ʼPhags-pa script
Tibeto-Mongol alphasyllabary/abugida used in China during Yuan Dynasty
The Phagspa ( PAHGZ-PAH), ʼPhags-pa or ḥPʻags-pa script is an alphabet designed by the Tibetan monk and State Preceptor (later Imperial Preceptor) Drogön Chögyal Phagpa (1235–1280) for Kublai Khan (r. 1264–1294), the founder of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) in China, as a unified script for the written languages within the Yuan. The actual use of this script was limited to about a hundred years during the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, and it fell out of use with the advent of the Ming dynasty.
The script was used to write and transcribe varieties of Chinese, the Tibetic languages, Mongolian, the Uyghur language, Sanskrit, probably Persian, and other neighboring languages during the Yuan era. For historical linguists, its use provides clues about changes in these languages.
Its descendant systems include Horizontal square script, used to write Tibetan and Sanskrit. During the Pax Mongolica the script even made numerous appearances in Western medieval art.
Nomenclature
ʼPhags-pa script: ꡏꡡꡃ ꡣꡡꡙ ꡐꡜꡞ mong xol ts.hi "Mongolian script";
Mongolian: дөрвөлжин үсэг dörvöljin üseg, ᠳᠥᠷᠪᠡᠯᠵᠢᠨ ᠦᠰᠦᠭ dörbelǰin üsüg "square script"; дөрвөлжин бичиг dörvöljin bichig, ᠳᠥᠷᠪᠡᠯᠵᠢᠨ ᠪᠢᠴᠢᠭ dörbelǰin bičig "square writing";
Tibetan: ཧོར་ཡིག་གསར་པ་, Wylie: hor yig gsar pa "new Mongolian script";
Yuan dynasty Chinese: 蒙古新字; pinyin: měnggǔ xīnzì "new Mongolian script"; 國字; guózì' "national script";
Modern Chinese: 八思巴文; pinyin: bāsībā wén "ʼPhags-pa script"; 帕克斯巴; pàkèsībā;
In English, it is also written as ḥPʻags-pa, Phaspa, Paspa, Baschpah, and Pa-sse-pa.
History
During the Mongol Empire, the Mongol rulers wanted a universal script to write down the languages of the people they subjugated. The Uyghur-based Mongolian alphabet was not a perfect fit for the Middle Mongol language, and it would have been impractical to extend it to a language with a very different phonology like Chinese. Therefore, during the Yuan dynasty (c.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q822836. The Library of Congress control number is sh85100550. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1235, 1280, 1264 and 1294.
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This entry incorporates text from “ʼPhags-pa script” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.