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蚴 is a phono-semantic compound: the insect radical 虫 on the left and the phonetic 幼 on the right. The 虫 radical places it among bugs, worms, and invertebrates, while 幼 means 'immature' and gives the pronunciation. Together they define a larva, the immature stage of an insect or parasite before metamorphosis. It is widely used in modern biology and medicine to describe parasitic developmental stages.
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