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The character 柢 is a phono-semantic compound: the wood radical 木 signifies a tree or plant, and 氐 (dǐ) gives the pronunciation. Its literal meaning is the root or base of a tree, the foundational part that anchors it in the earth. Metaphorically, it expresses the fundamental basis or origin of abstract matters, and it frequently appears in classical texts to discuss the underlying principles of phenomena.
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