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苻 is a phono-semantic compound originally coined to identify a specific herbaceous plant or grass noted in classical botanical texts. It is built from the grass radical 艹 at the top, marking its plant category, and the phonetic component 付 at the bottom, which dictates the character's sound. Despite this botanical origin, 苻 is far more widely recognized as a prominent surname , most notably, it was the royal family name of the Former Qin dynasty during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. In both contemporary and historical contexts, the character appears almost exclusively in names and the study of ancient figures, leaving its obscure plant meaning in the margins.
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