About
妁 is a phono-semantic compound that pairs the radical 女 (woman) with the phonetic 勺 (spoon or ladle). The female radical places the character in the domain of women's roles, while 勺 provides the sound. Etymologically, it designates a matchmaker, a go-between who arranges marriages between families. It appears almost exclusively in the compound 媒妁, the classical term for the agents who negotiated betrothals in ancient marriage customs. The exact reason why 勺 serves as the phonetic is obscure, but the presence of the female radical reflects the historical reality that matchmaking was traditionally an occupation of older women.
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