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殓, the simplified form of the traditional character 殮, is a phono-semantic compound: the left-side radical 歹 carries the meaning of death or remains, and the right-side phonetic 佥, a simplification of 僉, indicates the pronunciation. It denotes the ritual washing, dressing, and placing of a corpse into a coffin in preparation for burial. During simplification, the complex phonetic element 僉 was reduced to 佥, while the semantic radical 歹 was kept to ensure the death-related meaning remained clear. The usage of 殓 is highly specialized, appearing exclusively in funerary contexts and texts describing the formal treatment of the deceased prior to interment.
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