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窸 is a phono-semantic compound: the 穴 (cave, hole) radical sits above the phonetic 悉. The cave radical suggests enclosed spaces and the muffled, resonant sounds they produce, suiting a character that denotes faint, ongoing noises. It is used almost exclusively in the onomatopoeic word 窸窣, where it imitates rustling, whispering, or scratching sounds, such as leaves rustling in the wind or fabric moving against itself.
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