About
The character 甙 is a phono-semantic compound devised for modern chemical terminology. Its semantic component is 甘, meaning 'sweet', and its phonetic component is 弋 (yì), which indicates the pronunciation. Together they designate a glycoside: a molecule consisting of a sugar linked to another functional group. The 'sweet' radical provides an immediate conceptual link to the sugar portion of the compound. This character's usage is entirely restricted to organic chemistry and pharmacology, functioning only as a technical term without any role in ordinary speech.
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