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The character 稙 is a phono-semantic compound, combining the semantic radical 禾 (grain, agricultural crops) on the left with the phonetic component 直 (zhí) on the right. It denotes early-sown crops, grain planted early in the planting season. The 禾 element anchors the meaning in farming, while 直, though it means "straight" or "direct" when used independently, functions here purely as a sound marker for zhí and contributes none of its standalone semantic content.
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