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Originally written as 曾, the character 甑 later added the semantic component 瓦 (wǎ, 'earthenware') on the right to form a phono-semantic compound, with 曾 (zēng, meaning 'once' or 'previously') on the left providing the sound. It refers to an ancient steamer, a pottery vessel with a perforated bottom placed over a pot of boiling water to cook rice, millet, and other grains by steam. While early examples were pottery, the term broadened to include bronze and iron versions, which became forerunners of the modern bamboo steamer.
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