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撷 (traditional 擷) is a phono-semantic compound consisting of the hand radical 扌 and the phonetic element 颉 (頡). The hand radical signals a physical action performed with the hands: plucking, picking, or gathering items from a stem or branch, such as flowers, leaves, or fruit. This literal sense extends figuratively to the abstract act of selecting, extracting, or compiling specific items from a larger collection, as in gathering beautiful phrases or extracting data. The phonetic component 颉 (頡) furnishes the pronunciation.
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