About
The character 聍, traditional form 聹, is a phono-semantic compound. Its left component, the ear radical 耳, establishes the anatomical and semantic context related to hearing. The right component, phonetic 宁 (traditional 寧), indicates the pronunciation. This character serves a specific anatomical function, appearing almost exclusively in the medical term 耵聍, meaning earwax. Coined as a precise term for this bodily secretion, it never developed abstract meanings or standalone use, remaining a specialized clinical and anatomical term throughout its history.