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The character 俑 is a phono-semantic compound: the left component is the single person radical 亻, which places it in the semantic domain of human figures, and the right component 甬 provides the sound. Historically, it refers to wooden, clay, or ceramic figurines buried with the dead in ancient Chinese burial practices, replacing human sacrifice to serve the deceased in the afterlife. It is most famous from the term 兵马俑 (Terracotta Army), and its meaning is strictly limited to these funerary effigies, never used for ordinary dolls, statues, or modern representations.
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