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獭 is a phonosemantic compound: the component 犭, a reduced form of 犬 'dog', signals that the character belongs to the category of beasts or mammals, while 赖 provides the sound. This is the simplified version of the traditional character 獺, which uses the more complex phonetic element 賴. The character means 'otter', a semi-aquatic carnivore, and its usage is confined strictly to this zoological sense, without any metaphorical or extended meanings.
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