About
The Chinese character 竽 is a phono-semantic compound for an ancient free-reed wind instrument similar to the sheng but larger and with more pipes. The upper component 竹 (bamboo) indicates the pipe material and follows the convention for classifying wind instruments, while the lower component 亏 supplies the sound. The character exclusively names this instrument and is common in classical writings on court music and ensembles; it is especially remembered through an idiom about a person who feigns playing the yu to make up the numbers in an orchestra without any real skill.
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