About
The character 竽 is a phono-semantic compound incorporating the semantic component 竹, which signifies bamboo, and the phonetic component 于 that guides its pronunciation. It consistently refers to an ancient Chinese mouth organ fabricated from bamboo pipes, a meaning documented in early philosophical and historical texts like the "Zhuangzi" and "Han Feizi". The character's structural composition has remained unchanged, and its semantic scope has not expanded or shifted, as exemplified by its fixed role in the idiom "滥竽充数", which directly draws upon the instrument's cultural context.
Etymology Hide
