About
槔 (also written 橰) is a phono-semantic compound: the wood radical 木 on the left marks its connection to wooden implements, while 皋 on the right provides the sound. It originally denoted a highly specific irrigation device, the well-sweep or shadoof, a wooden lever mechanism for lifting water from a well or river. Because the meaning is so strictly tied to that single piece of technology, the character appears almost exclusively in the compound 桔槔 (the device as a whole) and never broadened to other machines or metaphorical uses.
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