About
The character 莨 is a phono-semantic compound, with the semantic radical 艹 (grass) at the top indicating its plant category and the phonetic component 良 at the bottom providing the sound. It generally refers to specific types of herbs, often poisonous or medicinal. When pronounced "làng", it typically denotes toxic plants containing alkaloids like scopolia. In other contexts, it refers to the dye yam, a plant historically used for textile dyeing, showing its precise role in botanical and agricultural terminology.
Etymology Hide
