Definitions
used in 仡佬族[gē lǎo zú], Gelao or Klau ethnic group of Guizhou; Taiwan pr. [qì]
strong; brave
Etymology
About
The character 仡 (gē or yì) is a phono-semantic compound combining the semantic radical 亻 (rén, "person") on the left with the phonetic component 乞 (qǐ) on the right. Historically read as yì, it functioned as an adjective in classical Chinese, describing someone as strong, valiant, tall, or courageous. In contemporary usage, it is most commonly pronounced gē and serves as a proper noun transcribing the name of the Gelao people, an ethnic minority in southwestern China, shifting its primary role from a descriptive adjective to an ethnonym.
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