About
The character "癯" is structured with the sickness radical 疒 atop the component 瞿, which historically served a phonetic function. Its etymology consistently relates to physical leanness or emaciation, directly implied by the semantic indicator for illness or ailment. While its form has remained stable as a traditional character, the specific application of its meaning narrowed over time; it originally described a thinness resulting from sickness or hardship, but in later classical and literary usage, it came to denote a state of being lean or spare more generally, often carrying a positive connotation of austere refinement rather than pathological weakness.