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The character 葸 is a phono-semantic compound with the grass radical 艹 on top, indicating a plant-related category, and 思 (sī, "thought") below, providing the phonetic element "xǐ". Despite the botanical radical, its core meaning relates to fear or timidity, not plants, likely due to phonetic borrowing or semantic shift over time. It appears most commonly in the compound "畏葸", meaning to cower or shrink back in fear, emphasizing its use for describing apprehensive states rather than vegetation.
Etymology Hide
