Definitions
used in 鎮筸|镇筸[zhèn gān]
Etymology
About
The character 筸 is a phono-semantic compound that originally referred to a slender variety of bamboo but now appears almost exclusively in geographical names. It pairs the bamboo radical 竹 (above) with the phonetic component 旱 (below), yielding the pronunciation gǎn. Its botanical meaning has become obsolete, and the character survives today mainly in Zhen'gan (镇筸), the historical name for Fenghuang County in Hunan Province, a case where a highly specific plant term persists only as a fossilized element in a regional toponym.
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