𡦺

𡦺 (Kangxi radical 40, 宀+2, 5 strokes, composition ⿱宀乃)

• Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 281, character 19
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 911, character 4
• Unihan data for U+219BA

One of a pair of nonsense characters created by Emperor Wuzong of Tang to test the scholar Wang Qi, the first instance being the Tang dynasty text Yunxi Youyi 雲谿友議 by Fan Shu 范攄.

王僕射起，再主禮闈，遠邇稱揚，皆以文德巍巍，聿興之也。武宗皇帝詔至殿曰：「朕近見二字，一『𠂐』，一『𡦺』，莫能詳也，特詢於卿。」王公對曰：「臣於三教經典，竊常遍覽，向者二字，群書未之見也，未審天顏何文而得。周穆王傳有『𠆗』『𡖛』二字，經百儒宗，但言古馬名，不敢分於飛兔、騕褭、於今靡有詳之者也。」上笑曰：「知卿夙儒，學綜朝野，偶爲此二字相試，非於經籍而得之。」遂賜金彩等。乃知王公，三學之中無不通曉，我唐之孔鄭乎？
Wang Qi rose to the occasion and presided over the National Examinations twice. He was praised by people far and wide, all because of his outstanding literary virtue that fostered the rise of scholars. Emperor Wuzong summoned him to his palace and said, "We have recently come upon two characters: one is '𠂐,' the other is '𡦺.' We cannot ascertain their meaning and specifically inquire of you, Our Minister, for your knowledge." Wang replied, "I, your servant, have privately and routinely read the classics of the Three Teachings (Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism). I have never seen these two characters in any book. I do not know from which text Your Majesty has obtained them. However, the biography of King Mu of Zhou contains the characters '𠆗' and '𡖛'. Hundreds of scholars have only mentioned them as names of ancient horses and dare not distinguish them from Feitu and Yaoniao. No one knows them in detail now." The emperor laughed and said, "We know you are a learned scholar with knowledge of both the court and the countryside. We merely concocted these two characters to test you by chance; they did not come from any classic or text." He then bestowed gold and silk upon him. Thus, it was known that Lord Wang was thoroughly versed and comprehended all within the Three Teachings. Was he not the Confucius or Zheng Xuan of our Great Tang?

• Cayley, J. et al. (2009) Tianshu: passages in the making of a book...in conjunction with an exhibition on the making of Book from the Sky at Bernard Quaritch March 18th 2009. Edited by K. Spears. Translated by D. Hammond. London: Quaritch.
• Zhang, Y. and Chen, T. (2015) 康熙字典 [Kāngxī Zìdiǎn] (2 vol). Revised Ed. Edited by H. Wang. Beijing: 社会科学文献出版社 [Social Sciences Academic Press].