About
The character 莴, denoting lettuce, derives from its traditional form 萵, a phono-semantic construct comprising the grass radical 艹 to classify it as a plant and the component 咼 which indicates pronunciation. In the simplified form, this phonetic element is altered to 呙. Historically created for the specific plant name 莴苣, the character's usage and meaning have been exclusively linked to lettuce since its adoption into the Chinese writing system.