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蛞 (kuò) is a phono-semantic compound character used for certain invertebrates, notably slugs and similar mollusks. It combines the insect radical 虫 (chóng), which denotes a wide range of small creatures such as insects, worms, and reptiles, with 舌 (shé) 'tongue'. In this character, 舌 primarily gives the sound kuò, though some etymologies also see a semantic link, noting the slug's soft, fleshy body resembles a tongue. It almost always appears in the binomial 蛞蝓 (kuòyú), the standard zoological term for a slug.
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