Definitions

to drain

Etymology phono-semantic

water

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

(traditional ) is a phono-semantic compound: the water radical signals an action involving liquids, and the phonetic component (originally in the traditional form) indicates the pronunciation. Its primary meaning is decanting or straining, typically in cooking or chemistry, to separate a liquid from solid dregs. The simplification from to simply replaces the traditional phonetic with its modern equivalent , altering the visual density while preserving the character's structure.