About
Formed as a phono-semantic compound, 耜 combines the left-side radical 耒 (lěi), picturing a wooden plow or digging tool, to ground its meaning in agriculture and farming implements, with the right-side component 㠯 (yǐ) indicating the pronunciation. It was coined to name the plowshare, the metal or wooden blade that cuts soil during land preparation. The character never acquired secondary abstract senses; it is almost entirely confined to historical agricultural texts and classical poems about farming.
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