About
The character 桕 is a phono-semantic compound. Its semantic radical 木 (wood) on the left indicates it refers to a type of tree. The right component 臼, which depicts a mortar, provides the phonetic pronunciation "jiù". Historically and today, 桕 denotes the Chinese tallow tree (Sapium sebiferum), whose seeds were traditionally processed to extract vegetable tallow for candles and soap. Thus, the structure combines a botanical classifier with a phonetic element to name this specific tree used for its agricultural resources.