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啮 (niè), simplified from 嚙 (and also written as 齧), is a phonosemantic compound. The mouth radical 口 (kǒu) on the left carries the meaning "to bite, gnaw, or chew", while the right component 齿 (chǐ), simplified from 齒 "teeth", gives the sound. Originally referring to the literal act of biting or chewing, it later extended figuratively to erosion, like gnawing through a surface. The simplified form replaces the complex 齒 with its modern equivalent, making the character more compact.
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