ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

ʼPhags-pa script

Okay kiddo, have you ever seen Chinese or Mongolian writing? They use a special way of writing called a script. Well, the ʼphags-pa script is another type of script that was created a long time ago in China.

This script was actually made during the time of Kublai Khan, who was a very powerful emperor. He wanted a way to write in his own language, which was Mongolian, but also wanted it to be easy for everyone else to read too. So, he asked a man named ʼPhags-pa to create a new way of writing that could be used for different languages - kinda like a secret code that everyone could understand.

ʼPhags-pa did just that! He created a script that was a little bit like both Chinese and Mongolian letters but also had some new shapes. Instead of writing letters one by one, like we do in English, this script combines letters into one symbol. It's like a puzzle where you put different pieces together to make a big picture.

People used this script for a while, but eventually, it became less popular because other ways of writing became more popular. But, some people still use the ʼphags-pa script today to write in certain languages like Tibetan or Mongolian.

So, that's the story of the ʼphags-pa script - a special way of writing that was created to help people understand each other better.