About
The character 胂 is a phono-semantic compound: the semantic radical 月, traditionally 'flesh' or body parts, is also frequently adapted in modern scientific contexts for organic chemistry terms; it is combined with the phonetic 申. Historically, it referred to the flesh of the spine or a section of the back, a definition now completely obsolete. In contemporary usage, the character has been entirely repurposed to designate the highly toxic chemical arsine.
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