About
The character 纥 is a phono-semantic compound consisting of the semantic component 纟 (sī, 'silk, threads') on the left and the phonetic component 乞 (qǐ, 'to beg') on the right. The simplified radical 纟 derives from the full silk radical 糸, which is retained in the traditional form 紇. In its earliest use, 纥 signified coarse silk, the ends of a thread, or a type of knot tied in a cord or tassel. In contemporary language, the character is employed almost exclusively as a phonetic transcription device for the names of ethnic groups and historical tribes; the most familiar example is 回纥 (Huihe), an ancient Turkic people who are the ancestors of the modern Uyghur population.
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