About
The character "仵" is composed of the person radical (亻) and the phonetic component "午". Its traditional form is identical. The original meaning of the character was "to oppose" or "to be contrary", a sense derived from the concept of confronting or meeting at midday, as suggested by the component "午" which can mean noon. This notion of opposition or confrontation later specialized into a specific professional context, leading to its primary modern meaning as part of the compound "仵作", which denotes an official coroner or forensic examiner who investigates and determines causes of death, a role inherently involving scrutiny that contradicts or verifies initial accounts.