Definitions
hydroxyl (radical)
Etymology phono-semantic
Phonetic:
羊
About
The character "羟" is the simplified form of "羥", a compound character historically associated with sheep's wool through its components "羊" meaning sheep and "巠" serving as a phonetic element. This character underwent a semantic shift when it was adopted into modern chemical terminology to represent the hydroxyl group, a borrowing that occurred during the introduction of Western scientific concepts. In its simplified structure, the component "巠" is replaced by "圣", a common phonetic simplification, while the "羊" radical is retained, resulting in a form that exclusively denotes the chemical functional group rather than its original meaning.
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