍ꡟ︀‍ ‍ꡟ︀
U+A860 Phags‑Pa Letter E regular ꡠ‍ ‍ꡠ‍ ‍ꡠ
reversed ꡠ︀ ꡠ︀‍ ‍ꡠ︀‍ ‍ꡠ︀
U+A861 Phags‑Pa Letter O regular ꡡ‍ ‍ꡡ‍ ‍ꡡ

History

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

References

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  1. ^ "Unicode character database". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  2. ^ "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  3. ^ "Unicode Character Database: Standardized Variation Sequences". The Unicode Consortium.