About
The character 僖 combines the person radical 亻 on the left with 喜 ('joy, love') on the right in a phono-semantic structure. The 亻 radical points to human qualities, while 喜 provides the pronunciation and evokes joyful emotions, imagine someone in love. Early meanings include 'cautious' and 'joyful', but the character's most prominent role is as a posthumous honorific title for rulers, praising a joyous, benevolent, or prudent reign. Because this usage was largely confined to classical historiography, 僖 is now rare, surviving mainly in discussions of historical figures and ancient proper names.
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